The Culture Fix - Book Summary

Part 1 Summary, Chapters 1-3

I'd like to share with you a brief summary of each section of The Culture Fix: From Core Values to Valued Culture Using 9 Deeds in 90 Days, to give you an idea of what to expect. The book details three stages to work through with your team to fix or improve the culture of your organization.

The first stage of The Culture Fix® focuses on how to bring your CorVals™ (core values) alive. It discusses how we initiate the Culture Czars® methodology into your business. You will take a close look at your company to find out what makes it unique and, and how to clearly bring those elements out in your team. This is done through the implementation of three deeds: Discover, Discern and Describe™.

To complete the Discover phase, we'll need a clear vision of what values you and your company hold in order to bring your CorVals alive. Chances are, you already have a clear understanding of how and why your business was started. We also want to discuss with your employees what they think about the work your company does and the values it represents. The results of this work should encompass not just business philosophies, but also internal lingo, popular stories, and some of the practices of your best employees. Through this practice of introspection, we will discover everything we need to know about your company's CoreVals.

In the Discern phase we need to take all the ideas we discovered in the previous phase and boil them down to the essentials. It's important to gather your team leaders and any other stakeholders together as you establish a small set of clear, memorable CoreVals. Take time to notice employees who show enthusiasm for the process, and who embody the values you think are most important. You might also identify values or characteristics you don't want to be part of your team. By the end, you should have revealed 3 or 4 big ideas that succinctly define what it means to be a part of your organization and its work.

The Describe phase is when we gain clarity by adding a few phrases to each CoreVal to help everyone understand when they are living the company's values. Having clearly described CoreVals can be great when hiring, as it helps you identify potential employees who fit best with your corporate culture. New hires will have action-based criteria for how to bring your values to life. When introducing your CoreVals to the team, you might also find that existing employees recognize they don't fit. Employees selecting themselves out of the organization sometimes happens because the goal of this entire process is inclusion. I encourage the use of "We" in each statement to help create the feeling of belonging and to engender a more personal commitment or promise to the group.

At the conclusion of this 3-stage process you will find yourself with a memorable, engaging, and effective set of values with a message about your business distilled to its essence. With executives, employees and corporate partners all moving with the flow of these values, your workplace will be on its way to becoming a place where people thrive.

Part 2 Summary, Chapters 4-6

Part Two of The Culture Fix discusses how we introduce your new CoreVals to your employees and ways you can implement the values we discovered into their day to day lives. In this stage we will show you how to both present your CoreVals in memorable ways and reinforce them through regular practices that will allow your people to thrive. The three deeds in this stage are Design, Decree, and Dictate.

In the Design phase our goal is to memorialize your core values visually to help both employees and partners to remember them. You'll want to get your core team together and decide on a theme and style for print materials. Let it reflect your organization’s spirit or market niche. I firmly believe that unless CoreVal words are highlighted in some graphic way and, at a minimum, hung on the wall, then they really don’t exist and aren’t part of the culture. I like to see them on posters and postcards, key rings and coffee mugs, or perhaps an item pertinent to your business. Wallpapers for a computer or phone are also highly effective. Not having CoreVals obviously present reflects a company not proud enough or serious enough about them.

We use the Decree phase to integrate your newly clarified CoreVals into the mainstream of your business. Much of this work takes place through the practice of regular meetings. You and your Culture Czars will use these meetings as opportunities to reinforce your CoreVals, for example by recognizing employees caught committing acts that bring your CoreVals to life. As your values, your people, and your company culture begins to thrive, you will find trust building between executives and staff, project leaders and team members, and of course between you and all your people. When you spend your time micro-managing people, you don't have the time to complete the tasks you need to accomplish, and employees won't feel empowered to make decisions without approval of higher-ups. Having strong CoreVals that everyone believes in will simplify every internal and external conflict you and your employees face.

The Dictate phase is the moment when you reveal how these newly forged CoreVals flow through you. The suspense and excitement among your leadership team and the passion of your Culture Czars will grow as you work together to plan how to bring your message to the masses. This event is typically a company-wide gathering, or several smaller ones with a video element, if you cannot be there in person. However you connect with your team, you will deliver a thoughtfully composed speech that sums up your vision for the company’s culture. Don't be afraid to dig for the emotions as you tell the stories of the up and down moments that led you to this point. This event is when you begin to change your role from the leader of a company to a leader of a culture.

With this work behind you, you will be ready to move on to Part 3, which will find you and your company riding behind the powerful force of your valued culture as it drives the performance of your business to greater heights.

Part 3 Summary, Chapters 7-9

Part Three of The Culture Fix discusses the techniques, strategies, and tools we use to harness your Core Values (CoreVals) that will ultimately drive your organization's performance to new heights. In this stage we will show you how these practical uses for your CoreVals will allow you to track and measure both the progress of employees and the return on your investment in culture. The three deeds in this stage are Devise, Deliver, and Determine.

During the Devise phase we use proven techniques to evaluate the performance of employees and establish CoreWorkflows™ to help set them up for success. These processes can also be incredibly successful when meeting with potential new hires. Your CoreVals will inform the criteria you're seeking in an employee, and my interview strategies will help reveal the best fits. When you hear interviewees reflecting your CoreVals back to you, you'll know you're on the right track. This is also the time when we reflect on the existing steps taken throughout the organization in order to best understand how it functions. When seen through the lens of your CoreVals, having these clearly outlined CoreWorkflows will help your people see the big picture, and the purpose behind everything you do.

The Deliver phase will allow us to bring that purpose into focus. We will first want to be sure that your CoreVals are applied both consistently across all members and levels of the organization, and persistently so that their importance to how everyone conducts business never wavers. As you begin to see your people operating in concert, you will begin to see a vision of what success for your company looks like. We'll take the time to look back on your company's past, and then look forward to where we see the company going in the future. This helps us understand the Why of your business, and allows us find a CorePurpose™ that projects a future with attainable goals for growth of the business. The CorePurpose creates the velocity for your valued culture that will lead your business forward. Finally we'll bring your values, processes and purpose together with the CoreChart™, a visual representation of success for your business both for the here and now, and for the future. 

In the Determine phase we will begin to find measurements for both the organization's culture and how well we've succeeded in implementing the tools and techniques that drive performance. In addition to periodic interviews, regular surveys of employees can be a good tool for gathering data. You shouldn't be afraid to gain information through spontaneous interactions with employees either. These moments when you ask targeted questions can provide valuable insight into the growth of your valued culture. As you build this internal measure of culture, you'll then be able to cross-reference that data with your overall business success. Are revenues and profits growing? You'll take those values and divide them by the costs to implement your CoreVals. I'm confident that creating a valued culture in your organization will provide greater ROI than any other step you can take to increase growth.

As you find yourself leading this powerful culture, you'll discover happy employees who love where they work, and why they work. By following the simple steps discussed in my book, you'll soon find that your valued culture has come alive in the minds and lives of your employees, allowing them to thrive in their roles and drive the performance of your company. The costs required to realize this vision come at a minimum compared to the growth you will see, both on the bottom line of your business and in the hearts of your people. If you think you're ready to give the Culture Czars methodology a try, you can get a head start with the free download of my workbook: Discerning Your Core Values.