The Challenge Factor
If you are leading anything, you are creating culture. CEOs, church leaders, and little-league coaches have cultures forming around them—and so do you! The question is whether that culture is pulling people in or pushing them away.
Are you struggling with:
- turnover?
- quiet quitting?
- attracting top talent?
If so, staying where you are might be the riskiest decision you can make. The good news is two factors consistently show up in the world’s most inspiring cultures:
CHALLENGE AND VISION.
Both can be learned, added, and applied.
Challenge is a cheat code.
The problem with playing it safe these days is we are smack in the middle of what experts are calling a “Turnover Tsunami.” Pandemic burnout has people leaving in droves, looking for what’s next or a place to rest. No doubt, it’s a leadership dilemma!
But the answer to a wandering eye is not EASY. On the contrary, people want to be a part of something bigger—a climb of a lifetime—stretched beyond their comfort.
We need a mountain to climb and a compass to guide. Then we can go “beyond healthy” and take our culture to the next level.
The path to the "culture summit" is NOT easy, but it is available to all who are willing. This blog will show you how to use challenge to your advantage, defeat apathy, and give you four simple ways to start climbing.
“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
But before we start climbing… You can’t effectively lead what is fundamentally broken. Getting healthy comes first. If you need help with that, click here and GET UNTOXIC.
Now, onward and upward!
Healthy is only halfway.
Too many leaders give up before it gets good; they get healthy, take their foot off the gas, and miss out on the climb. Don’t get me wrong; healthy is worth celebrating—especially now with record resignations.
But it’s not the destination.
Healthy is base camp. Beyond healthy is climbing Mt. Everest. One is comfortable; the other is challenging BUT worth it!
And the gap between—IS the ballgame.
How would you describe the culture you lead today?
- Are you stuck in a valley?
- Making the trek to base camp?
- Comfy at base camp? (most common)
- Climbing to the summit?
- Enjoying the view from the summit?
How far above (or below) sea level are you?
A “Summit” culture inspires people:
- to bring their best
- to bring their friends
- to raise the next-gen
A “Basecamp” culture inspires people:
to bring their bestto bring their good enoughto bring their friendsto not quit (quietly)to raise the next-gento fend for themselves
Again, base camp is healthy or average. A mentor of mine, Dale Peterson, says, “People don’t invite to average.” He’s right! They also don’t recruit to average. And worst of all…
“People leave average.”
“I quit!”
Going beyond healthy.
Challenge is the secret sauce right under our noses, at every leader’s disposal, but it’s kinetic energy if we stay at base camp.
Choosing to leave base camp and attempt Mt. Everest is deciding good is not good enough—a choice every leader must make, or (these days) it will be made for you… WHY?
Because staying at base camp too long leads to “quiet quitting,” wandering eyes, and updated LinkedIn profiles.
Better than good.
Jim Collins (The leadership goat) coined the phrase “Good to Great.” The difference between the two is drastic. Good can happen on accident; great can only happen on purpose with persistence AND resistance.
That’s right. No resistance is no fun over time. Think about sports for a second—close games are a blast; blowouts are boring.
It’s the climb—past comfort—to the summit that keeps people in it. We are most engaged when there’s a mountain to climb.
“It’s in the climb we feel most alive.”
Alright, let’s get practical…
4 WAYS TO ADD CHALLENGE
1. PUT PEOPLE IN A POSITION TO SURPRISE THEMSELVES
Give someone a responsibility to OWN that’s big enough for them to say, “I had no idea I was capable of that!”
- it could be a process or sub-team.
- it will get done differently.
- brace yourself; it might be better!
2. PUT PEOPLE IN A POSITION TO SURPRISE YOU
Delegate a short-term project to someone who’s ‘not quite ready’ that is stretching enough for you to say, “I had no idea they were capable of that!”
- nine times out of ten, they rise up.
- if not, coach AND remind them, “it’s ok.”
- both are wins!
3. PUT PEOPLE IN YOUR POSITION (temporarily)
Ask someone to lead a meeting for you, but here’s the kicker—not just when you’re gone.
- be there.
