Creating Culture Chemistry
Managing the Hidden Dynamics that Can
Make or Break Your Success
Presented By:
Ellen L. Moran, Ph.D.

What’s Your Experience?
We need someone who is more...
Proactive
Strategic
Process oriented
Innovative
Customer focused

Success!
We’ve found the right person!
He’s what we need . . .
He can shake things up
Get us on the right track
He’s already delivering the
right messages

The Problem...
People don’t seem to be listening...
Complaints about his style...
He thinks things are
worse than we told
him...

Six Months Later
This is
concerning....

One Year Later
What did we miss?

Consequences
Hire someone more like the culture
Give up on culture change
Cynicism regarding leadership
Potentially unnecessary career
failure
Reduced confidence

Who has seen this movie before?
Can you share a
brief story?

What went wrong?
There was a key pattern (and
language) mismatch
Good intentions,
ineffective impact
Everyone is frustrated, but
not sure what or what to do
about it (below conscious
disconnect)

What’s the solution? Our Agenda
Become aware of the power
of patterns
Discover some of our own
Apply this awareness
Connect and influence the
culture
Interview more successfully

Patterns = Meta Programs
What I Criteria
decide
What I
Motivation prefer...
Direct our attention and
thought processes
Describe characteristics of
thinking, motivation and
behavior
Influence experiences
Can make us effective or
ineffective depending on
contexts

Examples
Planning-Meeting
criteria (cost reduction
vs. customer service)
Internal-External
(I’m right) (is anybody
listening)

Criteria – What do you want in...X?
What are Criteria?
Things that are
important to us
Personal labels for
values
Words that incite
Hot buttons
Composed of many
elements, conscious and
(mostly) unconscious

Examples
Love =
Make me laugh Be on time Spend time together
Innovative =
new automated novel

Specific Criteria
Challenge
Competence
Recognition
Ease
Success
Freedom

Specific Contexts
Vacations Relationships
Interviews Culture

Primary Criteria Questions
What do you want in
(context – a job, a
relationship, a particular
thing, etc)?
Why is that important?
Why is that important?

Additional Criteria Questions
What was it about that, which was important to you?
What standards do you have about that?
What qualities do you seek in X?
Why do X?
What is meaningful in X?
What makes X worth fighting for?
What do you want "X" to accomplish for you?
What is it about that that counts?

Discover yours
Use your work sheet
Consider your current job
role or the one you want
Write down your answer
to the criteria questions

Uses for criteria
Decision making
Job competencies
Interviewing
Decoding the culture
Sales & Marketing
Customer Service
Team Dynamics

The Power of Criteria
If there is no time for any
other discovery
Probe and understand
others criteria
Many other patterns
emerge from criteria

How can you use Criteria now?
Decoding culture Interviewing
Which key stakeholders Ask the interviewer about
should you ask this what’s most important in
question? the role.
Or “What’s most important Describe your qualifications
to this company’s future?” in the interviewer’s
Use their exact criteria criterion language
words in describing what Evaluate whether this is the
you want to accomplish job for you—match or
mismatch of criteria

Motivation Pattern
Motivation Source – Internal/External
Internal External

Discover Your Pattern
Use your worksheet
Write your answer to the question…
How do you know you’ve done a
good job at being…(your role)?

Motivation Pattern
Motivation Source – Internal/External
Internal External

Internal Positives
Evaluate things on the basis of
what they think is appropriate
Provide their own motivation and
make their own decisions
Decide about what they want to do
and how they are doing

Internal Negatives
Have difficulty accepting other
people's direction and feedback
May reject important feedback
May be seen as distant, arrogant
or uncaring.

When Both Parties are Internal...
Both sides believe:
The other is wrong or
mistaken
Their motives are
questionable
Both sides have difficulty
listening to reach resolution

External positives
Evaluate things on the
basis of what other people
think is appropriate
Open to feedback as to
how they are doing

External negatives
Need other people to provide
guidance, motivation and
direction
Cannot decide for themselves
They have difficulty beginning
or continuing a task without
someone giving them direction,
feedback and approval

To Discover Motivation Source...
Ask, “How do you know if you have
done a good job at X”
Internal External
“I know” “Other people tell me”

Internal/External Influencing Language
Internal – External –
only you can so and so thinks
decide the feedback you'll get
you know the approval you'll get
it's up to you others will
what do you think notice, give
you might want to references
consider give advice
a suggestion for you to or direction
think about

How can you apply this now?
Company Culture Interviewing
Listen carefully, respectfully to Assume your interviewer is
their criteria and past successes internal to you
Dig deeper to be sure you Consider where the role
understand requires you to be internal and
Do not imply you know more, external; describe yourself in
have the answer, are imposing those terms
your standard Executives need to strike the
Assume they are internal until right balance
you see signs they are looking Where possible elicit the
for guidance interviewer’s criteria

Other Patterns Can Be Important
General
Options
Achieve a goal or solve problems
Explore options or follow correct Proactive
Change
process
Take proactive measures or think
through issues first
Change, evolve or hold on to what’s
working
Tolerate difference or hold the line on
standards
Stay focused on the big picture or pay
attention to the details
And more….

Summary
Strong internal pattern leads to disconnects
and conflict
Connect at the level of criteria to influence
Understand your personal criteria/driving
patterns for clarity- confidence-motivation
Listen for job/culture criteria to find the
success connections

Want to Learn More?
Assessment, Coaching, Training
Contact me for individual consultation or
group team training
Complimentary self assessment on your
strongest and weakest patterns
Visit my website:
www.LeadershipDialogues.com
Or call:
314-995-6825

Motivation Patterns
Reference
Words that Change Minds,
Shelle Rose Charvet
Motivate Everyone,
Jay Arthur