The Culture Engine

The Culture Engine Plot Summary

Introduction

Is your workplace frustrating and lifeless, or is it engaging and inspiring? When you think about your work environment, what descriptive words come to mind? For many people, terms like "dreary," "discouraging," and "fear-based" apply to their organization's culture. This reality persists despite the fact that people spend more time at work than with their best friends or family members. Most leaders invest greater thought in their organization's products and services than they do in its culture. Yet culture is the engine—it drives everything that happens in an organization each day. While understanding the need for a positive culture is one thing, creating and managing a productive, engaging workplace is another entirely. An organizational constitution—a formal document stating guiding principles and behaviors—provides the solution. It becomes the North Star that outlines defined expectations for both performance and values, transforming frustrating workplaces into engaging, inspiring environments where employees thrive.

Chapter 1: Define Your Organizational Purpose and Values

An organizational purpose statement is the foundation of your culture engine. It clearly communicates what your company does, for whom, and why customers should care. Unfortunately, most organizations lack this clarity. When employees are asked about their company's purpose, responses typically focus on tactical activities ("we print catalogs") or financial outcomes ("we make money for shareholders"). These practical views simply aren't inspiring. Southwest Airlines demonstrates the power of a clear purpose. The moment you step onto a Southwest plane, you sense something different. Flight attendants greet you with genuine warmth, looking you in the eye and engaging authentically. They enjoy what they do, enjoy their teammates, and enjoy their customers. This enthusiasm isn't accidental—it stems from a carefully crafted purpose and values that employees genuinely embrace. The same is true at Zappos, where team members are available 24/7 to provide exceptional customer service. When you call with a question, representatives like Carmen cheerfully help find solutions, offering free shipping both ways so you can try products at home. This customer-focused approach reflects their deliberately cultivated organizational purpose. Both companies have formalized their purpose and values, creating intentional workplace inspiration rather than leaving their culture to chance. They hire people with service mindsets and servant hearts, and those who don't embrace the company values don't stay. There's simply no space for team members who don't align with the values or enjoy serving others. To begin crafting your purpose statement, consider what your organization does, for whom, and to what end. A catalog printing company might define their purpose as: "Our purpose is to deliver quality, on-time product marketing communications solutions that inspire consumers to purchase our customers' products and services." This clear statement educates employees about why their daily work matters and boosts pride and enthusiasm in their contributions.

Chapter 2: Create Clear Values-Based Behavioral Standards

Values—specifically values defined in behavioral terms—are the most important element of your organizational constitution. They create the visible demonstration of your culture that attracts like-minded employees and customers while creating heart-driven momentum for performance and engagement. Most organizations either don't define values at all or simply publish them without accountability. As S. Chris Edmonds notes, "There's a scientific term for values in that scenario; they're called lies." Values only matter when defined in observable, tangible, measurable behaviors that leaders model, measure, and hold everyone accountable for demonstrating daily. At Ritz-Carlton, the company's "Gold Standards" include specific behaviors that bring their values to life. For example, one of their service values is implemented through a daily 15-minute all-employee meeting called a "lineup." These meetings feature a "wow story" detailing outstanding customer service, reinforcing the behaviors that create the Ritz-Carlton experience for guests. One manufacturing client defined their "integrity" value with specific behaviors: "I hold myself accountable for my commitments and actions; I keep my promises. I attack problems and processes, not people. I accept responsibility and apologize if I jeopardize respect or trust. I align all of my plans, decisions, and actions with the organization's purpose and values." These "I" statements describe exactly how every employee, regardless of role, behaves daily. When creating your values, limit yourself to three to five core principles with three to four measurable behaviors for each. More than this becomes difficult for people to remember and implement. For example, if "respect" is a core value, behaviors might include: "I treat others, at all times, with dignity and respect. I do not blame. I look for ways to solve problems and learn so we don't make the same mistakes again. I do not use crude language, act rudely, or discount anyone I work with—bosses, peers, or customers." These behaviors become the metrics for great corporate citizenship and workplace inspiration. Once published, leaders must live them, coach them, and create systems to measure how well everyone demonstrates these behaviors day to day.

