How to Create a Positive Corporate Culture

How do we create a corporate culture that is revered by everyone? Cultures like Zappos, The San Antonio Spurs, Disney, Pixar Studios and Southwest Airlines? The answer is in ‘Belonging.’

People and their Lizard Brains

Thousands of years ago, our ancestors survived because of their ability to make very fast decisions when they came across a new or unidentified threat (back then, threats could eat us so we had to think fast). That innate, hardwired ability still exists in our brains today. It is known as our limbic system, or ‘lizard brain.’

Today our lizard brains have the ability to, within micro-seconds, instantly judge and analyze someone or something and make an instant assessment of things like height, attractiveness, age, profession, status, etc. Our lizard brains are also constantly scanning and assessing our ‘safety.’

By safety, I am not only referring to our physical safety and whether we are about to get hit by a car or slip on an icy sidewalk, I also mean our ‘social safety.’ When we are young and still innocent, we didn’t give our social safety a second thought. Everyone in our kindergarten class was someone to play with. We didn’t judge them. We didn’t care if they were black, white, fat, skinny or dressed funny. We accepted everyone. We hadn’t been taught to judge, hate or feel inferior in any way… yet.

Fast forward to adulthood. Our lizard brains are constantly scanning the environment. Multiple times per second, we are scanning to see if there are any signs of some new threat. Threats like… What did the CEO really mean when he said he had some exciting news? What was ‘that look’ that my manager just gave me all about?

This is NOT good for building a positive corporate culture.

Creating a Positive Corporate Culture

In order to build a connected, high performance corporate culture of belonging – like you had in kindergarten – we, as leaders, must:

1. Embrace the fact that our people are in a constant state of social safety scanning.
2. Build an environment of trust by being vulnerable. Our people have to see that their leader is human and has weaknesses. They need to hear that you don’t know how to do something. If your ego won’t allow you to do that, then you need to get some expensive therapy and learn how to let go of whatever childhood package you are packing around. When we show that we are vulnerable, paradoxically, it makes our team members feel safe enough to show their vulnerabilities. When that happens, trust in each other starts to flow.
3. Embrace conflict. Healthy conflict is good. Go back to kindergarten where there were no ‘bosses’ and when someone saw a better way to do something, they said it. And … no one was offended. The response was usually: “Cool. Let’s do it.”
4. Lead with purpose. Every communication on anything at all HAS TO start with the purpose behind the decision. Begin with anything else and mistrust ensues.
5. Lay out in a clear and compelling story what it will be like when we have achieved the plan. Stories ‘light-up’ the entire brain and people are able to see what good looks like and how they will be a part of it
6. Make sure everyone hears the message a minimum of seven times. Ten is even better.

Do this and you will hit a magical nirvana cultural state I call ‘belonging.’ We people feel they belong, they will move mountains through good times and bad.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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