230: Build a Micro Culture

The Corporate Yogi Podcast

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on Micro Cultures and discovering whether or not you have one or maybe even need one. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I’ll explain why you would build one and what it actually is

2 – Then in the second segment I’ll explain the advantages of building one.

3 – In the third segment I want to make a note about loyalty

4 - And in the last segment I’ll explain how to build one

So, get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

I think the best way of describing a micro culture is explaining why you might want to build one. Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong to the rest of your organization? Ever felt like the Black Sheep, or the rebel. Maybe you felt like the one person who constantly viewed things through a different lens. These feelings of not belonging may have led you to define your own team brand, core values, purpose, and vision that feels different from your boss and the greater company. This could have been caused by many different reasons. Your boss doesn’t respect or appreciate you or the work your team does. Or vice versa because you don’t feel like you respect them or their work. It could be because you feel like you value and appreciate things that aren’t really important to them, or they’ve taken actions that you don’t respect. Either way, over time, in order to survive or thrive you and your team have developed your own code of conduct and no longer want to be dictated by the typical company culture and be stuck with values that don’t align with you. This is building a microculture, and it serves two purposes. First, you’re responding to the fact that you don’t agree with what they’re pushing as culture and second, you are organically creating something that fits more with you and your team. It create the type of environment that allows them to thrive, be the best version of themselves and contribute to creating the most fulfilling environment to do their best work. Whereas the main company may find it difficult to attract an employee or retain an employee, a microculture allows them to thrive, which results in you establishing a very loyal and hardworking environment. In many instances a microculture is established by a team that is disenchanted with their greater company at large, thereby creating an environment whereas a microculture retains them and makes them stick around. Another scenario when a micro culture may be created is through a merger or acquisition. I had this experience years ago when we were acquired by a large corporation. I remember the day when the announcement was made, and the CEO looked me in the eye, then proceeded to scan the rest of the room and said he was excited to work with us because our cultures were exactly the same. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. We had flexible hours and casual work from home culture. He did a 9:00am walk around to make sure that everyone is at their desk for core working hours. It couldn’t have been further from our culture. So we unintentionally kept our company culture and traditions alive to honour this great business we had built, we were creating a microculture. We held on as along as we could, then they eventually just consumed us. That wraps segment 1 on explaining what a micro culture is.

SEGMENT 2

So, I promised to share some of the advantages of building a micro culture, and here they are. It helps to build loyalty to you as a leader. You’ve likely heard the saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave bad managers. I also believe the opposite to be true, that people are extra loyal to good managers. Another advantage of a micro culture is that you can avoid a lot of wasted time shielding your team from bad politics, you give them a vision and a purpose to direct their energy into instead. I always feel bad for people managers who are constantly giving out their great leadership and guidance, but they’re not receiving the same great leadership from their boss. Imagine having your 9 o’clock meeting with your manager and being yelled at and disempowered by your manager, then having to turn around, dust yourself off for your 10am, and shift gears back to your regular motivational self to meet with your team and give them the great leadership and guidance that they deserve? That’s hard and frustrating to be in an environment like that. Here are some other advantages you may experience. You draw in the great talent, and also get to keep them too. It’s like being the cool team in town that everyone wants to be a part of. It gives you hope and a stronger sense of control over the people you are grooming, product you are delivering and work you are producing. You are largely insulated from the toxic behavious that permeates the rest of the organization. OK, wrapping up Segment 2 and all the advantages of a micro culture.

SEGMENT 3

Let’s dive into segment 3, and talk about Loyalty, which some of you may be thinking about. Are any of you wondering if building a micro culture might be more destructive to than helpful to the greater company, because rather than abiding to the main cultural norms and towing the company line, you’re putting energy into something else. This isn’t what I learned in business school, we were taught that a company had to be built up as a team of abiding robots. I need you to start to see this as a conditioned thought that makes us believe that a single culture is advantageous for us. Here’s a perspective from Simon Sinek, who is the famous author or Start with Why, and famous for his work done on finding purpose. Reading his latest book Find your Why really helped me to see micro cultures in a whole new way. This perspective is taken from his book where he talks about individual departments in a company doing their own “”Why Discovery sessions””. He says that the great thing about a why discovery for a subgroup or a microculture is that it can influence the whole organization to want to find its why. When a single division starts to think, act and communicate based on it’s Why, good things happen. Performance tends to improve, innovation tends to rise, employee turnover tends to decline. Senior management notices these developments. Employees in other divisions notice as well because the people in the why group tend to enjoy coming to work more than before. After Simon did a tribe wide discovery for one small team at a team he was working for , the phone started ringing in other areas of the company and people started asking if there were any positions available on that team. In that way, the tail can wag the dog. A small group of inspired and engaged employees can have a positive impact on the entire organization. I want to make sure you catch that last sentence, because that’s the most important part: In that way the tail can wag the dog. A small group of inspired and engaged employees can have a positive impact on the entire organization. That’s the power of micro cultures. So as you can see, a company can really benefit positively from having different micro cultures. And that’s a wrap on segment 3

SEGMENT 4

So after listening to my description and my stories, are you inspired to actually build a micro culture with your team? Well, I wish I had a 5 step formula you could follow to create one, but unfortunately they’re not usually created like that, they’re more organic. So, here’s a list of distinguishing factors for a micro culture. 1: Functioning as a system: Participants often function like a system which is a collective group of people with a common identity or purpose. It’s a connection on a deep level. 2 – Holding a shared purpose: participants feel like they’re part of something that is greater than themselves 3 – Sharing power: there is often shared power and less reliance on hierarchy. Your team members want to feel like they have a say in all matters, and you definitely want to hear what they think, and encourage them to get involved in things 4- A collective pride of ownership. There is a clear pride of ownership for the work they do, as it is a direct reflection of them. Are you inspired by that list of distinguishing factors for a micro culture. I’ve also had the distinct experience of working with clients who have built a microculture. Some of them intentionally and some by accident. Firstly, there’s Simon who works in finance and had a very unique group of specialty trained employees. For years he struggled to retain them because as a team they just never felt like fit into the mainstream culture of the organization. This made it hard for him to draw new talent and retain new talent. It also impacted their productivity, and every time they had an innovative idea, they felt like someone was shooting it down. Morale on his team deteriorated, and he felt like he was burning out from constantly trying to motivate everyone and physically hold their spirits up. Finally they started to build their own micro culture and stopped trying to force their way into the larger organization. Looking at them today, Vs who they were 2 years ago, it’s like they’re a completely different team. I’d also like you to meet Claire, both her and her team felt disrespected by their senior leadership team. Do they care? Are they watching? Do they even know who we are? Over the course of our 6 month engagement Claire and I did many exercises and offsites with her team to give them hope, and…. It worked. Although the team was always productive, they weren’t always happy and didn’t feel like they had a clear vision, so why should their work matter. Through Claires patience and positivity, she was able to create an environment where her team actually got what they wanted and they are thriving. Ok let’s recap those 4 distinguishing factors of a microculture: 1: Functioning as a system: 2 – Holding a shared purpose: 3 – Sharing power: there is often shared power and less reliance on hierarchy. Your team members want to feel like they have a say in all matters, and you definitely want to hear what they think, and encourage them to get involved in things.

4- A collective pride of ownership.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on building a micro culture. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss micro cultures or coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, especially a fear fantasy, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.