The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

by Daniel Coyle

The trick is not just to send the signal but to create engagement around it.

heuristics

“KIPPsters do the right thing when no one is watching,”

“If a teammate needs help, we give; if we need help, we ask,”

hokey

Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they’ll find a way to screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a good team, and they’ll find a way to make it better. The goal needs to be to get the team right, get them moving in the right direction, and get them to see where they are making mistakes and where they are succeeding.”

Most of these meetings access the brainpower of the entire group while maintaining the creative team’s ownership over the project.

It’s more important to invest in good people than in good ideas.

place Catmull in charge and, without changing any personnel, allow him to reengineer the group’s culture.

“We’re not going to turn Disney into a clone of Pixar. What we’re going to do is build a studio on your talent and passion.”

hymnal

Listing your priorities, which means wrestling with the choices that define your identity, is the first step.

Figure Out Where Your Group Aims for Proficiency and Where It Aims for Creativity:

Make it safe to fail and to give feedback.

Measure What Really Matters: The main challenge to building a clear sense of purpose is that the world is cluttered with noise, distractions, and endless alternative purposes. One solution is to create simple universal measures that place focus on what matters.

parlance,

“What Worked Well/Even Better If” format for the feedback sessions: first celebrating the story’s positives, then offering ideas for improvement.

“Every story should have VOW: voice, obstacles, and wanting.

I also struggled with the challenge of not doing things: allowing conversations to occasionally ramble off-topic instead of leaping in to seize control.

wrung