Top Down Culture: Delivering Results With Compassion

Lyndsay Dowd doesn’t shy away from sweeping goals. Whether it’s her coaching work, her Heartbeat for Hire podcast, or her new book, Top Down Culture: Revolutionizing Leadership to Drive Results, her purpose is to “change the face of leadership as we know it.”

I just finished reading Top Down Culture, and three things were immediately clear to me:

1. Lyndsay is prepared to change all facets of leadership. She tackles complex topics including psychological safety; diversity, equity, and inclusion; servant leadership; workplace culture; and vulnerability. Lyndsay isn’t afraid to dive deep into these topics. She’s also heard all the excuses people have for not changing and quickly shuts them down. Such as when she clarifies out of the gate that, “Kindness shouldn’t be confused with weakness,” or when she explains that free kombucha in the fridge, while a nice perk, does not equate to improving company culture.
   
2. Lyndsay doesn’t want more emotionally intelligent leadership just because it’s warm and fuzzy—she sees this approach as getting better business results. In her book, she continually points to the slew of benefits that this kind of leadership fosters. Increased employee engagement, performance, retention, creativity, and risk-taking are all results of her leadership methods.
   
3. Lyndsay is such a perfect fit for Maestro because of our shared belief that you have to use your mistakes as a learning opportunity. She goes a step beyond, always encouraging people to “lean into the worst thing that’s ever happened to them.”

I realized that the best way for you to discover what Top Down Culture is all about is to get coached by Lyndsay herself. So, I gave Lyndsay three scenarios and let her work her magic.

GOOD LEADERS GATHER INTEL

You’re coaching Elaine, who has just taken over as the head of a sales team. The former head of sales liked to “motivate” his team through creating fierce competition between team members. Elaine wants to take a different approach and start building psychological safety. Where do you tell her to start?

The first thing I want to tell Elaine, as I would tell any leader, is that when you are taking on a new team you are entering someone else’s house. The smartest thing she could do is to gather some intel. First, start to set up some 1:1s with people across the team at all levels. Some basic questions you should ask include:

• What’s working well?
• What can we improve?
• Tell me, what are the politics across the team?
• Who has great potential on the team?
• If you could do anything new on this team, what would it be?

By asking these questions of everyone, Elaine will get a level set of where things are. Furthermore, she is sharing that she doesn’t have all the answers and she wants to build on the success they have already started. There’s nothing worse than having a new leader enter the room with a “new sheriff in town” mentality and overhaul at-will without taking a temperature check first.  

Elaine will have demonstrated that she is an open, vulnerable, and heart-centered leader. Once she has an idea of the landscape, then the regular 1:1s must begin. Elaine should get to know her team members. She should also encourage any leaders who report to her to do the same. They should know personal things about the folks on the team and should write them down to keep them straight for subsequent calls. The 1:1s are the place where trust is built. Trust is your currency which leads to psychological safety.

As the 1:1s are underway, it’s time to brainstorm. This is where you want to encourage all of the crazy ideas to come out. This is the time to let the team know that failure will inevitably happen, but how we bounce back from failure is critical. When Elaine shares that she has their back, the team will take risks and build new best practices. When that type of innovation starts to percolate, she will know she’s building the ideal environment for success.

GOOD LEADERS FACE THE MUSIC

Your client, James, admits that he totally screwed up. He berated someone for a less-than-stellar presentation in front of the rest of the team. He forgot the individual’s husband was having surgery that week. And he forgot the husband’s name. He wants to make things right. Where should he start?

Poor James. We’ve all been there. We’ve all done something we feel badly about and need to make it right. The first thing James needs to do is face the music. James needs to call the presenter and apologize. He needs to share that his behavior was insensitive and wrong. He needs to inquire about the husband and ask if they need anything. The presenter will likely decline but, by James sharing that this is something he is going to learn from, the presenter may offer some grace. They certainly don’t have to, but James is going to have to endure whatever discomfort comes his way in that conversation.

A second step is to offer to work with them on the presentation. Now if the trust is shattered, James may be met with a “no, thank you.” But if James is sincere, his employee may say, “actually, I would like that.” If things are too uncomfortable, perhaps offering up someone who does a great job with presentations on the team to mentor the presenter. After some time has passed, James should file away this story and share it when someone else does something wrong. His experience will make him relatable and demonstrate how James has grown.

As a final peace offering, James could send a care package to the husband with a handwritten apology; those tend to go a long way.

GOOD LEADERS WANT YOUR STORY

Your client, Sasha, is about to meet with the SVP of a newly formed development team at her company. Working for this SVP and on this project would be a dream job for Sasha. She was only able to secure 15 minutes on the SVP’s calendar. What should Sasha do to prepare?

Fifteen minutes can seem really short, but you can accomplish a LOT in 15 minutes if you are prepared. First, Sasha needs to do her homework. She needs to learn all she can about who the SVP is. She should look at LinkedIn and Google her. There likely is a lot of information that can be useful to the conversation about what interests the SVP the most. Additionally, Sasha can reach out to others on the team to understand how the SVP likes to work, what her style is, and what matters to her.  

Assuming Sasha has done a great job on her homework and has a bevy of info at her fingertips, she should plan to hit some highlights in the conversation, and the first thing that Sasha needs to work on is how she SELLS HER STORY. Meaning, how does she concisely talk about herself in a way that makes the SVP take notice? Sasha should practice this so she keeps it tight and relevant but related to her passion of why she wants to be a part of this new team. The worst mistake Sasha could make is to drone on too long on something the SVP isn’t interested in. The best thing she could do is drop some nuggets that are so juicy that the SVP wants more time.  

Once she has curated her story, she should have some questions prepared, such as:

• What is your goal for this new development team?
• What does success look like?
• What kind of people are you looking for to fill the roles on this team?
• What is your management style?

Those answers will yield some great conversation and, ideally, lead to another and hopefully an invitation to interview.  

You can find more of Lyndsay Dowd’s insights and suggestions in Top Down Culture and on her Heartbeat for Hire podcast.

Are you interested in learning more about Maestro’s workshops? We offer them in person and as self-paced modules in order to best suit your needs. Email us at mastery@maestrogroup.co for more information.