Are you leading with a mindset of growth?
I recently read an interview conducted by McKinsey & Company with Tim Welsh, Vice Chairman for consumer and business banking at U.S. Bank. The focus of the interview was building a culture of continuous learning — and fostering a work environment where the company cultivates a mindset of trust, generosity and psychological safety within their employees. Mr. Welsh shared the path that U.S. Bank took in creating an environment where employees at every level of the organization could thrive.
The article got me thinking about the challenges that most companies are currently facing. Companies like yours, and many others the world over, are scrambling to figure out how to plan for a post-pandemic workplace — which includes ensuring the continuous physical and psychological safety of team members and retaining top talent through all the chaos. I believe the key to success in this area revolves around the development and implementation of a growth mindset anchored in the three principles that U.S. Bank used to build their culture of continuous learning: 1. Trust 2. Psychological Safety and 3. Generosity.
Trust
An absence of trust is the first “dysfunction” that a high functioning team must overcome
-Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
An absence of trust is the first “dysfunction” that a high functioning team must overcome. Patrick Lencioni, national bestselling author and organizational health guru, introduced us to The Five Dysfunctions of a Team in his New York Times Best-Selling Leadership Fable. The “Five Dysfunctions” model outlines how teams cannot effectively operate without first overcoming five barriers: 1. Absence of trust 2. Fear of Conflict 3. Lack of Commitment 4. Avoidance of Accountability and 5. Inattention to Results. The model is based upon a Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs-style pyramid, where each rung builds upon the proceeding rung. This means until a team or organization has established trust amongst one another, there will always be insurmountable barriers to optimal operations. Just like with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a major change can send a team back to a need that had previously been addressed and mastered. I don’t know about you, but I would certainly classify the events of 2020 as a major change! Without recognizing it, your team may have been shifted back to the first dysfunction, an absence of trust. This might be as basic as whether or not your employees “trust” that they will have a job. As most companies shifted a large portion of their workforce to a work from home (WFH) model, some company leaders may have developed a lack of trust around whether or not the members of their team are working with the same sense of urgency as they were when everyone was office-based. There are also varying degrees of apprehension about returning to in-person work settings because not everyone trusts that their physical and psychological well-being will be cared for.
In the age of technology, surveys and polls, many leaders are tempted to gather data by sending out an anonymous survey. However, in my experience, establishing or re-establishing trust really does require a human touch. Now is the best time to lean into the uncertainty and discomfort by increasing 1:1 conversations, team meetings and small focus groups. This is a time for open dialogue about what is fact versus perception. It’s also a time to discuss what’s working and what’s not. One hour spent on a START-STOP-CONTINUE exercise can be infinitely more beneficial than a 25-question survey that takes 15 minutes to complete. Trust is established when members of the team open up and show their vulnerability. As a leader, the best way to create space for your people to be vulnerable is to model the behavior yourself. Leaders are often reluctant to show vulnerability or to admit that they don’t have all of the answers. However, when they do, something magical happens- it creates a shared sense of “we are really in this together”. When something is done “with” team members, instead of “to” them it increases their scope of control, which in turn increases their sphere of influence. If, as an employee, I know that there are things within my personal scope of control that will increase my job security, I am more likely to offer up ideas for process improvements and innovations that will grow the company's reach. Applying this principle further — if employees have more options to choose a post-pandemic work structure that works for them and their families, they will be more likely to remain engaged and invested in the company’s success. This engagement will ultimately yield higher results. If the company’s goal is to continue to have an in-office presence; rather than mandating that everyone return by a predetermined date, consider instead establishing a target that allows more flexibility for employees to choose what “in-office” looks like for them. Given the boundless personal and family situations that exist, no single answer will fit for every employee. Instead of establishing a progressive return-to-office plan with a specific date for the majority of employees to return to a standard full-time “in-office” schedule; perhaps leaders should seek agreement from employees to work a certain number of hours from the office per month instead. Allowing the employee to establish their own schedule in collaboration with their immediate people-leader will allow for more viable solutions than a handful of leaders trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all (or most) solution. This will also demonstrate to employees the fact that they matter to the organization — which goes a long way towards establishing trust. Leaders have to be willing to make the first deposits into the collective emotional bank account to build the trust needed to sustain a high performing team. When trusted to be a part of the solution, good employees almost always come up with strategies that not only meet their personal needs, but that also exceed expectations for benefiting the company as well.
