What gets someone voted off the island?
"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends." Jane Austen
I was conversing once with Tony, a friend and leadership colleague, about core values and culture inside organizations - vitally important things to get right if you want to excel. Tony asked, rhetorically, "what gets someone voted off the island." This phrase, coined from the reality TV show, Survivor, has become somewhat pop culture as a saying used in a variety of ways. In our case, Tony asked it as a thought-provoking question to force a leader and their team to consider deeply, what values, and beliefs a group should subscribe to and honor.
Merriam Webster defines culture as, "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization." Daniel Coyle does a wonderful job tackling culture in his book, "The Culture Code." It's a worthy read for anyone trying to get this right.
Merriam Webster defines values as, "something (such as a principal or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable." Selflessness, teamwork, innovation, humility, are all examples of values. Teams should list out words like these when creating core values and pick a handful to subscribe to and espouse.
Creating, reviewing, and discussing culture and values are essential for effective teams. As I've often said, leaders ought to be broken records uttering these words and shared beliefs and displaying them through their actions often - daily even, to remind everyone of who 'we' are and what 'we' subscribe to.
I've coached countless people who wrestle with terminating employment for a person. I help them see clearer, often challenging them to describe the culture and the values of the team. Then I ask them to place that person next to these visualized beliefs. "Do you have a match?", I'll ask. Often it is no. Time to vote someone off the island.
Indeed it is not this simple - visualize the match or missmatch then move to termination. There are many things to be considered, including, attempting to shape the person's beliefs to fit the team. Asking and answering this core question upfront will bring clarity to the situation. It will discipline the leader and their team to think deeper about what they believe in.
I'll take the question a bit further. Who gets voted off your organization's island and for what? Now get serious. Culture and values are to be espoused and honored in word and deed every moment of every day, not dormant on a dusty slide hidden from sight and sound. It's simple - culture and values are important to the team, greater than any one individual or their not. Holler if I can help.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell