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Culture is complicated but simply human


Note that the top of the diamond is rational (thinking) but the bottom is emotional (feelings).


A huge % of leaders have thinking/intuitive/rational capabilities rather emotional where most everyone else lives. The exceptional leaders are marked by high EQ - so they have both.


I noticed new titles today in some banks - "enforcement" and "criminal" were words that surprised me - probably because there was a Royal Commission here in Australia into the banks.


Looking tough is important right now it seems. That is for an external audience. What about our people?

Back to basics - all behaviour is motivated (its about feelings because feelings drive thoughts and thoughts drive action). If there has been poor conduct it is for a reason. Bad people maybe but usually things are not that simple. Will a sanctions environment work?


The question is whether fear (of hard sanctions by the system) beats positive emotions like fitting in and belonging (with those you actually work with). Not in human history.


95+% if people do, or want to do, the right thing and so an approach of surveillance, assuming guilt, low trust, means that the leadership mindset is not in a good place.


It suggests the leaders think the people themselves are a risk factor rather than a crucial conduit to customers. Customer service, perversely, will be worse.


It is a long way from the idea that employee experience drives customer experience which drives results. Simply, it does not work. Humans run or hide from regimes that are low trust and high control. Look around.


Generally you want the incentives, stories, recognition, positive feelings, and norms to be aligned with customer outcomes (a positive environment).

In my view for banks especially:

Target 1 is conventions such as mindsets like "time determines promotions if you can survive long enough" (blow up the M-EM-GM-EGM-GE hierarchy because everyone does what their boss did before to advance),

2 is incentives that reward KPI's rather than actual results (KPI's get "gamed" always),

3 is beliefs (tackled via education),

4 is driving a positive environment and recognition (maximise positive feelings),

5 is hard sanctions against the 5% and public hangings (good guys win, bad guys die)- but don't start there!


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