Chapter 3: Develop Strategies That Support Your Purpose

Strategic planning and goal setting provide the framework for consistent performance that complements your purpose and values. Your strategic plan is a formal statement of your company's desired path to success: what your customers want, what markets to pursue, what products or services to create, and how to deliver them profitably. Jim Collins, author of Built to Last, observed that a team's purpose and values rarely change, but strategies evolve regularly in response to market changes and customer requirements. Goals change even more frequently as they represent the tactical, day-to-day targets ensuring traction toward strategic imperatives. On a river rafting trip in Northern California, one executive observed high-performing, values-aligned strategic planning in action. Before taking rafters out on challenging rapids, guides would scout the safest passage, discuss and agree on the route, and map out which rafts would go in what order. Once the strategy was discussed and agreed upon, the guides explained what they learned and outlined the passage the rafters would take. Everyone listened and rafted like professionals simply because they aligned to the plan that ensured safety. This strategic clarity enables team members to understand how their daily projects, goals, and tasks contribute to the accomplishment of the overall plan. When everyone understands "where we are now," "what we could be," what we "decide" to pursue, how we'll "work" the plan, and how we'll "assess" our progress, the path to performance success becomes clear. One catalog printing group had very expensive digital printing machines with built-in computerized dashboards showing impressions per minute. However, this data wasn't the only relevant performance information they needed. If the job required John Deere green and the color was off, the dashboard might not catch this soon enough. What do you call John Deere catalogs with the wrong green on the cover? Trash. Human operators needed to be observant and responsive, stopping the machine if necessary despite the cost of halting production. The most effective strategic planning involves everyone—executives, team leaders, and team members. This involvement creates both understanding of and buy-in to the strategic imperatives that will move the organization forward.

Chapter 4: Live Your Constitution Through Consistent Leadership

Once your organizational constitution is written and shared, leaders must live by it, lead by it, and manage to it every day. This requires three consistent practices: describing the way, modeling the way, and aligning the way. Describing the way means communicating and reinforcing your constitution through dozens of avenues each week. Beyond simply publishing the document, leaders must constantly reinforce its importance through regular meetings, storytelling, visual reminders, and frequent discussions about how values alignment enhances performance. WD-40 Company President Garry Ridge transformed his organization through this approach. When he became CEO in 1997, the company was very U.S.-centric with a command-and-control culture. Ridge knew that to grow globally, the company needed to change its people infrastructure. "The currency of the day was information," Ridge explained. "The more I had and the less I shared, the more power I had. WD-40 Company was a very siloed organization back then." Ridge replaced failure in the company's vocabulary with "learning moment," defined as a positive or negative outcome of any situation. He spent a year asking people to share their learning, helping team members embrace and openly share their experiences so everyone could benefit. He later formalized the company's values, creating a tribal culture based on identity, belonging, learning, and teaching. Modeling the way means leaders must demonstrate valued behaviors in every interaction. As Ridge explains, "We've lost some players because they've not lived the values. We 'share them with the competition'!" He has let very visible players go when their values were not aligned with the company's culture. "We continue to communicate it, celebrate it, and coach it." Aligning the way requires addressing inconsistencies promptly. The company's global tribal council debates ideas vigorously in private but presents total alignment on decisions when they leave the conference room. "If a tribal council member discounts a council decision, they're voted off the island!" Ridge declared. Today, 93.7% of WD-40 Company employees report being engaged, with 97.9% saying they love telling people they work for WD-40 Company. Ridge summarizes, "You can't create an enduring company that creates positive memories without inspired team members. That's the job that leaders have to do well: inspire team members every day."

Chapter 5: Implement Values Accountability Through Measurement

The difference between leaders who successfully implement an organizational constitution and those who don't boils down to one vital practice: accountability. While most organizations have systems to monitor performance, few effectively measure values alignment. In high-performing, values-aligned organizations, values accountability is equally important as performance accountability. This means leaders spend as much time communicating, modeling, and reinforcing values as they do monitoring performance metrics. The best practice system for values accountability includes clear agreements about values expectations, accurate observation of values demonstration, relevant coaching and recognition, redirection when needed, and celebration of values alignment. This requires gathering feedback from multiple sources, including a custom values survey conducted at least twice a year. This survey translates your valued behaviors into specific questions rated on a six-point scale. For example, if one of your valued behaviors is "I initiate friendly hospitality by promptly and enthusiastically smiling and acknowledging everyone who comes within 10 feet," the corresponding survey question might be: "My direct boss initiates friendly hospitality with me by promptly and enthusiastically smiling and acknowledging me when I come within 10 feet of him or her." During the first survey, only leaders are rated on their values alignment. After receiving their values profiles, every leader must debrief with their team, sharing both positive and negative results along with their plan for improvement. In subsequent surveys, all team members rate themselves, their peers, and their leaders. One client's values survey revealed that team members rated their direct supervisors quite high (averaging 5.31 on a 6-point scale) while giving lower scores to the company as a whole (4.45) and the executive team (4.34). This data provided actionable insights about where values alignment was strong and where improvement was needed. The response rate to your values survey is also revealing. A good response rate is 70-80%, with higher rates indicating greater trust in the process. WD-40 Company achieved a remarkable 98% response rate in its 2014 employee opinion survey, demonstrating exceptional employee engagement with the company's values system. By implementing regular values measurement, you make values alignment as important as goal accomplishment—exactly what's required to shift your organization into the upper-right quadrant of high performance and values alignment.

