Young lab rats like to play. Put two of them in a cage, and you can hear them chirp at 50 kHz of sound as they pounce and wrestle with each other. Put a piece of collar worn by a cat into the cage, and the play stops. Cat hair on the collar instantly triggers fear.
Take the piece of collar out of the cage and play slowly increases over several days. But it doesn’t return to the level of play researchers recorded before they put the piece of collar into the cage. The rats were always doing the equivalent of looking over their shoulders.
We humans aren’t much different. As mammals we have the same triggers when we sense danger. We fight, flee or freeze. Some women, new research shows, tend to cope by tending and befriending. It’s how we have survived over millennia. Once we’ve experienced threat, we develop mechanisms for dealing with it. Yet many of us are never able to be as openly playful as we had been when we were younger.
Implications for Humans of Rats at Play
The implications of rats at play for organizations and leaders are profound. No play leads to defensive cultures. In turn, people, teams and whole organizations suffer. Results slide down.
And yet, the cat collars with their cat hair are everywhere. Just 19 percent of CEOs and other organization leaders believe they have the “right” culture, a 2016 Deloitte survey found. Even less – just 12% of respondents – say they truly understand culture. What’s going on?
Ignore, Accept Without Question
Ignoring good work by employees is a like putting a piece of a cat collar in the cage with the rats. So is expecting employees to do things without the necessary resources. And you know there’s cat hair around if you see employees never challenging superiors, agreeing with everyone or accepting goals without questioning them. Research shows 40 percent of people who witnessed questionable behavior waited two weeks ruminating about it instead of speaking up.
Last year, employees at Kraft Heinz slammed their company, rating it among the worst large companies to work for because it forced them to work long hours. It had become the norm. That’s classic bad culture.
Uber board members forced former CEO Travis Kalanick to resign following several allegations of unethical behavior. One incident caught on video showed Kalanick fighting with an Uber driver. The leader is key to setting the expectations for the way things are done in organizations. Fighting with the Uber driver was a clear, documented culture breach.
Speaking Up Matters
Conventional wisdom says if people have something to say, they’ll say it. But research shows that’s not the case, even when it would help themselves or others. If employees felt their opinions counted, we would see a 27 percent reduction in turnover, according to a 2017 Gallup poll. We would see a 40% reduction in safety incidents and a 12% increase in productivity. Again, a demonstration that culture matters.
Leaders are responsible for tending organizational culture. To be sure it’s positive, constructive, growth-mindset oriented. To be certain there’s room for creativity and innovation which are so essential to successfully adapt to changing environments. That includes creating psychological safety. Psychological safety is where people are safe expressing ideas, concerns, and mentoring mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution. So says Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor.
Ways to Drive Constructive Behaviors
How do you do that? Leaders act in ways that motivate or drive constructive behaviors and minimize social threats. They support creativity and innovation, nurture ideas, foster interpersonal relationships, invite participation and value achieving goals. They activate the brain’s reward network, so people feel content and happy.
One way to drive people toward reward and away from threat is by using the SCARF model developed by David Rock, who leads the Neuroleadership Institute. S stands for status, C for certainty, A for autonomy, R for relatedness and F for fairness.
People avoid tackling problems or speaking up about issues when leaders make them apprehensive or insecure about their position or authority. Or when they’re forced to conform to fit in. Or must strive to be accepted as part of the “in-group.” They risk social rejection and the pain of being in the out-group if they speak up. The antidote: Make it safe to relate. Reward people for speaking up. Be open to alternate points of view.
No One in Charge Creates Uncertainty
Uncertainty – the C in the SCARF model – occurs when no one’s in charge and everyone’s in charge. People play it safe and wait for others to act. Someone else will do it, right? Which makes it difficult to predict what will happen. The antidote: Communicate a clear vision. Empower people with autonomy so they know what they’re responsible for and have control.
How do I play in a game where several people hold several power positions? Not knowing where or how to play can bring several of the five SCARF elements into play. Do I have less or more status if I focus on goals versus people? Are things less or more certain for me if I focus on risk? What about attention to detail versus shepherding the big vision? The antidote: Processes and tools to boost collaboration and inclusion, especially in meetings. Leaders speak last, not first. Use the latest in ideation techniques. Create anonymous communication channels.
Sticky Notes Are Equalizers
Some leaders don’t like sticky notes. But they are among the greatest equalizers around. Introverts have as much power with a sticky as extroverts. Brene Brown, University of Houston research professor, asks her team members to write in private how long they think a project will take and what priority each project ought to have. Then at the count of three, they all turn over their sticky notes at the same time. Doing so reveals different understandings of data, different assumptions on what’s needed. It reduces following the lead of the person with the most influence. Or agreeing when you really disagree. It gets people thinking both optimistically AND realistically. Not either or.
The rats don’t return to the level of play they experienced before researchers put a piece of cat collar with cat hair in their cage. But with work, we humans can overcome the presence of cat hair. Antidotes can lead to new habits. Problems can be viewed as opportunity for growth. We can rewire our brains, pruning the no-longer-useful synapses.
The science tells us so.
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