How to Change Culture: Don't Microwave Fish! I remember when we were about 25 people, someone microwaved leftover fish and the entire office smelled like OLD FISH for 2 to 3 days. We were so small that the smell really distracted the entire company. Everyone had an opinion and wanted to talk about whether or not we should allow people to microwave fish in the office. The Fish test is an easy way to figure out which phase of culture development you’re in. In other words, is everyone aware and impacted by the decisions of others? If so, you’re likely in the Dinner Party (0 to 20) phase. Once you cross ~20 people, you enter the house party phase. You probably know everyone there. But, at 50 people, everything changes. Friends of Friends (FOFs) show up and you don’t know everyone anymore. Lamps start getting bumped, carpets start getting stained…and people start microwaving FISH! At this moment, if you don’t clearly define the norms, then the FOFs will define the rules for you and your office will smell like FISH for a few days a month. How has 2020 forced you to rethink culture? #business #businessculture #culture #peopleinbusiness #change #leadership #howtochangeculture
Love it! Great reminder for me to start early.
Wayne Super
3y
Awesome post Charles!!
Calvin Tuon
3y
Interesting! Very anecdotal
This is good!
Rob Joyce
3y
Great Post! One of my secrets to a 20+ year manage to a landlubber while I am a seafood nut with a family full of fishermen. Use the side burner on the grill or enough spices to overwhelm the nostrils. At the office, the only thing worse than fish is burnt popcorn....
The next phase is 120 to 150 people. I call this the FOFOFs (Friends of Friends of Friends) phase. It wasn’t until we hit ~120 that we began deliberately defining who we wanted to be. I wish that we would have done it from the beginning. I’d say that it took us 3 to 6 months to take control back from the FOFOFs. Since we started so late, was it too late? No. You can always reshape culture. But it was hard. For us, changing culture took: 1. Clear public commitment from the top 2. Zero tolerance policy on behaviors that didn’t match our values (“Violating the Golden Rule”) 3. Easy to remember saying about how we operate (“Assume Good Intentions”) Most experts say that 500, 1,000 and 10,000 are the next culture milestones after ~150. @ReidHoffman has a few great podcasts on this topic. One about evolving from being Pirates to being a navy with Uber’s CEO @DaraKhosrowshahi and the other is about how @Reid Hasting shaped culture at Netflix.
Maintenance Leader
3yCharles- great example to drive home the importance of cultural development and how easily the entire work force can be distracted. Thanks!