Stories Stuck on the Walls

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What It’s About: Stories both accelerate, and become obstacles when advancing culture. This can be frustrating for leaders wanting to refresh or inspire a more positive environment. What’s so interesting is that stories last longer than the people involved. Stories seem to have a life of their own, almost like ghosts. That can be positive when employees relay amazing founder experiences and/or milestone events (like surviving a crisis). However, some stories can be debilitating when wanting to change policy and/or behavior that slows culture progress.

I remember how difficult it was for the head of retail banking, who wanted more customer thought prior to blindly applying historic bank policy. I heard him tell his team to use common sense and that he would have their backs. Yet time and time again, the default response of front line bankers was to rely on a 630 page operating guide. If you wonder why you can get variation in policies when calling customer service, that’s often the reason. One person will listen and have the courage to do what’s right, another will shield themselves behind policy regardless how unreasonable.

So What?: Negative legacy stories like, “I remember that so and so was always overlooked for promotions,” “we tried this culture stuff 10 years ago, and remember what happened?“ “So and so got fired for that (in 1985)” etc. These memories get passed on, or frankly they somehow sit in the air like old cigar smoke. Customers share in this too. “I remember when you guys (fill in the blanks).”

Now What?: Be mindful that supportive and negative stories exist. Reinforce those that are a vital part of history. However, create new stories that expunge or minimize the negative or outmoded stuff. Sometimes you have to go out of your way to inspire new stories and spotlight them. This often involves highlighting a group of people, or a team living the desirable culture traits. Find them. Celebrate the values and behavior you need to advance the culture. And remember YOU and formal leaders must BE the change the organization aspires to become.

Sometimes a powerful thing to do is to kill some long standing negative tradition. Stop a stupid process. Change a legacy system. Minimize a long standing practice (like an executive floor that’s inaccessible). If you want to reinforce social justice, have the entire executive team walk in the Pride parade, etc. The possibilities are endless and often the cost is minimal. The benefit is priceless.

Honor historic stories that reinforce the soul and purpose of the organization. Do more than paint over the lingering negative stories. Pull them out of the walls, discard them in the trash and replace them with new ones. Understand that replacing people is not sufficient. An intentional story building mindset will truly accelerate your culture initiatives.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: Also, highlighting ugly stories and being authentic, transparent and intentional about how things are different now is appreciated. So your company did something gross in 1990? Well, by embracing and recognizing that something was wrong, and showcasing how the organization learned and operates better now, is extremely forgivable. No one can erase an imperfect past, and you know what? That can be good. If we’re open about it, and intentional about change, then forward progress is trustworthy and believable.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Stories Stuck on the Walls

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