Imagine that, at the start of your workday, you and a friend step onto a crowded elevator in a tall building. As people rush on, one person stands directly in front of the buttons. After a few “Ahem”s and “Excuse me”s, this person moves away from the buttons, squeezing right between you and your friend and staring at the back of the elevator. The crowd eventually empties out, yet the stranger is still standing shoulder to shoulder with you, even though there is plenty of space to move away.
How would you describe this person’s behavior? As “bizarre,” of course. Now consider why this stranger’s behavior seems so bizarre. Everyone knows you are supposed to face the front rather than the back of the elevator. You were probably told how to behave in this situation by a parent when you were little, or you simply watched others and learned through trial and error what you were supposed to do. And then, at a certain point, you stopped having to think about it. You just knew how and where to stand in an elevator without anyone telling you. You had learned the rules but, if pressed, you may not even be able to articulate all of them.
What is Culture?
We human beings are rule-making machines. This trait helps us to work together and solve problems big and small, such as: “How do we build a fire to keep from freezing?” or “Where should we go out for dinner tonight?” or “How are we going to get this project done on time and in budget?”
Many social scientists claim that the ability to create and follow collective problem-solving rules is a defining human characteristic. Because all of us have this ability, we co-exist harmoniously—most of the time anyway—in tribes, villages, cities, and countries. Furthermore, in work-related settings, we are able to collaborate in teams and organizations.
Culture, ultimately, is the collective set of rules—or commitments—that govern how people interact with one another. As for teams, a shared culture helps them adapt and thrive in challenging environments. When a team comes together, rules will develop whether you and others are paying attention to them or not—rules about who speaks when, who makes the decisions, and even whether or not it’s important to show up to meetings on time.
But culture causes problems, too, because we are often blind to ingrained behaviors that actually undermine performance. As in the elevator, culture just becomes “the way things are done,” without much thought. If we are not paying attention, we can lose control over which rules we are following.
The Rules that Matter
Leading a team is hard work, and most teams inevitably under-perform—in comparison, at least, with their potential. As a leader, one of the most important things you can do to help your team excel is be proactive in shaping its culture—setting its rules. Therefore, the first step in leading a high-performing team (HPT) is all about committing to the rules that impact performance. Research on teams tells us that these fall into three categories: goals, roles, and norms.
While you might be tempted to come up with a laundry list of rules, it is best to focus on a few that will have the greatest impact. On every team, these “critical” rules will be different.
For example, television producer Glen Mazzara emphasized inclusiveness in meetings with his team of writers. However, this goal hit a snag when he realized that two of his younger female writers would stay quiet during meetings while the men dominated the floor. Pulling them aside, he asked why they weren’t speaking up.
“Watch what happens when we do,” they told him. Mazzara paid careful attention to the team dynamic the next time they got together for a brainstorming session and what he saw made him understand the young women’s hesitation. Whenever they threw out an idea, one of the men on the team would interrupt them, shooting them down or building on the idea without their input.
Seeing this, Mazzara cleverly laid down a norm for the whole team without calling out the gender dynamic. He instituted a rule that no one would interrupt another person while they were pitching an idea for the show. By focusing on one rule that really mattered for the team’s success and making it explicit, Mazzara spurred more equitable contributions from the women on his team and the quality of the show benefited as a result.
On your teams, we suggest that you be up front and explicit about the rules that will drive team behavior and performance. Be careful to not let invisible rules derail what you are trying to accomplish. And, above all, focus on what really matters.
Dr. Mario Moussa, Dr. Derek Newberry and Madeline Boyer are the authors of Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance. Dr. Moussa teaches in the Executive Programs at Wharton School of Executive Education. Dr. Newberry and Boyer are lecturers at the Wharton School of Business and Senior Consultants at Percipient Partners. For more information, please visit, www.moussaconsulting.com and www.percipientpartners.com and connect with the authors on Twitter, @Committed_Teams.
