Learning Cultures Vs. Performance Cultures
From Adam Grant's book, Think Again.
Rethinking is more likely to happen in a learning culture, where growth is a core value and rethinking cycles are routine. In learning cultures, the norm is for people to know what they don't know, doubt their existing practices, and stay curious about new routines to try out. Evidence shows that in learning cultures, organizations innovate more and make fewer mistakes. After studying and advising change initiatives at NASA and the Gates Foundation, I've learned that learning cultures thrive under a particular combination of psychological safety and accountability.
Over the last few years, psychological safety has become a buzzword in many workplaces. Although leaders might understand its significance, they often misunderstand exactly what it is and how to create it. Psychological safety is not a matter of relaxing standards, making people comfortable, being nice and agreeable, or giving unconditional praise. It's fostering a climate of respect, trust, and openness in which people can raise concerns and suggestions without fear of reprisal. It's the foundation of a learning culture.
In performance cultures, the emphasis on results often undermines psychological safety. When we see people get finished for failures and mistakes, we become worried about proving our competence and protecting our careers. We learn to engage in self-limiting behavior, biting our tongues rather than voicing questions and concerns. Sometimes that's due to power distance: We're afraid of challenging the big boss at the top. The pressure to conform to authority is real, and those who dare to deviate run the risk of backlash. In performance cultures, we also censor ourselves in the presence of experts who seem to know all the answers - especially if we lack confidence in our own expertise.
As coaches, we always say we are in a results-based business (In reality, what business isn't?). Can you foster a learning culture, as opposed to a performance culture, to maximize success when the results are the bottom line?