It also motivates us to keep writing and sharing knowing that you took a moment to tell us or other people about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if something we write really resonates with you, please let us know by replying, or tagging us when you share it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In today\u2019s edition, we cover some great lessons in culture building, some data on how we all learn, and we've just updated one of our biggest posts we ever made that is one you're going to want to bookmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s dive in\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Table of contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u27a1\ufe0f Did a friend forward this to you?<\/strong> Get every issue <\/em>straight to your inbox by signing up here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: <\/em>This is a preview of our weekly leadership newsletter, Lighthouse Leadership Weekly (LLW).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To get this sent to your inbox every week, along with our latest long form essays on this blog, you can sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tara Viswanathan, Founder & CEO of Rupa Health had an awesome Tweetstorm about building fun cultures, so sharing here: (you can read and RT it here) <\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Ed Note: <\/em>The bold and yellow highlighting<\/em><\/strong> are mine for emphasis of the best points.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday a founder asked me how to bring \u201cfun\u201d back into their company. They scaled very quickly & suddenly the magic and fun dried up. (\u201cEw, process.\u201d So common!)<\/em> My rules for \"fun\" at a startup:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (1\/8) If I am not having fun, no one is having fun. <\/em>If I (the CEO) am not waking up excited to build - through the good and the bad - the team absolutely is not. <\/em><\/strong>\u200b (2\/8) Fun (and culture) cannot be outsourced.<\/em><\/strong> You cannot delegate \u201cculture carriers\u201d. You (the CEO) are the ultimate culture carrier. It has to come from you. <\/em>ppl do not take \u201cculture events\u201d seriously if the CEO does not run it (or worse, doesn\u2019t show up)<\/em><\/strong>. You set the tone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (3\/8) Fun cannot be systematized.<\/em><\/strong> One quarter I surprised the team by launching a \u201cquarterly theme\u201d of Pirates of the CarRUPAbbean. It was one of the top 10 funniest moments at Rupa. (4\/8) You can\u2019t throw money at the problem.<\/em><\/strong> You don\u2019t need more tools. You don\u2019t need to send swag. (5\/8) Fun happens in the tiny moments.<\/em><\/strong> (6\/8) You can\u2019t go from fear \u2014> fun.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>When people are worried, fearful, or anxious \u2014 fun is not the goal. The goal is safety. <\/em><\/strong>\u200b (7\/8) For the love of startup gods, do not rely on culture surveys!!<\/em><\/strong> (8\/8) The point of a startup is not fun. It\u2019s winning.<\/em><\/strong> This should have been point #1.<\/em> But having fun helps with winning, especially when thing get hard (which they inevitably will). \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I loved these, so wanted to share it with you here, and then add a few thoughts on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Andy Grove wisely reminds us, every leader has agency over their own teams. You can improve your team regardless of what's happening in the rest of your company, and that includes your culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, there are some limitations. Whether you're thinking about your larger company norms, or budget constraints when you're not CEO, I want you to use common sense. Don't be a bank manager and tell your customer-facing team to dress as pirates on a Tuesday,<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a lot of what Tara talks about you can do for any team like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And equally important, as Tara points out, if you're not having fun, your team isn't. And we know this is real, because Gallup literally studied this and identified the \"Cascade Effect\":<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are not<\/em> Tara Viswanathan, and you shouldn't try to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can only be the best version of YOU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So don't read that Tweetstorm and start planning to buy T-Shirts making fun of your competitor, nor start planning your pirate-themed day (unless that really feels like you!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have to look at yourself and your team and ask: What fits us?!?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a completely different perspective, here's things my father did, running an accounting firm that did taxes and financial planning for farmers in Pennsylvania that really defined their culture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, some of you are probably gasping or laughing at some of those. Many of us can't recall the last time we wore a tie outside of weddings and funerals. And some of you probably would find mentioning religion at work a big no-no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But his staff loved<\/em> these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average tenure on his staff was 17 years. <\/em>The leading cause of turnover was retirement.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And remember: they did taxes for farmers. Guess what? They're often very religious people, so the kinds of accountants that both wanted to do this work, and that got along best with the farmers tended to be religious, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So don't copy any of the things my father did if they don't resonate. The point is to show the contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be unapologetically YOU. Because when you're having fun, there's a good chance your team will have fun, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This one is harder and takes time. As a leader, you need to develop your spidey sense. And that's tuned by raising your self awareness<\/a>, paying attention, and leveraging your 1 on 1s<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask your team. Get ideas. Get feedback on stuff you tried, and learn to pay attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It's why this months' Book of the Month is about body language<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you learn body language you will see without your team saying a word whether your \"great culture idea\" is a huge hit, or a dreaded flop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can't guarantee that everything you love will also be loved and considered fun by your team, but I can tell you that if you try a few things, and listen to your team, you'll find some things that will work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not sure where to start? Try this:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Culture doesn't have to feel like a big, heavy project. Start small, listen, and try a few things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may be surprised how much fun you can actually have at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stumbled on an interesting report<\/a>, and wanted to share some of the most interesting takeaways from their survey of over 140 companies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over half of all respondents felt their managers aren't particularly great coaches, and even worse, only 10% agreed with the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn't surprising to me. Think about the difference between being a leader and an individual contributor (IC). The amount of coaching you do as an IC is typically almost none. That means it's unlikely you have a lot of coaching skills naturally when you move into the role as leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want to improve your coaching?