C R E AT I N G A L E A D E R S H I P C U LT U R E

C U LT U R E H E L M - M A R C H 2 0 1 4

T H I S I S T H E S T O R Y B E H I N D T H E T R A N S F O R M AT I O N O F @ H U B S P O T D E V

F I R S T I T R A N S F O R M E D M Y S E L F

Good

Less Good

S E R VA N T L E A D E R S H I P

The spark

– M I C H A E L B E R G D A H L

“Servant leadership is the foundation and the secret of Sam Walton’s ability

to achieve team synergy.”

The reminder

– D AV E R A M S E Y

“You don’t have to be subservient to be a

servant leader.”

M A N A G E A C T I V I T I E S I N S T E A D O F T R Y I N G T O M A N A G E R E S U LT S

– J A C K W E L C H

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader,

success is all about growing others”

T Y P I C A L L E A D E R S H I P P Y R A M I D

Exec

VPs

Directors

Managers

Individuals

S E R VA N T L E A D E R S H I P F U N N E L

Customers

Individuals

Managers

Directors

VPs

Exec

T Y P I C A L C O R P O R AT E H A P P I N E S S

Exec

Individual Contributors

Managers

VPs & Dirs

O U R V E R S I O N O F H A P P I N E S S

Exec

Individual Contributors

Managers

VPs & Dirs

I N S T I N C T- D R I V E N

N O T D ATA - D R I V E N

L E A D I N G N O T R E A C T I N G

M O ’ P R O B L E M S

I N D I V I D U A L S H AV E N O C H O I C E B U T T O O P T I M I Z E F O R “ T H E I R ” N U M B E R

A B O V E A L L E L S E

M A N A G E R S B E G I N T O T O L E R AT E B A D B E H AV I O R A N D B A D A C T O R S I F

T H E I R “ N U M B E R S ” L O O K G O O D

E V E N T U A L LY G A M I F I C AT I O N A R R I V E S

M A N A G E M E N T C Y C L E S N O W F O C U S O N C R E AT I N G E L A B O R AT E R U L E S

A N D P O L I C I N G I N D I V I D U A L S

I N D I V I D U A L S A N G E R E D B Y M I C R O M A N A G I N G A N D N E W R U L E S

E N D L E S S G A M E O F W H A C K - A - M O L E

M A K I N G T H E S H I F T

N O S H O R T C U T S

W H AT D O Y O U N E E D T O S TA R T

• Dedication

• Someone to be the human shield

• Someone(s) to listen AND react to even the slightest suggestion

• The discipline to remove bad actors who can hurt the team culture. Yes even if they are top performers

• A dedication to constant iteration and learning from mistakes

C O O P E R AT I V E N O T C O L L A B O R AT I V E

• Say NO to consensus, to meetings, to committees to group think. “Consensus” is a dirty word.

• Find leaders who have opinions but are humble enough to learn from their mistakes.

• Let people make mistakes, they need this to really learn a lesson. No cliff notes here.

A U T O N O M Y

• Personal goals/passions have to be aligned with professional opportunities.

• It’s your job as a leader to make sure those two are aligned.

• It’s harder than it looks. Most people cannot articulate what their personal goals are. You have to tease it out of them and then test.

P R O G R E S S

• It is a leaders job to be two steps ahead creating new opportunities for team members to keep progressing.

• The focus here is constant learning, not comp, not titles.

• The worst thing to happen is to be caught off guard and have to react to someone asking for a change

• By the time someone is speaking out it may be too late.

S TAT E S R I G H T S / D E M O C R A C Y

• Leaders need to provide the guardrails and goal posts.

• When things are working well you do not need to micromanage or even be in the loop.

• When things are not working you need to micromanage only up until the point that the team is back on track, then back off.

I M P O R TA N T

• You don’t get to write the Roadmap. Each team writes their own.

• You can’t delegate hiring to recruiters or anyone else. It is your job, forever.

• Caring for your team and preserving the culture also can’t be delegated.

R E C A P

T U R N F O L L O W E R S I N T O L E A D E R S

• Fight your own instincts to take control.

• Create a model of giving control.

• Success will only come if you can build leaders

• Your team has to outlive you.

• To do this you will need to bite your tongue and let people make avoidable mistakes.