“Model, Connect and Involve.”
Psychological Safety
A work environment where mutual trust and respect are present can pave the way for establishing and maintaining psychological safety. Psychological safety is an invitation for employees to bring their best and most authentic selves to their work environment. Everyone has strengths — they want to be acknowledged for those strengths. Everyone wants to reach their full potential — individuals want and need to be supported throughout their journey to reach that potential. All jobs provide opportunities for growth — your top talent wants the opportunity to grow and try new things. Everyone needs recognition, and nothing shows an employee how much they are valued more than a leader that takes the time to recognize their work in a thoughtful and meaningful way. When you acknowledge, support, develop and recognize your people, this creates the type of security or psychological safety that is essential for them to create and innovate. The absence of this psychological safety results in counterproductive norms like unhealthy internal competition, siloed decision making, political posturing and fear-based performance. If your people don’t know with certainty that you “have their backs”, they will not go out on a limb for you or your company.
Some simple ways to create an environment of shared accountability and reward are to:
Make being available to your people a priority
Give feedback regularly (not just during the performance evaluation process)
Encourage and reward cross-organizational connections
Set the stage for open dialogue and be open to feedback provided to you
Recognize the various strengths that individuals bring to the table
Sam Parker, co-founder of InspireYourPeople.com, summarizes this into three simple tasks — Model, Connect and Involve. It is about showing people what you would like to see happen, connecting them with others that can make it happen and including them in the decision making process. Again, people prefer to have things done “with” them versus “to” them.
Generosity
The outcome is almost always a bad one whenever someone starts with a mindset of scarcity. If your employees believe that praise and recognition is limited, they will either backbite to ensure that they are the ones that receive the praise, or decline to play — which means you aren’t getting their best effort. If your people believe that resources for staffing are limited, they will tolerate sub-par performance — out of the fear that if someone leaves, they will not be able to hire a replacement; leaving them without enough talent to do the work. Your employees learn that this is how they should interact with each other and, in many cases, with your customers as well. The cure for eradicating this type of mentality is to foster a mindset of generosity. When operating from a place of generosity, people look for ways to get to “yes”. They look for the “opportunity” when a challenge arises. Generosity means everyone involved wins. A mindset of generosity helps people recognize that two things can be true at the same time. While the company might be experiencing a flattening or even a decrease in revenue; it is still essential that the company invest in the continuous growth and development of their people. Don’t fall into the trap of limiting yourself or your people by starting with the belief that options are lacking. Instead, start with the assumption that possibilities are limitless with the right perspective.
When leaders role model what it looks like to operate from a place of generosity, the effects can be awe-inspiring. In the book Multipliers: How the best leaders make everyone smarter, the authors Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown espouse that leaders who are talent multipliers not only benefit from their people reaching their maximum potential, but rather exceeding the limits thought possible. This is the same effect at play when leaders cultivate a work environment where everyone is operating from a mindset of generosity. Results exceed expectations, customers are delighted, and employees stay engaged and connected. All of this ultimately leads to an increase in the bottom line, which perpetuates the cycle of generosity.
There is no doubt that you, and other leaders just like you, have experienced some sleepless nights chasing the perfect solution to attract, engage and retain the best and brightest talent — especially during such turbulent times. The only option you have when you experience a difficult challenge is to go through it. But exceptional leaders do not try to go it alone. Exceptional leaders know that if they are the smartest person in the room, then they are in the wrong room. Tapping into the collective genius of your people will always yield the best results. When you trust your people enough to have a say, they will speak with purpose. When you create a safe environment for your people to be their whole and authentic selves, they will go out on a limb to create something extraordinary. When you lead with a posture of generosity, the growth and generosity that comes back to you will astound you.
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