CULTURE KILLERS: The Wrong Ambiguity
The Wrong Ambiguity
Startups are chaotic and there is usually not a clear path to building something new. It’s part of what makes working in a startup so much fun! But too much ambiguity - or ambiguity in the wrong places - can be a Culture Killer. In today’s edition of CULTURE KILLERS, we take on the Wrong Ambiguity – what it looks like, where it can show up and how to fix it.
If you are reading this blog, you probably have enough appreciation for startup life that you know that building something new involves a lot of uncertainty, risk, and hard decisions made with limited information.
As Cowgirls, we recognize and embrace the benefits of unknowns. Ambiguity can foster innovation, creativity, and a sense of “we’re in it together” across a team. While it may be chaotic, it is still possible to establish world class operations that drive growth.
We see actionable, effective roadmaps that are built without knowing the size of the next round. We see project plans based on big, fundamental assumptions that still get entire teams rowing in the same direction and delivering effectively. We see people with constantly changing responsibilities perform at exceptionally high levels because their spheres of influence are clear.
Yet, we also see examples of where the Wrong Ambiguity creeps into key parts of an organization and creates devastating impacts on the business - and on culture.
The big picture business implications of not having a clear strategy, explicit plans to apply it across operations and defined roles and responsibilities can be obvious. But beyond this, the Wrong Ambiguity is a Culture Killer that can create us versus them situations, toxic team environments, finger pointing and gossip. When unaddressed, this Culture Killer can eventually destroy an organization’s ability to execute and scale.
We see The Wrong Ambiguity in 3 key areas:
1. Strategy - where your business is going and how it will get there. Every company needs to know where it is going and have a plan to get there, regardless of big unknowns. The best plans can account for unknowns by acknowledging them head on.
Unclear strategies result in lost control. Employees end up setting their own priorities and ignoring the things that make less sense to them, even if they are mission critical. People become more siloed - working with others who agree with their path forward and avoiding those who do not. Collaboration goes way down. Work is not rewarding when people do not see a clear link between their day to day tasks and bigger picture goals.
2. Operations - how and when work gets done. Again, regardless of how much uncertainty there is, there has to be a detailed plan of attack. The plan needs specifics: goals, tasks, dates, owners. The plan can change, but it has to exist. Sloppy operations erode culture rapidly.
Morale goes way down. People cannot tell if they are making any progress – or if anyone else is either. They start to question other people because they do not see the results they expect. Trust also goes down: between employees, between teams and leaders, across leadership teams. People become frustrated - not only because of the lack of progress, but because company ways of working are not enabling them to do their jobs.
3. People - who does what. Anyone who has ever managed anyone knows that people do not deliver unless they know what they are responsible for delivering on. Failing to make this clear can kill culture overnight.
Decision making becomes impossible because there is no clarity on ownership and who needs to be involved to get things done. People create red tape because they do not understand how to navigate the company or various personalities. It is fundamentally demotivating to people when no one is willing to take the time to give them guidance.
The path to avoiding the Wrong Ambiguity is addressing strategy, operations, and people as a unified front. It’s hard, but doable.
It requires getting into the weeds across the entire company because it is impossible to remove ambiguity without being detailed.
It means putting in place the right systems, tools and reporting structures to drive alignment, execution and accountability across the team.
It also requires giving the right people appropriate responsibilities, making sure they are clear on what needs to be done and having constant two-way dialogue to address lack of clarity.
Remember, there is always going to be some ambiguity. Just make sure you avoid the Wrong Ambiguity. Ultimately, the most important thing is asking the right questions, not knowing all the answers.
More about the CULTURE KILLER Series
Every founder wants their company to be known for its culture. Every employee wants to work in a place that they love. To succeed, every startup needs a Culture that Works.
Culture is so much more than a list of random perks. It results from how a company implements its strategy across its organization, how it runs its business every day, and how it manages its people. Culture is hard to build and fragile once established.
Around every corner is a CULTURE KILLER that can derail you and your company. In this series, we’re sharing some of our favorite examples and discussing the bigger underlying issues that are easily missed but must be fixed.
