Courageous Cultures Quotes

“The difference in emphasis between psychological safety and courageous cultures may be a meaningful one. When we emphasize psychological safety, we risk putting the burden squarely on the shoulders of leaders—whether of teams or organizations—to do what they can to create environments where others’ voices can be heard. When we emphasize courage, in contrast, we put the spotlight on individuals—inviting them to step up and share what they see, wonder about, and worry about, despite the anxiety they may have about doing so, because of what’s at stake. Here the risk could be seen as asking for heroics on the part of undervalued and at times under-rewarded employees everywhere.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“If you’re serious about building a Courageous Culture, you can’t tolerate even an ounce of harassment or bullying—from anyone, but especially from anyone in a management or leadership role”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“The resistance to change frustrates many leaders, but it doesn’t have to. In fact, the resistance you feel often means there’s an opportunity to Cultivate Curiosity and create buy-in. Your change resistors aren’t necessarily lazy, stuck, negative, or even “resistant.” Rather, they’re normal.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“We have a tradition of creativity—we really value it. For us, it’s all about riding that line between creativity and Clarity. We’ve got teams that move very quickly and customers asking for all kinds of new work, and we say, “Yes, we can do all that amazing and cool work.” But there’s a massive need for us to be able to deliver quality product. The process to drive quality can be frustrating. When we introduce a new framework to ensure quality, instead of asking creative questions and what we could do that is cool, fancy, and shiny, you have to spend time thinking about the framework and how to use it. At first, that is frustrating, but—and this has made the difference—as people get used to the framework, they don’t have to think about it anymore and they can be even more creative.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“With a strong preference for the Curiosity phase of the Courageous Cultures Cycle, your creators love doing what they see as the “real work”—building new products and services. They’re usually impatient with process and hate paperwork. Creators often resist cultural efforts to establish Clarity and label these efforts as oppressive, stifling, or limiting.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Our brains can do amazing work when we remove the emotional blocks. When you do this for your team, you train their brain to engage, to push through their ordinary blocks, and increase their performance. Ultimately, they will be able to have these conversations with themselves and will need to bring only the very serious issues to you.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When someone says, “I don’t know,” your ninth question is: “What might you do if you did know?” The person who was stymied two seconds ago will start to share ideas, brainstorm solutions, and move on as if they were never stuck. It’s amazing and hard to believe until you try”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When they don’t know how to solve a problem, the management cliché of “Don’t bring me a problem without a solution” means your team won’t bring you problems.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When you solve problems for your team instead of with your team, you teach them to stop thinking. Take time to slow down just enough, even during times of crisis, to bring others along and help them rise to the occasion. Don’t be a hero, be a hero farmer.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“If you want better ideas, help your employees know what differentiates a good IDEA by giving them a few criteria to follow. When they can think through these elements, their idea has a better chance of being used and making a difference. I—Interesting. Why is this idea interesting? What strategic problem does it solve? How will results be made better by this idea (customer experience, employee retention, efficiency)? D—Doable. Is this idea something we could actually do? How would we make it happen? What would make it easier or more difficult? E—Engaging. Who would we need to engage to make this happen? Why should they support it? Where are we most likely to meet resistance? A—Actions. What are the most important actions needed to try this? How would we start?”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“The second group of people who want you to “just tell me what to do” are doing what they know has made them successful in the past. Through much of school and in many organizations, you can get along quite well by just following instructions. Often, they were hired for this same characteristic. The challenge for these people is the same as for organizations everywhere: the world is changing and computers are far more efficient at being told what to do.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“To draw out the great value silent, ponderous people can contribute, start by giving them time to think. For some meetings, this means giving them the main topic a day or two in advance and asking them to think about it. In some settings, simply having everyone write down ideas first will give everyone time to process.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When it comes to building a Courageous Culture, one of the fundamental differences is a person’s preference for process or creation. People who prefer to manage process have a strong preference for Clarity. Those who prefer to create have a strong preference for Curiosity. Part of building and maintaining a Courageous Culture is to bring these folks together and leverage their natural strengths while helping them navigate the dance between Clarity and Curiosity.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Your employees experience your organization through their day-to-day team and their immediate leader.