Driving the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile
When I was younger, I thought an ideal job would be to drive the Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile…the car that looks like a hot dog on wheels. I only wanted to do it for a day. Long enough to see what it was like, short enough to not be bored. Then I wanted to spend a day working at the Crayola factory making crayons. Then I wanted to drive a Zamboni machine for a day. I had a long list of companies that I thought it would be fun to work at for a day. Long enough to get a feel for the company and the work, short enough to not get bored. To immerse myself in the experience of working in those organizations.
What intrigued me was the story behind the work. What was the experience like doing those jobs? Who worked there? What was the environment like? How fun was the job? I wanted to spend the day marinating in the experience, then share the story. Describe the day in the life, spotlighting the unexpected and lessons learned. The things that pleasantly surprised or disappointed me in the experience.
It wasn’t until this year that I realized I’ve ended up in a career very close to this. I’m not driving Zambonis or making crayons. But I have immersed myself in different companies to experience their “day in the life.” Except it is more like “a few months” or “ a few years in the life.” I get to study the leadership and culture and recognize the things that delight or disappoint. Regardless of industry or geography, patterns and insights emerge, with each culture telling a story.
Lately I’ve seen a lot of articles like: “Is remote work killing company culture?” These are corporate click bait, preying on fears of companies fanning the flames of misconceptions. They offer no practical suggestions and create concern in leaders unsure how to respond to this time. They mislead people into believing culture myths. I want to challenge these myths and share insights I’ve learned from my many years immersed in company cultures. Particularly those in times of stress.
Myth one: culture only exists inside the office. Culture doesn’t exist within walls, it exists in interactions, in crisis, in celebrations and even in humor. Culture embodies what is true for your organization and has become MORE pronounced during remote work. During times of stress, we become more of who we are, not less. Take away the office and you expose the true experience of your culture.
Myth two: culture can be killed or fixed. Culture is reinforced or discouraged in each of our interactions. “Fixing” culture or calling it an initiative implies you will be done at some point. Culture is continually shaped and should be done mindfully and with care. Intentional shaping of culture decreases the need for transformations.
Myth three: the CEO will change the culture. CEOs and leadership teams should set the tone and reinforce the desired culture. The experience of culture is felt at the individual team level and differs from one team to the next. This is why employees and not the CEO will have the greatest impact on shaping culture. Differences aren’t felt by employees until the daily leader is intentional about the behaviors reinforced and discouraged. Employees and teams have more control over their day-to-day than they think.
Myth four: annual employee engagement surveys assess what we need to know about our culture. Most of these are flawed. Assessing once a year captures a moment in time. Results aren’t shared for several months and often lack follow-through, increasing employee skepticism. Responses are only given to the questions asked. Healthy cultures have multiple sources and rituals for listening and responding in real time.
Myth five: Your ability to shape culture isn’t determined by an event. It’s determined by a choice. You actively shape culture through what you reinforce or discourage daily, not only during events. What you do and how you do it may vary, but it begins with a choice. Doing nothing is a choice and demonstrates what is valued to your employees.
During times of stress, our ability to be objective decreases. The way we process information decreases when stressed and impacts our interactions. Establishing rituals can be helpful in navigating and creating consistency for meaningful actions that create focus (e.g. check-in conversations, listening, providing recognition).
People often over rotate in response to a situation. Once virtual, did you feel overloaded with too many online video meetings? Were you overwhelmed with free virtual training and webinars? In attempts to be supportive, we will often over do it and miss clues that we’ve crossed over into “too much.” Regularly ask employees what is working, and what to stop or adjust to avoid over rotating.
What would happen if you weren’t there? A great question for leaders to reflect on their impact. If your role is to aggregate everything your employees do and report it up – you aren’t adding value. Your focus should help bring the best out of your team and remove obstacles, creating value.
Control is an illusion. Micromanagers can emerge during a crisis. They fear looking out of touch if they can’t answer questions about details. Curb this by focusing on three areas:
Prioritize what matters. What can be stopped?
Agree on outcomes, let employees choose how they will achieve them.
Give employees space to work on the outcomes. During planned check-ins, listen. Ask what help is needed or where obstacles should be removed.
Reframe “Why can’t we” into “How might we…”. We naturally focus on what we can’t do: “How can we maintain connection when we aren’t in person?” or “How do we get people back into the office and return to normal?” Reframe questions to shift thinking to what is possible: “How might we have meaningful connectionvirtually?” or ”How do we help employees feel connected and deliver outcomes virtually?”
Some things are harder six months into this pandemic. What felt temporary in March now feels like an unwanted houseguest with no departure date. We keep trying to apply normal behaviors to an abnormal situation. The best thing we can all do is have empathy for one another.
If anyone has an insider tip on how I can drive an Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile or Zamboni machine for a day, hit me up!
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