<\/strong> You can start with these posts<\/a>, and then when you want to get serious, train you and your managers with our Coach's Clinic program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This one was a real shocker to me. The state of training is pretty rough when people just don't even want to do it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what can you do about it? You have to try something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is literally what inspired us to create Lighthouse Lessons. I saw how most training was boring Zooms, or cringe-filled, day (or week)-long classroom trainings that left managers with overloaded notifications for their typical work and not enough learned in those sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That's why we focus on being:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you're ready to try something different, or want someone to walk you through your biggest questions about trying Lighthouse Lessons at your company, sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Given what we just looked at and how we designed Lighthouse Lessons to be different, is it any surprise the people don't think their training is sticking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this makes sense, because when you cram all the training into a single day, you end up staring down the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want to combat people forgetting your training? Learn more about the benefits of micro-learning and spaced learning here.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n It's always nice to see the industry recognize a fundamental truth we have learned as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, longer doesn't tend to work as well. People get overwhelmed. They max out what they can remember. They get overwhelmed by notifications from their job and lose focus on what you're teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That means you need to adapt how you train your leaders to meet this demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\ud83e\udd58 Food for Thought on <\/strong>Building Fun Cultures<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u200b
First priority: Create an environment where you, the leader, show up engaged & excited every day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b
The next quarter we did another theme. And then another one the following. Then we had to stop. <\/em>What had been a fun surprise suddenly became an expectation. As soon as something becomes an expectation, the magic disappears. <\/em><\/strong>This is why \u201cweekly happy hours\u201d don\u2019t work. You have to constantly nurture \u201cfun\u201d. <\/em>Keep it fresh. Surprise the team. <\/em><\/strong>\u200b
\u200b
It will not be efficient, but it will be effective.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b
You cannot buy your way out of this.
\u200b
Surprise your team with a AI written rap of company goals. Start a slack channel for <\/em>#LOLS <\/em><\/a>for ppl to post the absurd random funny things that inevitably happen in startup life.
\u200b
Call your teammate and sing them happy birthday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b
It doesn\u2019t work if you carve out \u201ctimes for fun\u201d. \u201c5PM happy hour\u201d implies every other time is not happy.
\u200b
\u200b<\/em>Fun is not a \u201cscheduled event\u201d but woven through every interaction<\/em><\/strong>.
\u200b
It\u2019s sharing a meme. Laughing at a joke together. Bonding around a competitor and making a poster about defeating them and shipping the posters to your team to put on their wall next to their desk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b
\u200b<\/em>People need to feel safe before they can go above the line and enjoy work.<\/em><\/strong> Talk to them about the elephant in the room (often: job security or company health) before bringing in fun. i.e. please don\u2019t crack a joke or send out memes after a RIF [Layoffs].<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b
\u201cHow much do you enjoy your Acme co job on a scale of 1-10?\u201d
\u200b
ZERO. If you have to ask in a weird, impersonal survey, it\u2019s ZERO!!!
\u200b
\u200b<\/em>Your role as a leader is to always have a pulse on how your team is feeling. You should be able to sense it <\/em><\/strong>& then just go talk to people to learn more. Our team's NPS is\u2026..I don\u2019t care.
\u200b
What our team is organically posting on linkedin, twitter, telling their friends & potential candidates is what I care about. Measure what matters. (Hill I\u2019m willing to die on, clearly)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/middle_manager.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1) These apply to every leader, even at big companies.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/cascade_effect.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSo remember to start with your attitude, and then experiment from there.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/good_artists.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2) Don't copy these exactly.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/spidey_sense.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3) Remember to keep a pulse on things and iterate.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/office_space_scene.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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Think about a few small things you'd like to do to make work more fun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\ud83d\udcf0 News & Reports for Managers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\ud83d\udccc A leadership Development Benchmark report shows the skills leaders are lacking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1) Coaching is a common weakness:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/develop_coaching_skills-1024x744.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/coach_clinic-1024x763.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2) The biggest problem with training is people don't want to do it!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/challenge_achieving_goals-1024x1007.webp\" "\\"\\"")
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3) People aren't applying what they learn in most training<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/brandon_clark-1024x708.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/retention_vs_time-1024x657.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n4) Shorter training is better!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/virtual_workshop-988x1024.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/daniel_mecha_garcia-1024x384.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/make_praise_habit-1024x460.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/benjamin_franklin.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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