The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

by Daniel Coyle

Exchanges of vulnerability, which we naturally tend to avoid, are the pathway through which trusting cooperation is built. This idea is useful because it gives us a glimpse inside the machinery of teamwork. Cooperation, as we’ll see, does not simply descend out of the blue. It is a group muscle that is built according to a specific pattern of repeated interaction, and that pattern is always the same: a circle of people engaged in the risky, occasionally painful, ultimately rewarding process of being vulnerable together.

trainees were put into groups of six

everyone did the training, no matter their rank. This, of course, included Kauffman.

small teams solving problems in a constant state of vulnerability and interconnection.

We’re trying to create leaders among leaders. And you can’t just tell people to do that. You have to create the conditions where they start to do it.”

sought opportunities to spotlight the need for his men to speak up, especially with newer team members.

After-Action Review,

AARs happen immediately after each mission and consist of a short meeting in which the team gathers to discuss and replay key decisions.

“It’s got to be safe to talk,” Cooper says. “Rank switched off, humility switched on.

relentless willingness to see the truth and take ownership.

How do you follow an order that carries what you consider to be an unacceptably high risk?

He accepted the use of the stealth helicopters and also started preparing in case they failed.

“People in all kinds of disciplines, on all kinds of projects, talking about their project with someone who’s working on something entirely different, to put a new light on things.

the most effective listeners do four things: They interact in ways that make the other person feel safe and supported They take a helping, cooperative stance They occasionally ask questions that gently and constructively challenge old assumptions They make occasional suggestions to open up alternative paths

most effective listeners behave like trampolines. They aren’t passive sponges. They are active responders, absorbing what the other person gives, supporting them, and adding energy to help the conversation gain velocity and altitude. Also like trampolines, effective listeners gain amplitude

whenever you ask a question, the first response you get is usually not the answer—it’s just the first response,”

You have to find a lot of ways to ask the same question, and approach the same question from a lot of different angles.

In Conversation, Resist the Temptation to Reflexively Add Value: The most important part of creating vulnerability often resides not in what you say but in what you do not say.

Skilled listeners do not interrupt with phrases like Hey, here’s an idea or Let me tell you what worked for me in a similar situation because they understand that it’s not about them. They use a repertoire of gestures and phrases that keep the other person talking. “One of the things I say most often is probably the simplest thing I say,” says Givechi. “‘Say more about that.’”

What will we do the same next time? What will we do differently?

Review, which is built around a similar set of questions: What are our intended results? What challenges can we anticipate? What have we or others learned from similar situations? What will make us successful

the SEALs’ habit of running the AAR without leadership involvement, to boost openness and honesty.

BrainTrusts,

assembling a team of experienced leaders

who have no formal authority over the project and letting them critique its strengths and weaknesses in a frank and open manner. A key rule of BrainTrusts is that the team is not allowe...

Red Teaming is a military-derived method for testing strategies; you create a “red team” to come up with ideas to disrupt or defeat your proposed plan. The key is to select a red team that is not wedded to the existing plan in any way, and to give them freedom to think in new ways that the planners might not have anticipated.

to build the habit of opening up vulnerabilities so that the group can better understand what works, what doesn’t work, and how to get better.

Aim for Candor; Avoid Brutal Honesty:

it’s more effective to keep performance review and professional development separate.

Development, on the other hand, is about identifying strengths and providing support and opportunities for growth.

everything to do with a simpler ability:

to pay focused attention to a small handful of key markers.

Here is where we are and Here is where we want to go.

mental contrasting,

Envision a reachable goal, and envision the obstacles.

“The conjoint elaboration of the future and the present reality makes both simultaneously accessible and links them together in the sense that the reality stands in the way of realizing the desired future.”

the workers had received a clear beacon of purpose, and it made all the difference.

selection of employees based on emotional capabilities, respectful treatment of employees, and management through a simple set of rules that stimulate complex and intricate behaviors benefiting customers.”

The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled.

We are all paid to solve problems. Make sure to pick fun people to solve problems with.

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.

Hire people smarter than you. Fail early, fail often. Listen to everyone’s ideas.

Face toward the problems. B-level work is bad for your soul. It’s more important to invest in good people than in good ideas. You’ll notice that, in contrast to Danny Meyer’s vivid, specific language, these are defiantly un-catchy, almost zen-like in their plainness and universality. This reflects the fundamental difference between leading for proficiency and leading for creativity: Meyer needs people to know and feel exactly what to do, while Catmull

needs people to discover that for...

“The people who made these films are the same people who were there when they were failing,” he says. “We put in some new systems, they learned new ways of interacting, and they changed their behavior, and now they are a completely different group of people when they work together.”

Leaders are inherently biased to presume that everyone in the group sees things as they do, when in fact they don’t.

This is why it’s necessary to drastically overcommunicate priorities.