Everybody loves a good framework. A step-by-step process to unlocking success with defined guardrails and exercises.
Even better if that framework comes with a simple visual representation. Something akin to building a house, laying a foundation, framing up the walls, and filling it with joy and wonder.
We in the business symbolism world rarely build houses or cars into our visuals, however, because it’s a more complex process in reality and the metaphor doesn’t stand up to scrutiny when drawn in clip art. Yes, we like to tell you about building an engine to run your luxury Tesla system, but the assemblage of the tires and wheels never quite make it onto the slide deck.
Instead, we build pyramids. Or at least, we love the idea of building pyramids. One of the 7 wonders of the world! Who could argue with that metaphor?
Here is our clear step-by-step diagram, with foundational behaviors people can really get behind! And just look at that peak! That’s what dreams are made up of, the penthouse of pharoahs and kings!
In all seriousness, pyramids are pretty great, if you don’t think too hard about how they were built before cranes and cement. Many a SmartArt design has involved flipping through a pyramid options a couple of times just in case, this one time!, the format actually fits the content.
I’m still waiting for that day.
Here’s a solid proposal-
The org chart. That’s a pyramid (I’m going to ignore my urge to insert <scheme> right here…) institutionalized by successful corporations around the world.
This simple representation of the org struction conveys the message. The many associates and line workers do the work that make the rest of the structure feasible. Without those employees, there would be no CEO or Board of Directors. That org chart would be more akin to a house of cards than the monuments that large enterprises aspire to.
It’s also a great way to convey levels of responsibility for those same employees. Master the foundational behaviors before you can be promoted to the next level. Each level of the pyramid should lay claim to all of the skills and behaviors represented below them. That’s how you know that this is a meritocracy and those in power must have earned their place in the structure.
(That’s sarcasm people, for those of you who were too lazy to look up “meritocracy”. I see you.)
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who’s entire job it is to make his company more efficient, better performing, and more profitable.
The concept of identifiable behaviors that represent the values and culture a company is trying to achieve has been a favorite mental exercise of ours as of late. If the company culture says “Integrity” is a core value, what does that actually look like in terms of observable behaviors?
Better yet, how are do those observable behaviors change and evolve as an individual moves up the chain of command?
In an associate, integrity might be escalating to a supervisor when there’s a quality issue in the manufacturing line. This person doesn’t have to do that. In fact, most likely this means more rework for the associate, and they may have to stay late to make up for the rejected product in order to meet a customer deadline. There’s no instant gratification incentive associated with speaking up. But in a culture where integrity is rewarded, this associate’s prompt call out pays dividends in good will and maybe some celebrity status for preventing the customer from receiving defective product.
In the lense of responsibility, the associate has no direct authority to exercise a fix to what could be a plant-wide root cause, where as the supervisor might be empowered to do so. In this case, the associate has exercised an observable behavior that aligns with the core value of integrity.
Meanwhile, if the informed supervisor were to sit on this information and shrug it off, this is the opposite of integrity. An observable behavior at this level might be to start an improvement project to identify the root cause of the defect and then lobby for budget to make the appropriate fixes. This is work. And it is also integrity.
Looking back at our pyramid, we might also call out that this same supervisor could also execute the associate-level behavior of identifying the defect and escalating the problem simultaneously with taking the initiative to start a continuous improvement project. Wonderful! As we up-level our employees, they become capable of performing behaviors we expect from our foundational employees in addition to the higher-level behaviors!
Here’s where this analogy hits a fun little snag.
To get to the next level of the pyramid, the supervisor must now learn how to talk to the big wigs. And man, these big wigs speak a whole ‘nother language! My poor supervisor never got no MBA, didn’t get their undergrad in accounting, but now, in order to get my continuous improvement project approved for funding, the supervsior has to speak executive language!
In a world where the top of the pryamid doesn’t codify their own version of observable behaviors that support the integrity value, my up-leveled supervisor gets the door slammed in their face with a big red “Rejected” stamped all over their proposal. He don’t know why is proposal was rejected. He just knows that if he wants to keep his job, he ain’t ever asking for that project again. He’s gonna keep his head down and do as he’s told.
No one ever told him about presenting his data, articulating ROI, payback periods, and alternative solutions. Why would you need any of that when the solution is so obviously correct?
He has no idea that to a director-level big-wig, the solution is not so obvious. Nor does he have a concept of the competing priorities these executives need to juggle, or the questions they’ll have to answer to their bosses on how their teams spent their time this quarter. All of this is a mystery unless the company culture is deliberately transparent about executive behaviors and expectations.
The pyramid is upside down.
In servant leadership, the pyramid starts with the tiny tip of the pyramid representing the CEO at the bottom of the diagram. Her entire purpose is to be the one-woman foundation for all of the other employees under her care.
When a proposal crosses her desk that doesn’t have enough information to make an informed decision, she sends it back with a list of questions and a template for presenting the answers.
When conversations about what observable behaviors should look like at the C-suite level, she’s the first to stand up and explain to her team that her entire job is to remove roadblocks and empower her team.
She then asks:
- What do I need to stop doing?
- What do I need to start doing?
- What am I doing I should keep doing?
And then she drills down to understand what an observable behavior version of those answers looks like for her and her team.
Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Riot, and Blizzard don’t like to admit that founders and CEOs set the tone and culture for the rest of the company. That poor behaviors in the ranks is reflective of poor leadership at the top.
But companies like Apple and Tesla know the truth. The founder’s ideals, ambitions, and prejudices are baked into the systems. AI takes on the biases of its creator. And those who complacently tell their teams “you can’t change the leaders, just worry about your own behaviors” have the pyramid upside down.