What Matters

GRASS is my shorthand way of remembering what matters most when it comes to leading and shifting Culture: Gatherings, Rituals, Actions, Symbols and Stories.

G.R.A.S.S: Gatherings, Rituals, Actions, Symbols and Stories. 

Grass gives us some useful metaphors for culture.

• Grass needs care and maintenance; it’s not a one-and-done intervention.
• Grass can be wild or a well-trimmed lawn. Both are beautiful when they are healthy.
•  Weeds can grow even in the best quality grass.
• There are plenty of varieties of grass. It can grow from seed or be imported as turf, or you can work with...

I'm in the business of cultures that work.

You know a culture is good when it works - that is, a culture enables positive, productive work.

You know a culture is working when:

• People feel they belong and can bring their best.
• The collective effort is stronger than the sum of the parts. A good culture is where people feel safe and hopeful for the future.
• People are clear on, and feel connected to, the organisation’s purpose, where individuals and teams can learn, fail, grow, and develop mastery.
• People have genuine choice and work autonomously toward shared goals. 

For a culture...

We know culture is important. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents in PwC’s 2021 Global Culture Survey considered culture more critical for success than strategy or operating model, and 81% attributed culture as a point of competitive advantage.

We know culture can be changed on purpose. PwC’s survey found that a staggering 80% of team members are disappointed with their organisation’s culture, 76% of leaders believe culture is changeable, and 65% of leaders believe they need to change their current culture. Yet only 15% of organisations report culture...

In my book, Shift: Everyday actions leaders can take to shift culture, I share my GRASS model.

GRASS was born out of my frustration with culture models that were either too stuffy or too fluffy for leaders who just wanted to know what to do.

After synthesising decades of research, I narrowed the list of moments that matter most down to 8.

The three most well known are first impressions, when things are going well and when things aren’t going well. These are all moments of truth for team members and leaders. I call these the groundwork. We need to work on these in every relationship.

GRASS...

Is your day full of meetings that are old habits?

People form habits, but so do teams and organisations.

Try a calendar review this week - how many meetings will you find that are no longer required? Just hanging around like old habits?

#oldhabitsdiehard

There's a lot going on at the moment. Disruption and uncertainty. Rethinking plans and strategies. Leaders and teams are feeling a bit at sea.

I'm working with some great teams at the moment on cohesion, alignment and playing to their strengths. It’s a mix of masterclasses and workshops for various clients.

With one client, I’m coaching multiple members of one team.

All different ways of working on team culture.

If your team is all at sea, reach out to see how I can help.

#leadershipteams #leadershift #nevernormal #cultureshift #teamshift #shift #navigating #allatsesa

Does your culture invite belonging? Or is it a culture of fitting in (even if the norms have shifted)?

#workplaceculture #belonging #fittingin #cultureshift #leadershift #culture #rulesofbelonging #brenebrownwisdom

In a McKinsey survey with a representative sample of more than 1,000 participants from US companies, 82 percent agreed on the importance of purpose, but only 42 percent reported that their company’s stated “purpose” had much effect.

Having read plenty of purpose statements, that's not surprising!

Many organisations’ purpose statements are so generic that they do little to inspire or challenge business as usual. At some point, they blur and all start to sound the same.

More than a vision and a strategy, a purpose elevates performance. A strong vision and strategy...

Culture isn’t someone else’s job. We all contribute to culture.

How you show up in your team and your workplace impacts those around you.

We’ve all worked on teams where one person has shifted the culture around them - for better or for worse.

Don’t wait for someone else to tackle your culture. Share some good vibes and contribute positive energy to your team culture.

#workplace #work #culture #contribution #cultureshift

When you lead people, Culture is your day job. It’s not something special and different that you do once a year before a survey. Culture is not extra work on top of how you do things. Culture is not somebody else’s job. Culture is how you get things done every day.