[Caution: Random string of thought ahead. It leads to some good stuff though. Promise!]
As a parent, I think a lot about the different roles I play in my kids’ lives. Sometimes I’m their biggest cheerleader, shouting “Yes!” from the rooftops. Other times I offer firm caution, or flat-out say “no.” And then there are moments when I say, “I don’t agree with your choice, but I’ll support it—because I believe in you.”
You might laugh, but recently I realized my COO, Rebecca Del Secco, plays all those same roles for me.
She cheers me on. She gives me the hard truth when I need it. She’s told me “no” more than once. And occasionally, she’ll say, “I don’t agree, but I’ll back your decision—because we’re a team and I believe in you.”
Over the years, people have teased us about our unique dynamic. Then we read Gino Wickman’s, Traction and Rocket Fuel—turns out, it’s not odd at all. It’s a classic Visionary/Integrator relationship. (If I’m being honest, I may have squealed, “Rebecca! Our relationship has a name!”)
As I thought about all the ways Rebecca’s various types of support and guidance have helped Civility Partners become a successful and profitable business, I of course started thinking about our clients and what makes some more successful than others in turning around culture.
The ones who achieve the biggest cultural turnarounds all have a “Rebecca.” A trusted advisor—sometimes a COO, sometimes someone else—who plays those same roles: cheerleader, truth-teller, accountability partner, and steady supporter.
The clients with less success had something else. Some leaders thought they knew everything and didn’t seek advice. Some were steamrolled by overly dominant advisors. Others had advisors too timid to offer meaningful input. These clients struggled to get anywhere with cultural change.
Below is a list of the most common visionary/integrator partnerships we’ve seen in action with our almost 300 clients, and how the pairing impacted the speed and success of transforming culture. I’ve ranked them from most effective to least effective pair.
1. Courageous Leader & Solid Advisor
We see the quickest and most sustainable turnaround time in toxic culture when this pair is in play.
- The courageous leader owns their role in the problems that arose and caused them to reach out to us, acknowledges that they could be better at leading and relationship building, seeks out an expert in their organization to guide them, takes our advice, and pushes back on our advice too. This partnership with us – of problem solving and action planning – allows them to make big leaps forward in sustainable change we can see evidence of in surveys and anecdotes years after working with them.
- The solid advisor is there to be a sounding board to the leader, give advice, share their experience and expertise, push back, and champion change. Part of the courageous leader’s success is the solid advisor right there next to them.
This dynamic duo was highlighted in a client we took on last year, where 200 employees went on strike and upon returning to work found themselves in an even more broken culture. Those who’d remained at work were upset about the way the strikers behaved on the picket line, not to mention the crazy amount of work and effort they had to put in while the strikers were out. The CEO had a vision for a high-performing team, and although her advisor wasn’t necessarily an integrator due to the advisor’s own role in the organization, the two of them worked together to take in what their Civility Partners team had to say, pushed back thoughtfully, and took ownership of how they’d gotten here and leading the team forward. Less than a year later, this client is riding high with a clear plan to improve culture, rebuild trust, and reach that high performance they seek.
2. Hopeful Leader & Aggressive or Manipulative Advisor
We see some change with this pair, but it doesn’t happen quickly and it’s not necessarily sustainable unless the partnership can evolve.
- The hopeful leader knows change is needed and wants to make it. They invest in consultants, initiatives, and training programs to make change happen. With a not so enthusiastic advisor next to them, however, it falls flat. We’ve seen hopeful leaders engage in coaching to help them work through messaging with their advisor, attempt to go around them, or try to put their foot down to move things forward.
- Unfortunately the aggressive or manipulative advisor makes the endeavor to a better culture difficult with consistent questioning of the leader, casting major doubt that positive culture change is necessary, and encouraging a tightening of the purse strings instead of investing in a better culture. Why keep this person around, then? Well, the hopeful leader finds the advisor useful for other goals, is too afraid to stand up to them, or continues to hope they’ll come around eventually.