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“There’s a world of difference between insisting on someone’s doing something and establishing an atmosphere in which that person can grow into wanting to do it. —MR. ROGERS”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“John sat down and looked at the ceiling. “So, they can’t work it out because . . .” “Because you’re sending two very different messages about what matters most.” At the highest level, the words were clear: “Get the new product to market quickly.” But one of the reasons the company struggled to get there was that their compensation, recognition, and reward systems weren’t aligned with the strategic goal. The sales team’s compensation and bonus structure required time from engineering to solve customer issues with the older products. Time they couldn’t get until they yelled. Misaligned systems undermined everyone’s progress and resolve. Once they realigned their compensation and performance evaluation systems to support the strategic goal, everyone could work together.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“One of Amy Edmondson’s most important findings about psychological safety at work is that it happens at the team level. Two teams working at the same company with all the same infrastructure can have radically different levels of FOSU and, consequently, different levels of microinnovations, problem solving, and customer advocacy depending on their manager.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“As it turns out, Brian thrived in a high-Clarity culture. When handed a playbook, he knew exactly what to do. And did it flawlessly. But in the whirlwind of a fast-growing start-up, he was completely lost. He had trouble transferring what he had learned in his old role to his new job. Frustrated by the lack of guidelines and procedures, he kept going to his boss for help in making every little decision. He was too overwhelmed to innovate. He was lucky to just get through the day. In the interview, Violet had been so focused on what his company was doing, she didn’t get a good sense of Brian’s capacity to replicate it on his own.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“If I’m ever in doubt about whether a leader is making a positive impact on my organization, I ask myself this most important question, Would I want my child working for this person? If the answer is no, I know I need to make the tough call. —DAVID ALEXANDER, President, Soliant”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When it comes to demonstrating results, there are two common problems leaders experience: blind trust and lost trust. Leaders who trust blindly assume that because everyone has understood and agreed, everything will happen as it should. They neglect to follow up because they get busy, they worry that inspecting conveys mistrust, or they don’t think they should have to follow up. Leaders who lose trust as they follow up typically focus exclusively on the numbers and neglect to lead the human beings on their team. A healthy Show will help your leaders avoid either of these problems and Galvanize the Genius you’ve worked so hard to build.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Do you have a talented team of top performers who don’t seem to be running with the latest innovation or great idea you’ve introduced to the team?”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“The antidote to inertia and the gravitational pull of routine is 5x5 communication. This means you communicate mission critical information five times, five different ways. People build memories, meaning, and significance with what they see or hear regularly—that’s why we encourage you to communicate five times.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“The three elements to galvanize your genius are Know, Flow, and Show. Know means to clearly articulate what success looks like and the fundamental behaviors that make it happen. Flow is your ability to translate vision into behaviors and ensure all employees understand what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how their work fits into the big picture. Show is about demonstrating that leaders and team members know what to do, do it well, and address unforeseen challenges before the rust sets in.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“First, galvanize means to “excite someone into action”—and that’s certainly what you and your team want to happen with all the genius ideas you’ve discovered. Galvanize has a second relevant meaning as well: it’s the process where iron or steel is treated with a protective layer of zinc in order to prevent rust and corrosion. In Courageous Cultures, corrosion looks like that slide back to old behaviors or safe silence. None of that. It’s time to Galvanize the Genius: to excite your team to action and prevent the slow decline of the culture you’ve all worked so hard to build.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When you look at an idea that has merit and “just might work” but that also comes with a number of challenges, go back to Cultivate Curiosity. The “how can we” question is particularly helpful here: “How can we make this apple viable? Well, we could charge more. But would people pay it? I’m not sure, but we can test that and find out.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“consistent with their culture and context. Localizing the principle is an incredibly powerful technique to create ownership, pride, and sticky customer (and employee) experiences. It’s not easy for your competitors to mimic because they can’t just copy a best practice—it requires careful leadership work to align the principles with your strategic goals and then the local creativity from empowered team members to Practice the Principle in ways that are relevant and make sense.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“when you help your team members to think critically about their own ideas, they’re more likely to find meaningful solutions. Forty percent of our research respondents said they lacked the confidence to share their ideas. Forty-five percent said there’s no training in critical thinking and problem solving. When you ask your team to think about why an idea works, you help to address both of these obstacles to building teams of Microinnovators and Customer Advocates.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done. —AMELIA EARHART”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“If you seek out ideas to celebrate, make sure to recognize at least one contribution that didn’t succeed or hasn’t been used yet. You want to reinforce the act of thinking and problem solving, not just successful implementation.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Teams that consistently improve don’t leave the creativity to chance. They have an intentional plan to find good ideas, test, refine, share, and encourage problem solving.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates