Creating a Culture of Trust

When Stan Moss took over as CEO of investment firm Polan Capital in 2012, he made it part of his mission to create a workplace culture of trust amongst his team members. From his perspective, psychological safety is the pinnacle of workplace trust, and to get there, leadership must take this concept from words to actions. Back in 2012, Moss and his team began by reading Dr. Carol Dweck’s best seller Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, all about growth mindset. Believing that an individual, team, or business can continue to thrive in the face of challenges and failures innately empowers people to both collectively share their ideas, and feel comfortable challenging the way others think.

In order to foster this environment, Moss and his team adopted the practice of giving and receiving real-time constructive feedback, or what they call "radical candor”. It is not possible to maintain a growth mindset when feedback is received from a source deemed untrustworthy. No one enjoys having these difficult conversations, but if the receiver knows that the giver has their best interests at heart, and wants them to grow and thrive in their shared environment, it becomes a lot easier to hear constructive criticism.

To turn these abstract ideas into actions, Polan Capital first made David Horsager’s book Trust Edge a firm-wide mandatory read (they then went on to have Horsager give a keynote speech to the company), highlighting his eight pillars of trust. Every month, one of the eight pillars of trust got its own deep dive, and employees would nominate colleagues they believed embodied that trait. Through this, Moss believes, Polan Capital has ended up on the Pensions & Investments’ Best Places to Work in Money Management list seven years straight.

Establishing this bottom-up approach to trust has also empowered the leadership team to become “radical receivers”. Moss and his team regularly solicit feedback from those working directly with them, and they are committed to holding themselves accountable to it. Asking questions, and remaining open to others’ ideas are key ways in which higher-ups can avoid becoming defensive during these sessions.

As with any cultural shift, this did not happen overnight. It took years of commitment, continued education, and personal growth to get to where they are. But, ten years later the folks at Polan Capital are still thriving in the culture of trust that has been created. Check out Moss’s full article here for more real-world examples of how he and his team walk the walk of psychological trust in the workplace.

Brain Waves and Workplace Culture

Those who read this blog routinely will know that Wharton’s Nano-Tools for Leaders are shared here with gusto. Recently, the same group that brings us those fascinating and useful tools (the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative) published the results of a study that stands to have a far-reaching impact on workplace culture. With all the blogs, books, podcasts, etc. on improving workplace culture, no one has yet studied how our brain works on work. To do that, Wharton and global consulting company Slalom paired up with volunteers to study brainwaves of people while at work.

The “Slalom 300” as they came to be called (which actually included over 650 volunteers by the end of the study) was inclusive of those in every part of the company. Volunteers wore a brainwave-sensing headset while working, then uploaded data to secure servers. Through this data collection, neuroscientists were able to analyze and come away with a few key findings. First, taking breaks makes our brains work better. This may seem obvious, but in our modern hybridized work situations, we are in more and more back-to-back meetings than ever before. In fact, the average Microsoft Teams user spends 252% more time in meetings now than in February of 2020. Taking at least a 10 minute break between meetings not only led to more efficiency, but higher levels of creativity when it came to problem solving.

The second finding was quite interesting. The researchers found that potential chemistry among team members can be surmised by similar brain wave patterns. Just like friendships outside of the office, those with similar brain wave patterns seem to be drawn to one another. Interestingly, this brain wave activity was not measured when the compatible employees were near each other. Each participant watched a video on separate occasions. The volunteers then listed other employees that they considered friends, and lo and behold, those who were close with each other had the most similar brain activity while watching the videos. Lastly, researchers found that internal optimistic messaging (in Slalom’s case they used the slogan “love your work and life”) did not resonate much with employees who were not engaged in the larger company. In their case, those volunteers working on more of the global platform were not necessary engaged with employees on the local level, which led to a feeling of disconnection. In response, Slalom took steps to build stronger connections between these employees and the company. Give the full article a read here for a deeper dive and to see how this research led to real-world results for Slalom, and how they can be used at your company!

The Perils of Perfectionism

Many of those in leadership would consider themselves to be perfectionists. In fact, often they will accredit their success to this personality trait. Perfectionists are prepared, they have the answers, and they are trusted to handle leadership roles. One trait common amongst perfectionists, however, is the tendency to overprepare. And while this can be helpful in certain situations, the continued habit may prove to be detrimental to career advancement and success after a while. Kellogg’s fantastic Insight Blog has published an excerpt of a new book from their own Ellen Taaffe, The Mirrored Door: Break Through the Hidden Barrier that Locks Successful Women in Place, in which she discusses this conundrum among others. Although her book targets women in the workplace specifically, her insights on overpreparing apply to anyone with these perfectionist tendencies.

Taaffe writes that although over-preparing and perfectionism can be major success factors early in one’s career, it can eventually cause people to be pigeonholed as they typical preparer, or “worker bee”. Sure, everyone wants that person on their team, but the chances for advancement diminish significantly. Taaffe goes on to explain that while there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this tendency, there are some steps that these chronic over-preparers can take to help break free of both their internal expectations and the work culture that promotes this habit.

First, she suggests that perfectionists reflect on their successes. If they begin to think back on accomplishments and progress, they may realize they don’t need to prepare much further. The knowledge and expertise is already there, it just needs to be tapped into. The second, she says, is to re-frame roles. Don’t get stuck as the “worker bee”, delegate tasks to others and let go of some of the pressure. Again, this may be difficult for perfectionists who have lived in this role for so long, but in order to move on to something bigger and better, they have to break into something new. Third, she recommends planning properly and being able to ask for help. This means taking a realistic look at commitments when something new gets added to a workload. Is there really time to complete this project to the standard of excellence previously set? If not, delegation again comes into play. And lastly, she tells people to get real. As in, take an objective look on how lard perfectionists can be on themselves, and ask if it’s really warranted.

Give the full article a good read here for a deeper dive on each of these action items. If you are at all prone to perfectionism and over-preparing, you’re going to find some gems here. Anyone who considers themselves to be a perfectionist will benefit from these insights, from C-suite execs, to small business owners, coaches, and caregivers. Then, if so inclined, check out her new book!