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CHAPTER 14: SHAPING CULTURE AND VALUES 431
of a fl ight, for example, everyone on hand pitches in to pick up garbage–even the
CEO. Top executives spend much of their time chatting informally with employ-
ees and customers, and they regularly send notes of thanks to people who have
gone above and beyond the call of duty. Top executives have been known to visit
the call center on Christmas Day to pitch in and to thank people for working the
holiday. Leaders don’t receive perks over and above anyone else. There are no
assigned parking spaces and no club memberships. Every person at WestJet is
treated like fi rst-class, exactly the way leaders want employees to
treat every passenger on a WestJet fl ight. 29
As a leader, you can build a high-performance
Creating and maintaining a high-performance culture is not Action Memo
easy in today’s turbulent environment and changing workplace, culture that is strong and adaptive by
but through their words—and particularly their actions—cultural showing concern for customers and other
leaders let everyone in the organization know what really counts. stakeholders in the external environment
Some of the mechanisms leaders use to enact cultural values are and by supporting people and projects that
organizational rites and ceremonies, stories, symbols, and special- bring about useful change. You can be alert
ized language. In addition, they emphasize careful selection and to culture gaps and infl uence values to
socialization of new employees to keep cultures strong. Perhaps most
importantly, leaders signal the cultural values they want to instill in close them.
the organization through their day-to-day behavior.
Ceremonies
A ceremony is a planned activity that makes up a special event and is generally Ceremony
Ceremony
a planned activity that makes up

conducted for the benefit of an audience. Leaders can schedule ceremonies to a planned activity that makes up
a special event and is generally
a special event and is generally
provide dramatic examples of what the company values. Ceremonies reinforce conducted for the benefi t of an
conducted for the benefi t of an
specific values, create a bond among employees by allowing them to share an audience

audience
important event, and anoint and celebrate employees who symbolize important
achievements. 30
A ceremony often includes the presentation of an award. At Mary Kay
Cosmetics, one of the most effective companies in the world at using ceremonies,
leaders hold elaborate award ceremonies at an annual event called “Seminar,”
presenting jewelry, furs, and luxury cars to high-achieving sales consultants. The
most successful consultants are introduced by film clips like the ones used to

31
present award nominees in the entertainment industry. These ceremonies rec-
ognize and celebrate high-performing employees and help bind sales consultants
together. Even when they know they will not personally be receiving awards,
consultants look forward to Seminar all year because of the emotional bond it
creates with others.
Stories
A story is a narrative based on true events that is repeated frequently and shared Story
Story
a narrative based on true events
among employees. Stories are told to new employees to illustrate the company’s a narrative based on true events
that is repeated frequently and
primary values. As we discussed in Chapter 9, storytelling is a powerful way that is repeated frequently and
shared among employees
shared among employees
to connect with others on an emotional level, and leaders can use stories to
transmit and reinforce important values and provide a shared meaning for
organization members. Employees at IBM tell a story about a female security
supervisor who challenged IBM’s chairman because he didn’t have the proper
clearance identifi cation to enter a security area. Rather than chastising the of-
fi cer, the chairman thanked her for doing her job. One FedEx story concerns
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the driver who had lost the key to a drop box. Not wanting to risk the packages
being delivered late, he unbolted the box, loaded it in his truck, and hauled
it back to the station where it could be opened. As the story goes, FedEx re-
warded the driver’s initiative. By telling this story, workers communicate that