- be led.
- be amazed!
4. PUT PEOPLE IN A POSITION TO FAIL
I know. Crazy. But here’s what I mean.
Take on a project as a team that feels insurmountable. Pick something so ridiculous you can’t guarantee success, only growth. Something to plan for, pull off, and learn from, even if that lesson is—sometimes we fail.
“It’s on the precipice of failure that momentum is born.”
Do the almost impossible.
According to Tim Elmore, millennial expert and founder of Growing Leaders, Gen-Z wants to be a part of something that’s “very important” and “almost impossible.” What an incredible insight!
I believe “every-gen” needs to overcome challenge to stay engaged long-term.
Is there a mountain in your world you’ve been avoiding, waiting for the perfect team… checking the weather?
Now, what would happen if you decided to climb it?
Super Mario Momentum.
Culture is the grease that helps us go from good to GrrrrrREAT! Challenge takes it to 11. When we wait for inspiration, we miss our moment. Move first; momentum will follow.
Remember the “bouncing star” in Super Mario Brothers? (Pronounced “Marry—Oh” in New York, where I grew up.) That’s what challenge does for your culture. It’s star power.
A burst of energy is released when you decide to “Go Big” and just like “Big Mario”—YOU BECOME UNSTOPPABLE! Obstacles that once blocked you bounce right off or break in the wake of your momentum. The feeling is electric!
Ride the lightning.
Good cultures fight for status quo; great cultures challenge people to grow. Just like Mario.
Check your challenge level. (1-11)
Turnover is on every leader’s mind or filling your feed. But, of course, people quit for myriad reasons—one being burnout. I’m not advocating for overtime or overwork, which IS a real problem.
But what about boredom?
“If people aren’t growing, they’re going.”
Too simple? Maybe, but we (humans) are wired to work. It gives us purpose when it’s important and erodes our soul when it’s pointless. Busy work and “busy working” are different. Quit quitting may be a symptom of boredom.
Ultimately, it’s your job to know when to hit the brakes or crank up the pace. Check your challenge level, adjust accordingly.
Find your “Hands in the middle” moment.
A real-life example in my world is deciding to write, record, capture, and produce a “live” recording. (Click to see.) It’s our Everest—SO daunting it can only happen with every hand in. The sheer magnitude requires more people than I can count to pull off. More vision. More communication. More work. More.
“Hands in the middle!”
But an overwhelming sense of “we’re in it together” makes it all worth it—even when it’s hard. And yes, when it’s over, we are tired. But it’s the best kind of tired. It’s the “I can’t believe WE did it” kind of tired.
Mountains become moveable when you scale them together.
And the feeling that follows is worth its weight in gold. That’s the challenge we need to create a culture people don’t want to leave.
What is that for you? A new initiative? An event? An outrageous goal? A new direction?
What’s YOUR Everest?
Of course, it’s not about reaching the summit as much as striving for something. Failure is the price of admission. Once we accept that, we are free to bring our best and (ironically) fail less.
Happiness happens in life when we enjoy the ACT as much as the ARRIVAL. Same with culture. Doing the work and climbing the mountain together—that’s what makes a culture dynamic and fun.
How fun is your workplace? (A rant for another day… future blog?)
Find it, climb it, rest and repeat.
To bring it back to the problem at this very moment, quiet quitting comes from feeling under-appreciated and under-challenged. If you decide to stay at basecamp, both are likely.
However, if you choose to climb Mt. Everest, you’ll have endless opportunities to encourage, challenge, and celebrate the people you lead.
-> So, what would it look like for you to ratchet up the challenge in your culture?
Think about it. Then hold that thought because there is one more thing…
We can’t climb without a compass.
First, we need a guide, then we climb. Before we embark on the climb of a lifetime (to your desired destination), we want a clear path to get there.
PART 2 of this ‘double blog’ will outline how to create a vision for your team, department, or division that propels the overall mission. A vision that will guide your culture “beyond healthy” all the way to the summit.
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This is very informative, insightful and interesting. I would love for this to be in podcast form so I can ‘quietly quit’ reading. 😄
Hilarious!