Chapter 6: Address Resistance to Cultural Change

Creating an organizational constitution significantly changes expectations for leaders. Some will resist in various forms: passivity, aggression, or passive-aggression. The primary champion must address this resistance with a kind yet firm hand, consistently communicating: "This train has left the station. This is what we're going to do. This is what we're going to be. Get on board—or get off the train." Resistance typically manifests in two ways. Some leaders "don't walk the walk"—they say the right things in meetings but don't model valued behaviors in daily interactions. Others actively "undermine the initiative" by discounting the importance of values alignment, teasing others about it, or complaining that it's a waste of time. This resistance often stems from fear and concerns about power. Some leaders see the organizational constitution as eroding their established control. Others fear the unknown—they've never lived in a work environment that outlined citizenship behaviors and don't know if they can thrive in it. Some may simply lack the skills required to model valued behaviors or coach others on values alignment. To address resistance effectively, first don't take it personally—it's not about you, it's about their discomfort with change. Second, present what you've observed in a calm, factual manner. Focus on behaviors rather than attitudes or beliefs. Third, listen to understand their perspective without necessarily agreeing with everything they say. Fourth, be clear that values alignment is non-negotiable—there's no "kind of aligned" middle ground. Finally, give resistant leaders a chance to improve. Map out a specific plan with clear expectations about what behaviors you expect to see and what behaviors you won't tolerate. If they embrace your organizational constitution, continue coaching and reinforcing their progress. If they choose to ignore your values and behaviors, you must help them transition out of the organization, doing so kindly yet firmly. When one executive was asked how many chances resistant leaders should get, he suggested giving them a second chance but not necessarily a third. If leaders haven't changed after a genuine second opportunity, it's better to have someone in the role who embraces the values and can learn the skills than someone who actively undermines your culture. Remember that every time you allow values-misaligned behavior to continue, you're sending a message that your organizational constitution doesn't really matter. Once you head down this path, you can't stop or backtrack without severely damaging your credibility.

Chapter 7: Hire and Integrate Values-Aligned Team Members

You put your desired culture at risk every time you hire someone. If that person doesn't embrace your organizational culture, they'll erode trust, respect, and workplace safety. Hiring a values-misaligned employee sends another not-so-subtle message that your constitution isn't really important. In a Fast Company interview, Warby Parker co-CEO Neil Blumenthal shared that the company's biggest lesson was how to scale its unique culture. They once hired a smart, capable employee who worked hard and was nice to customers—but one of their valued behaviors was to be super-friendly. Despite coaching, he couldn't adapt his style and had to be let go. This experience led them to build a culture interview SWAT team that now conducts 75% of their interviewing process. Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes observed, "One subpar employee can throw an entire department into disarray." The impact of a bad hire on productivity and team morale is substantial, making values-aligned hiring essential. Begin by being intentional with your recruitment. Ensure every job posting includes an explanation of your purpose and values. Make your company website an educational place that clearly defines your culture. During interviews, spend at least half the time focusing on values alignment rather than just technical skills. Ask candidates how they would handle values conflicts or ethical dilemmas, and have them engage with current team members to assess cultural fit. One CEO uses a creative approach when interviewing leadership candidates. Since two of his company's values are "show backbone" and "show respect," he arranges for his assistant to call his cell phone during interviews. When he takes the call, he watches to see if candidates will later express that this behavior felt disrespectful—demonstrating both backbone and respect for appropriate professional conduct. After hiring, implement thorough orientation practices that go beyond the typical two-day process. Culture exposure should include grounding new hires in your purpose, values, and behaviors through regular discussions and storytelling. Assign mentors outside the reporting relationship to provide a safe avenue for questions. Establish clear partnerships between new hires and their bosses, and implement contribution management that outlines both performance and values expectations. Some companies like Zappos even offer "pay to quit" programs, paying new hires to leave if they discover they don't fit the culture. Zappos offers $2,000 to quit after a four-week orientation period, believing that having employees who truly want to be there is worth the investment. Less than 2% of new hires take the offer, but it reinforces how seriously the company takes cultural alignment.

Summary

Building a high-performing, values-aligned workplace requires intentional design rather than leaving culture to chance. An organizational constitution creates liberating rules that transform your environment from frustrating and lifeless to engaging and inspiring. As Garry Ridge of WD-40 Company states, "There's nothing like the freedom of a clearly defined goal and clearly defined values." When you implement an organizational constitution with purpose, values, behaviors, strategies, and goals, you align skills and values for the benefit of shareholders, employees, and customers. Our culture clients consistently experience 40% gains in employee engagement, 40% gains in customer satisfaction, and 35% profit growth, typically in less than 18 months. Once employees see that leaders are serious about creating a values-aligned environment, they choose to be present, proactively solve problems, and engage in their team's success. Take the first step today by clarifying your purpose and values—your team deserves the gift of workplace inspiration.

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S. Chris Edmonds

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