PDF Summary:Tribal Leadership, by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright

What makes some organizations more effective than others? In Tribal Leadership, authors Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King contend that culture makes all the difference. Any organization succeeds or fails on the culture of its tribes—groups of individuals that share ways of thinking, interacting, and working—and we can improve our organizations by upgrading the cultures of those tribes.

To elevate a group’s culture, tribal leaders coach their people through five stages, progressing toward the inspired teamwork of Stages 4 and 5. Implement these leadership stages and strategies effectively, and you’ll improve both your bottom line and your employees’ happiness.

Tribal Leadership synthesizes the authors’ shared expertise in business management, leadership, and cultural transformation. In this guide, we’ll explain the “tribes” framework and describe each of the five stages. We’ll also explore perspectives from Team of Teams, Radical Candor, and other business titles that expand, clarify, support, or dispute their claims.

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While the authors don’t explain coaching in-depth, Michael Stanier offers a simple solution in The Coaching Habit: Develop a daily habit of coaching your team members. Specifically, Stanier recommends asking good questions and listening more than you speak. Three of Stanier’s questions apply best to Stage 1:

• “What’s on your mind?”—This gently opens the conversation.

• “Anything else?”—This encourages people to say things that might be difficult to say.

• “How can I support you?”—This communicates that you hear, see, and want to help this person.

By using these questions well, you can build a relationship with a Stage 1 individual who’s likely never had support, and you can guide him to a healthier way of living.

Stage 2: Resigned Mediocrity

The authors explain that Stage 2 culture is an apathetic mood characterized by passivity and disinterest in the work at hand. This culture is common at places such as the post office, chain retail stores, and other menial jobs.

In a Stage 2 culture, everyone fixates on the negatives, allowing their circumstances to define them. Since negativity is contagious, this creates a downward spiral that yields a perpetually unhappy atmosphere. As with Stage 1, Stage 2 has two key markers:

• Marker #1: Commiserating language. In a Stage 2 tribe, the authors say that people commiserate about things such as how management mistreats them, and they often bemoan corporate heavy-handedness.
• Marker #2: Tenuous relationships. Since Stage 2 features mainly commiseration, people’s relationships don’t grow beyond the support of shared griping.

Robert Kegan’s Developmental Stages

Stage 2 of Tribal Leadership corresponds to Robert Kegan’s model of ethical, social, and cognitive development. For clarity, we’ll refer to it as “the communal mode.” Stage 2 exists in the communal mode, wherein individuals understand themselves based on how others see them. Collectively, people adhere to group norms and avoid taboos.

Since group norms are paramount, people in a Stage 2 office show solidarity when someone complains about work. Kegan’s model illuminates why Stage 2 cultures perpetuate a low bar of mediocrity: In the communal mode, it’s very difficult to break the status quo. Doing so would mean losing many of your relationships and being ostracized.

Paths to Stage 3: Inspire Ambition

To coach individuals to Stage 3, find the few who are ready to level up and work with them one-on-one using the authors’ three steps:

• Step #1: Speak with Stage 3 language. This will help the Stage 2 individual learn and absorb the Stage 3 attitude, and she’ll begin to recognize her abilities to succeed.
• Step #2: Show the individual that you value her. Since the Stage 2 individual has often become disillusioned with management, you need to gain her trust. The authors recommend that you get to know what she does and what she’s accomplished.
• