PR For Your Culture Goals - Better to Promote and Be a Target, or Stay Silent?

Last week, I ran this letter to the editor at Workforce where an apparent former employee took SuccessFactors and CEO Lars Dalgaard to task for the culture at SuccessFactors.

Take a look at the letter linked - it's a nasty one.  If you've been in the people business long enough, you know that you can't please everyone all the time. 

With that in mind, here's my question today - Is it better to:

A. Openly promote the culture you seek (I'm talking external promotion) and risk the violent reaction of those former employees who feel like you never lived up to your promises/claims, or

B. Be more reserved in your promotion both internally and externally, with the risk of lowering the chances that all your employees clearly understand what you desire your culture to be about.

What say you?  Let's take a look at the "Rules of Engagement" at SuccessFactors, which I think are pretty good, but obviously set a high bar that the company won't always live up to:

"These are the "rules of engagement" we ask all SuccessFactors employees to sign up for when they join the company. They are the foundation of how we do what we do. (Source - SuccessFactors)

1. I will be passionate about SuccessFactors' mission, about my work. I will love what we do for companies and employees everywhere.
2. I will demonstrate respect for the individual. I will be nice and listen to others, and respect myself. I will act with integrity and professionalism.
3. I will do what it takes to get the job done, no matter what it takes, but within legal and ethical boundaries.
4. I know that this is a company, not a charity. I will not waste money. I will question every cost.
5. I will present an exhaustive list of solutions to problems and suggest actionable recommendations.
6. I will help my colleagues and recognize the team when we win. I will never leave them behind when we lose.
7. I will constantly improve - Kaizen! I will approach every day as an opportunity to do a better job, admitting to and learning from my mistakes.
8. I will selflessly pursue customer success.
9. I will support the culture of meritocracy and pay for performance.
10. I will focus on results and winning-scoring points, not just gaining yardage.
11. I will be transparent. I will communicate clearly and be brutally honest, even when it's difficult, because I trust my colleagues.
12. I will always be in sales and drive customer satisfaction.
13. I will have fun at work and approach my work with enthusiasm.
14. I will be a good person to work with - I will not be a jerk.
15. I will not BCC (blind copy) anyone and never talk negatively and destructively behind someone's back (character assassination); rather, I will confront them with the issue I am facing or wanted to comment to others about, to allow us a trusting and hyper-productive collaborative environment.
16. I recognize that I am personally a steward of this "Olympic flame," and I know that if I lose my edge, it will trigger a wildfire, and we together have both the power to keep this open honest culture, or break it. DON'T DO IT. BE GOOD.
17. I agree to live these values. If my colleagues fail to live up to any of these rules, I will speak up and will help them correct; in turn, I will be open to constructive criticism from my colleagues should I fail to live by these values. I understand that my performance will be judged in part by how well I demonstrate these values in my daily work."

I bolded my favorite two parts.  Back to the question - the SuccessFactors story includes the fact that they have pushed their cultural identity externally via the media as well as internally.  As you might expect, some employees (might be low performers, might be high performers), are vocal in claiming SuccessFactors didn't live up to the hype culturally.

Is it better to push the culture and risk failing, or be conservative in the communication and risk failing?

I think it's a pretty profound case study.  Even though I've posted a lot of media coverage that puts SuccessFactors in a negative light, I still have to give them credit - they've swung for the fences in this area, and that's impressive on its own merits.

Your thoughts?

Comments

[Darcy Dees]

Is it better to push the culture and risk failing, or be conservative in the communication and risk failing?

I'd say it depends, do you really WANT that to be the culture, or was it just words to get people in the door? If you're really trying to live up to the standards, then go for it; none of us get it right all the time. But if you don't actually believe in that list, then don't bother because you will fail and it will upset people.

[Eve Stranz]

I agree with Darcy- if you really want a specific culture (or a change in your current culture), you need to clearly describe the culture (and the value in it being as described.) You also need to "be real" and ask for/give feedback up and down the organization on how well individuals are demonstrated the desired culture, and when they miss the mark. Partners In Leadership (http://www.ozprinciple.com/index.php) has an excellent methodology for this, and it is one that ties culture change to business results.

[Helen]

Two things:

1) Promote your culture outside and in, buuttt...
2) You can't make up your culture by writing a bunch of rules down and expecting them to become truth when you tell people what they are. Culture comes out of melting combo of the organization's structure, staff, job design, work processes, reward structure, etc. etc.

[DC]

Interesting follow up post Kris. I noticed on your previous post on this subject that one of you commenters wondered if SuccessFactors had similar complaints logged on glassdoor.com. That was the first time I had ever heard of glassdoor, so I checked it out. For a company that claims to have a no jerks rule embedded in their code, Successfactors employees seem to paint a different picture. I’m sure most companies have some disgruntled employees, however even current employees of this company seem to say that the exception to the no jerks rule is the CEO. I don’t know the guy, but the comments about him and the way he runs the business are certainly at odds with their company’s creed. Look at some of this stuff – the one that stood out the most was the first one below from a former HR person at the company.

“I used to have to give this "company pitch" enthusiastically and didn't know whether to break out laughing or cry at my deceit. Someone at the company had better honestly address the extremely high and disturbing turn over at SFSF. During 2007, the turnover was 82%.”

“Management's behavior gives you the sense they feel you should feel blessed to work there, which makes employees feel like disposable commodities. CEO is not afraid to publicly blast or insult people on email, etc.”

“Bad behavior eventually catches up with people & companies. Look at Wall Street. Lars Dalgaard lacks integrity. Stop promoting the (No Jerk ) rule. If you are going to promote something of value then walk the walk instead of spewing out sound bites of Self-Righteousness.”

“In my time there, I never had a performance review done on me (yes that is the main product they sell), didn't get to participate in the 360 career development surveys for my management team (despite all of the "bible thumping" from the CEO over this) and was precluded from having career development discussions by my manager and his manager.”

“The CEO is volatile, the "no a-hole" rule is not followed, there is intense favoritism, the politics are rampant, the morale is very low, and there are constant fire drills (initiated by Lars) to accomplish things which are in direct conflict with what Lars says are the goals of the company.”

“I don't believe that Lars Dalgaard even takes the "No AH" rule (No Jerk Rule) seriously so why should the employees.”

“Ironically, for a company that provides solutions for HCM, it does not do a good job of Performance Management of its employees.”

[Chris Ferdinandi]

I think Darcy really hit the nail on the head with her response!

[UncommonJulie]

A favorite CFO I worked with was oft heard saying "A fish rots from the head". The phrase became a favorite of his after enduring a revolving door of more than 10 CEO's over 10 years at one company. Kris - This is a great question! So many CEO's can fall in love with the sound of their own voices while they espouse the qualities of the great culture they think they've created. All the while behaving in stark contrast to all those positive aspirations. Darcy and Helen are right. It's got to be more than words and the organization needs to live it but how? What needs to be present in the organization in order to set and live by values? I think you've inspired a blog post or two!