The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

Product Information

Coyle also dives into the neuroscience that has been on my radar for much of 2018 — and emphasizes that the amygdala is not just about perceiving threats but also plays “a vital role in building social connections.” Those “belonging cues” are all transformed in your brain to help “set the stage for meaningful engagement.” The last component Coyle ascribes to well-functioning groups is purpose. Put simply, purpose is a set of reasons for doing what you do. In his previous book, The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle broke down the matter for the real world. Now, having examined the components of great performance on an individual level, he turns to groups and teams. The Culture Codeis a thorough analysis of how humans work together and how they might keep each other from doing so. You and another person, whom you’ve never met, each get four tokens. Each token is worth a dollar if you keep it but two dollars if you give it to the other person. The game consists of one decision: How many tokens do you give the other person?” pg. 106

Trust comes down to context. And what drives it is the sense that you’re vulnerable, that you need others and can’t do it on your own.” Pg. 107Spending time together outside, hanging out—those help. One of the best things I’ve found to improve a team’s cohesion is to send them to do some hard, hard training. There’s something about hanging off a cliff together, and being wet and cold and miserable together, that makes a team come together.” Pg. 140 Finally, the section on “Establish Purpose” is really fun to read — as he goes to lengths to repeat, a lot of the slogans and catch phrases seem hokey or corny or obvious but the fact is that teams who create compelling, clear goals and articulate them like that are described as “high purpose environments” because they know what they are doing as a team. These catchphrases establish a link between a goal or behavior and “consistently create engagement around it.” Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal. It’s not something you are. It’s something you do.” Pg. xx. We focus on what we can see—individual skills. But individual skills are not what matters. What matters is the interaction.” Pg. xvii Listen Like a Trampoline: Good listening is about more than nodding attentively; it’s about adding insight and creating moments of mutual discovery. The most effective listeners do four things:

According to Coyle, relationships have a physics. Safety grows over time, and like trust, it gets built and delivered by small acts, rather than grand gestures. Connection is established through good communication channels, listening, and showing that we're cared for. I realized that how we treat each other is everything. If we do that well, everything else will fall into place.” Pg. 207 Next, we’ll take a look at the three lessons Coyle outlines in The Culture Code that can help leaders effectively manage culture in their organizations: build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose. Lesson 1: Build Safety Coyle includes a series of action steps in the “Ideas for Action” chapter of this lesson, that leaders can take to ensure they are providing a culture that supports a psychologically safe work environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging.Ensuring that everyone has a voice is easy to talk about but hard to accomplish. This is why many successful groups use simple mechanisms that encourage, spotlight, and value full-group contribution. For example, many groups follow the rule that no meeting can end without everyone sharing something.” Pg. 83 In a study conducted by MIT Sloan, it was revealed that toxic culture was the single best predictor of attrition during the first six months of the Great Resignation. It was ten times more powerful a predictor of turnover than compensation. The key characteristic of the Allen Curve is the sudden steepness that happens at the eight-meter mark….But as Allen shows, our brains do not operate logically.” Pg. 71 Personal, up-close connection (body language, attention, and behavior that translates as I care about you).