Successful organizations create definable cultures built upon words and phrases that are known, understood, and used consistently.
I use Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team to enable my clients to talk about personality styles, communication preferences, and team health in a consistent and productive manner. These tools create a common language to build upon - one that each team member can understand and use consistently.
Apart from adopting a pre-constructed language such as DiSC, what are the steps to creating a shared cultural language?
#1: Keep an idea file
I encourage leaders to start by keeping a file containing all of their principles, professional commitments, and commonly used phrases (whether those phrases are original or stolen, or stolen and so deeply embedded over time that they feel original). From this file they can begin the process of intentionally creating a cultural language.
#2: Commit to specific words and phrases
Commit to ways of saying things so that they become memorable touch-points for team members. So, for example, when I talked with a client about hiring and said, "You need to guard your front door so that you don't have to use your back door as often," this resonated with them. When they are looking to add team members they talk about "guarding the front door." They could talk about hiring well and generally accepted principles that make success more likely, but the image of guarding a door has greater impact and is memorable shorthand for what they are seeking to accomplish.
#3: Be consistent in your use of cultural words and phrases
Don't allow people to use key terms in ways that are inconsistent with culture. If you have decided that "leading is a one-to-many relationship" while "managing is a one-to-one relationship," then make sure that "leading" and "managing" are kept separate and used consistently. If words are left unintentionally ambiguous or vague, their power will be diminished.
#4: Correct team members' word choices as needed
You must be intentional in guiding people to use this common language. One of my clients insists that team members refer to their clients as clients of the team and not as clients of an individual team member. No one on that team has his or her own clients. Clients are associated with the team as a whole and this is a central part of the culture that has been crafted.
In summary: You are creating culture around a shared language. Be intentional about your choice of words and phrases as well as being clear about what those words and phrases represent. Be consistent in your usage. Correct one another as needed.
#5: WARNING: Abstract idea alert - The use of enthymemes
Team members will begin to hear these words and phrases in their heads and will complete your argument in support of culture even when you aren't around to influence them directly. (This should sound a lot like the parenting process.) In rhetoric there is a type of argument called an enthymeme where the speaker does not spell out each element of his argument but allows the audience members to supply a portion of the argument from their shared belief system. This engages the minds of the audience members directly and results in a level of self-persuasion that is deeper than simply hearing a speaker lay out his case. Create cultural enthymemes. (NOTE: I'm happy to clarify this process further).
At Julian Consulting we help our clients create cultural languages that express their deepest commitments! Call TODAY to determine how we can serve you in this process.
