I was recently asked what to do if you’ve inherited a team where the minority are clear under-performers, and the rest of the team are displaying less discretionary effort than their potential- I replied that the “Culture Tide” needs to rise. In this metaphor, the current water level represents a low water mark of low cultural and performance expectations, and the boats sitting at that level are the team members’ low performance. The long anchor chains represent potential that isn’t being realized due to the low-expectations water mark. Once the tide rises to a new cultural standard of appropriate values and performance standards, those with long anchor chains will display their discretionary effort potential and rise to the new expectation level. The boat (team member) with the short chain has two options- to face the consequences of remaining ‘under water’ so to speak, or breaking free from the short chain of performance and rising to the new level of standards (and new performance levels of other team members).  

This all hinges on leadership setting the new, higher cultural water mark- the starting point for my performance is my boss’ expectations.  

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