Do not focus on the bad wolf. Choose, instead, to focus on the weekly, daily and hourly feeding of the good wolf.
By Dan Gudgel
One evening, an old Cherokee man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One wolf is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, superiority and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
As leaders, we are charged with one primary task within our realm of responsibility, whether we are a route supervisor, operations manager, district manager or CEO: to drive culture.
Each of our cultures has the propensity to be good or bad, and, as in the proverb above, each of our cultures contains two raging wolves that do battle every day. As leaders, it is our task to be intentional in identifying how to feed the good wolf and starve the bad wolf. So how do we feed a good culture, and how do we starve the bad culture? If you truly care about building a positive culture as your legacy, these questions matter. Let’s take a look at two of the basics.
Purpose, Values, Vision
Nearly every company has a statement of purpose, values and vision on its wall or Web site. Does this statement actually mean something to you as the leader? How about your team members—do they know the meaning behind your values and how that applies to their daily grind? It is critical that your team members are able to align with your company culture and values. To do this, the culture and values must be explicit and have application to their daily tasks.
If you have ever been a member of a sports team, church, trade organization or club (such as the Lions Club, Toastmasters or 4H), you know that they all have a specific and clear set of values that each member typically pledges to at the beginning of each meeting. Your organization should be no different (although pledging is optional). That is why spending some energy to write a clear set of values for your company is really the very first step in building a culture. When you hire people, they need to know what type of club they are joining. After all, we spend more of the day at work than any other place. Shouldn’t we be a part of something that we have a passion for? Shouldn’t people who join your team be able to have a sense that what they do is worthwhile work? It is your job to create this culture and attract people to it. You are the culture herald!
It is important that your values permeate your organization. When someone violates your culture’s values, other people on your team need to recognize it as a deviant behavior (feeding the bad wolf) and keep it in check. I think the clearest example of bad wolf behavior in our industry is reckless driving habits that put our drivers and our communities at risk. Some trash companies have a clear culture of recklessness, which translates into high incident rates and fatalities. Other companies take an approach that encourages a slower and safer pace. Which company would you want in your neighborhood? Once you and your team cease to accept behavior that is contrary to your culture, it will go away. Easy to say, right? As I said, this is just the first step. Your team needs to have a clear understanding of what culture you are championing. You choose the menu for feeding the good wolf; make sure your people know how to feed him too.
CBBWA
You have heard of MBWA (Management by Walking Around), right? CBBWA is Culture Building by Walking Around. What does this mean in practical terms? Is this just walking around the office, shop or yard and chitchatting? It certainly can be, and I think that is very healthy, but that is not all you should be doing. When you hear of a team member who has taken an action to advance your culture, make sure to go to see that person directly. I think it is critical to recognize specific behaviors and positively reinforce them. Your handshake and hearty thank you is monumental to your people; do not underestimate its power. It is food for the good wolf. When you spend time with your people, I guarantee that you will see many opportunities to feed the good wolf. Make sure to mention specific company values that you witness in action: that will encourage the behavior to be repeated. Be intentional about seeking the positive in your people. This is not to say that you should turn a blind eye to the bad wolf feeder, but your interactions should consist primarily of high-energy positivity; this is wildly contagious, and this is how you show your people what good wolf food looks like.
When you see an action that needs correcting, do it immediately. You know exactly the moment I am referring to: when you choose to deal with something, or pretend you didn’t see it. Never look the other way. That is weak leadership, and it will cause you to fail in building the culture your people need. It is critical that the individual needing correction actually understands what he or she has done wrong and how to fix it. However, keep in mind that your people want to please you; don’t take that desire away by disrespecting them. You want to avoid talking to their “lizard brain” (see Smart Tribes by Christina Camaford). This is the part of the brain that takes over when someone feels threatened. When someone retreats to this part of the brain, you may as well give up on expecting anything positive to come from the conversation. I don’t know about you, but when I started out in the industry, putting people into “lizard” mode was one of my supervisor’s polished skills. “Old school” cussing and screaming promotes a fear culture; if this is your leadership style, you will end up with a team of lizard-people who are solely motivated by fear, and do not intrinsically care about results.
Having difficult conversations in a positive manner is probably the most important leadership skill, and it takes a lot of practice and refining. I recommend reading as many books as you can find on the topic and asking someone you know to mentor you in this area. To be clear, this is not “going soft.” This is setting your own ego aside to attempt to truly help your team member to be successful in your culture. Yelling or belittling someone who works for you is nothing short of bullying, and is a blatant abuse of power. Remember that the bad wolf is the negative behavior, not your team member. Starve the behavior, not the person.
Don’t Spread Negative Behavior
Finally, don’t hesitate to get someone off your team when you know that he or she is a bad wolf sympathizer. People will demonstrate this when they continue to undermine your values despite your attempts to show them the light. It does not matter how technically valuable you think this person is to your team; anyone who persists in feeding the bad wolf is killing your culture. Get those people off the team. They can go join a culture that better aligns with their values. As much as we hate to admit it, toxic and negative behavior spreads more quickly than the positive culture that you want to build, so cauterize it quickly.
There will always be a bad wolf, and we as leaders will be just as guilty of feeding the bad wolf as anyone. Don’t let this be an excuse to focus on the bad wolf, though. Forgive and forget the feedings of the bad wolf and instead choose to focus on the weekly, daily and hourly feeding of the good wolf. | WA
Dan Gudgel is a Solid Waste Industry professional, with 19 years in the business. Dan has worked in five states throughout the U.S., as well as Ontario, Canada. Dan graduated from Fresno Pacific University with a Degree in Management and Organizational Development. He can be reached at [email protected].
References/Recommended Reading
Smart Tribes by Christine Camaford
Leading at Higher Level by Ken Blanchard
Helping People Win at Work by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge
Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert I. Sutton