We saw this pair in action earlier this year. The CEO had two advisors/integrators, and together the three of them made up the leadership team. One advisor was encouraging culture change, which the CEO desperately wanted to make. The other encouraged tightening of the purse strings and continued to point out that the organization consistently met its goals, so why bother? The CEO hired us to coach him to address the naysayer and get buy-in, but after one session the CEO decided he was too nervous about “poking the bear.” (I know… just when you thought you heard it all.) And so, with only two out of the three of the leaders on board to make change we can only assume their efforts are stifled and offer minimal impact.
3. Lost Leader & Scared Advisor
We don’t see much change when this pair is on deck, and the change we do see is minimal. (I’m pretty sure we have at least one client still considering and discussing the tips we gave them 7 years ago.)
- The lost leader is shocked that something bad bubbled up and can’t wrap their head around the fact that it’s been festering for several years. Clearly they weren’t really leading as much as they were setting organizational goals and then leaving everyone else to reach them with any focus on culture. Often these leaders unintentionally make the environment worse, because unlike the courageous leader, they aren’t willing to take accountability for “how things got this bad”. This of course harms trust even more and the road to recovery is slow until that leader exits.
- The scared advisor isn’t helpful either, as they’re always in agreement with the lost leader, and their advice and guidance amounts to listing all the reasons something should not be done because the status quo is safest. Action items to move things forward are performative and fairly useless.
That client from 7 years ago suffered from this kind of leadership. The CEO spent most of his time in the ivory tower. While his chief of staff was great at wrangling him into necessary conversations, and had really great ideas herself, she wasn’t confident enough to push her ideas through. The CEO listened to her, and if she had been more assertive with him they could’ve made some great changes. Instead, she often shared an idea and then talked herself and the CEO out of it.
4. Ego-Driven Leader & Non-Advisor
We don’t see much change here either. A leader who thinks they know everything – and either ignores their advisor or chooses not to have one – is leading an organization that’s imploding right under their nose.
- Ego-driven leaders don’t trust data from workforce surveys, exit interviews, or anecdotes from HR. They like to think they’re a great leader, and therefore the culture must also be great and certainly doesn’t need any change.
- In this case, the non-advisor may exist but is ignored or agrees with the CEO so often they may as well be the same person. Or, no one fills that role at all.
One of our clients agreed with the CEO so often because she’d literally grown up in that particular workplace, so there was no getting through to either one of them. They were basically the same person – defensive when their leadership was challenged, unwilling to own up to their role in the damaging culture, and focused on a results-at-all-costs rewards system. Another client had a great advisor who knew exactly what should happen, and we were so happy to help that organization start to make some real change. Unfortunately for their workforce, the CEO left the new, ego-driven CEO turned that advisor into a non-advisor when he told her to cease all work on culture. She pushed where she could, but found her pleas to keep it going were ignored.
Bringing It All Together
At the end of the day, culture transformation is never a solo act. It thrives at the intersection of three powerful synergies:
- Organizational behavior – the systems, policies, and structures that either reinforce or erode your values.
- Leadership behavior – the tone set at the top, including the courage to own missteps and model the culture you want to see.
- Individual behavior – the choices every team member makes daily, from speaking up to supporting one another.
Download this assessment to discover how well your organization’s synergies align.
When these three forces align, real culture change becomes not only possible but sustainable. We’ve seen organizations go from toxic to thriving when leaders embrace the courage to look inward, advisors provide the steady guidance to navigate the messy middle, and individuals are equipped and inspired to live the culture every day with organizational resources.
So if you’re a leader, ask yourself: Who is my “Rebecca”? Who tells me the truth even when it stings, pushes me to stay courageous, and celebrates progress along the way? And if you are an advisor, remember that your voice has the power to either accelerate change or keep an organization stuck in neutral, or worse.
Speaking of which—if you want more insights from a truly solid advisor, follow Rebecca Del Secco on LinkedIn. Her perspective is the perfect complement to the work we do in helping organizations build cultures where people can thrive.
