METHODOLOGY - TRIBAL LEADERSHIP

Research affirms that just as birds flock and fish school, people tribe. A tribe is a naturally forming group of between 20-150 people. If you are a small company, this can be a single tribe. For large organizations, there can be many tribes, comprised inter-departmentally or across many departments. For example, it is easy to spot the culture difference between sales and engineering. Tribes operate at different cultural stages, which can positively or negatively impact your results as an organization. A high performing tribe can be three to five times more productive than an ordinary tribe.

Author Edgar H. Schein, MIT’s sage of organizational culture, says changing a culture is about, “observation, inquiry, and leverage. This means observing the ways in which an organization’s employees act; deducing (or inquiring about) the ways they think; and putting in place small behavioral changes that lead them, bit by bit, to think about things differently.” (Strategy + Business, Feb 2011)

What the book Tribal Leadership does, is map, for the first time, five stages of corporate culture and the unique leverage points to nudge a group forward. The authors grouped the stages based on the language used and the structure of the relationship.

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TRIBAL LEADERSHIP- THE FIVE STAGES OF CULTURE

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Stage Two:

The language used here is “my life sucks.” This group makes up 25 percent of workplace tribes and exhibits the behavior of apathetic victims. This is an upgrade from Stage One because even though their life sucks, they see others around them whose life is working. They may have conversations of, “if only I had a college degree,” or “if only I could afford a car,” then my life would work.

Stage One:

Criminal clusters, such as gangs and prisons, where the language is “life sucks,” and people act out in despairingly hostile ways. Life is so unfair for this segment that anything is permissible. Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with this much in the workplace. It is only 2 percent of the total population, while 40 percent in prisons.

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Stage Four:

Representing 22 percent of organizational cultures, where the language is “we’re great.” Stage Four is the zone of Tribal Leadership where productivity improves substantially, three to five times more than at Stage Three. Partnerships form and stable effective partnership is the structure. At this stage, people feel more alive and have more fun.

Stage Three:

This is dominant culture in almost half of U.S. workplace tribes, where the language is “I’m great” and they are thinking, “and you’re not.” Stage Three people are competitive and work to show everyone that they are smarter and better than anyone else. This personally competitive cultural stage produces limited innovation and almost no collaboration.

Stage Five:

This is the culture of 2 percent of workforce tribes and the language is “life is great.” Here, people focus on realizing potential while making history. Teams at Stage Five produce remarkable innovations and lead their industry.

Once Tribal Leaders identify which cultures exist in their tribe, they can use specific leverage points to upgrade the culture. But first, they have to move themselves to Stage Four by shifting the way that they work and the structure of the relationships around them. It can’t work from a “do as I say, not as I do” behavior. Tribal Leaders have to “walk the talk” and authentically act the part. Specifically, at Stage Four leaders know and act from their “core values.” A core value is “a principle without which life wouldn’t be worth living.”

As a Tribal Leader, you can change the culture of your organization bit by bit – and make it run faster, better and more effectively. The result you will achieve will be greater strategic success, less stress and more fun!