Legacy Cultures and Their Controlling Ideas

Jay Newman PhD, Founding Partner, Culture By Choice

Every person and by natural extension every organization has a controlling idea. That idea is not always obvious to people or the organization but when you look closely at what people do and what the organization does and how that stuff gets done, you get a pretty good peek at the controlling idea. The controlling idea is at the core of every person’s and every organization’s values and principles.

One of our clients has a values acronym of PRIDE. The P is for Professionalism. The R is for Responsibility. The I is for Integrity. The D is for Drive. And the E is for Energy. So, on the surface it looks like the controlling idea is being a “driven, energetic, highly responsible, professional who is bound by the highest possible level of integrity.” But, there’s more to it than that. The company creates its list of must haves and must do’s based on these ideas; these are factors that get you hired.. It also creates its list of intolerables based on these ideas; these are the factors that get you fired. But the real core issues arise from the gray areas that lie between. In between lie all the day-to-day actions that make the difference between great and not-so-great.

It’s not just about being a professional, it’s about being the consummate professional. It’s not just about being a responsible person, it’s about going above and beyond expectations. It’s not just about being a person of integrity, it’s about having impeccable integrity. It’s not just about being driven, it’s about being driven with a passion to make the company the best it can ever be. It’s not just about doing your job with energy and enthusiasm, it’s about being an energizing presence for the entire organization. When we look at the day-to-day performance and behaviors of people in the organization, do we see these ideals in action? Or, do we see something different. And, how much deviation from these ideals is tolerated? Now we are beginning to dig deep and perhaps we’ll discover the controlling idea!

Somewhere between the ideal and the barely tolerable is where we find most people in an organization. The goal of management is to move people closer to the ideal. In order for anyone to change, they will need a reason to change. Your desire for greater productivity will not be a sufficient reason to create long term changes. What will inspire people to engage in the change process will be finding greater alignment between the controlling idea of the organization and the controlling idea of the individual. This is all people work. It’s not systems work. Making sure you have the right people in the right seats on your bus is part of the battle. Making sure that compensation and incentive packages meet the motivation and goals of people is another part of the battle. Making sure that expectations are clear is still another key. And, making sure that values, principles, expectations, and alignment issues apply to everyone, no matter who they are or what role they play is the final piece of the puzzle.

Having coached athletes for many years, I realized a long time ago that nobody cared how much I knew about the sport until they knew how much I cared about them. It could not be just me telling them I cared. I had to show them, through my actions, how much I cared. Some times I cared so much about an athlete that I would suggest that maybe this sport wasn’t the best match for their interest and talent. Perhaps I could help them find a better match for what they wanted to do. In an organization we some times find people who are not the best match for the organization and then, as a leader, it’s our responsibility to help put things right. But we can never do this if we don’t know what the controlling idea behind the organization is and if we are not willing to help each member of the organization to discover their own controlling idea as well.

The client I mentioned above has one key controlling idea. They want to be the preferred company in their industry. That’s what they want but that’s not the controlling idea. It’s how becoming the preferred company can actually happen that reveals their controlling idea. To become the preferred company in their industry requires that they provide services to their customers that are unparalleled. Providing such a level of service requires that every employee not only know every product they sell without fault but that they also know every customer so well that they can speak their emotional and motivational language. This requires an understanding of people that goes way beyond simple relationships. This requires that the ideal employee acquires some basic People Acumen skills and then works to continuously improve those skills. The average person wants the world to understand them. The Legacy Leader wants to understand the world.

When you know your controlling idea it is liberating. Every decision becomes easier because you know what the basis for every decision is. When you don’t really know what the controlling idea is, your decisions happen based on the whims of the moment and can be dramatically effected by personalities and persuasion. With a firmly grasped controlling idea decisions have a method and a foundation. If, as an individual, I discover that my organization’s controlling idea is significantly different from my own, I know I have to find a new organization.