Living on the Edge

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone over three out of the four dimensions of culture. Some might think having a blend of Compliant and Committed culture is enough. You have goals, and you go after them. You have processes and procedures, and you follow them. Isn’t that enough to get the job done? 

It is, and it isn’t. 

It may get the job done, yes, but without a healthy Courageous dimension, an organization is never going to succeed in big ways. It may survive for a time, but it will never thrive. 

A business is always doing one of three things—executing strategy, navigating adversity, or capitalizing on opportunity—and two of those three elements require Courageous thinking, action, and interaction. Just executing on strategy all day long will get you nowhere except right back into the negative dimension of Complacency. 

Compliant (and to some extent Committed) operates about 80% of the time from a safe zone. These Dimensions know their core competencies, avoid mistakes, and know where they add the most value. But what about the other 20%?

It’s on the edges of an organization where Courageous cultures are found. It constantly leaves the 80% middle ground where it’s safe and moves close to the edge, daring to ask, Just how far can we go? 

Finding the Right Balance

As with the other three Dimensions, Courageous can become unbalanced by having too much or too little. When you consider organizations that are entirely lacking in the Courageous element, you’re looking at businesses that are either too complacent or too afraid to innovate. 

The fear is driven by uncertainty. Leaders wonder, Will the new ideas really work? If they don’t, will I get egg on my face? And why am I risking anything when things are just fine the way they are? 

These business models, organizational structures, and leadership teams find it difficult to adjust to new ways of thinking and doing. Sometimes managers are paid for making quarterly and annual targets, so they avoid innovations that pay off in the future. 

They spend less than ten percent of their time talking about innovation and revenue growth and spend the other ninety-plus percent focused on cutting costs. They avoid new technologies, believing they aren’t necessary or their customers would never use them. 

Then you have the companies that are dipping their toe into the Courageous dimension, but are afraid to fully embrace it. They embrace what could be called “incremental innovation.” These are small, minimally impactful changes that may make a small positive difference, but if they fail, won’t cause major disruption. They don’t put the primary business model or revenue streams at any risk.

Contrast that with companies who embrace that Courageous edge. Think of streaming services like Hulu and Spotify, who are bringing the downfall of traditional broadcast television and radio. Airbnb has the hotel industry on its toes trying to compete.

It’s the same with Uber and Lyft versus traditional taxi services. The horizon is full of more just like them in areas such as augmented reality, cryptocurrency, and Li-Fi (100x faster than Wi-Fi). Businesses and leaders with an eye to the future and a plan to embrace disruptive changes are businesses with a healthy Courageous culture.

The Courageous Dimension of culture is purpose-driven. Everything is centered on and subordinate to a purpose. The purpose is to make something better, to serve a need, or to create something that didn’t exist before. When purpose is the focus, creativity and innovation thrive. 

Mistakes are seen as a necessary part of success. Leaders allow themselves to be questioned. Curiosity is a driving force within the culture. The organization is constantly looking beyond what it knows to discover what it needs to know. It takes courage to go beyond past success and call everything into question. 

Hierarchy is dismantled, and the thing that matters most is the best idea. In a courageous culture, people are known and appreciated for who they are, and therefore they are seen for what they truly have to offer. Different perspectives are valued and encouraged. 

The organization recognizes its biases and looks to go beyond them. Courageous culture realizes it’s easy to see the value of something that fits within your knowledge and experience. It’s harder to see the value of something that disrupts that knowledge and experience. This culture values disruption. 

Courageous culture is ever-evolving. The point isn’t the pursuit of perfection; it’s the pursuit of better. The people within a Courageous culture have an emotional attachment, and it’s that emotion that raises the level of effort and sustains that effort for long periods of time with very little if any drop-off. 

This culture is built by leaders who are truly authentic and encourage everyone else to be authentic. Employees want to know that they make a difference. They want their work to matter. They want their work to be noticed. In a Courageous culture, everyone is able to see their reflection in the success of the company.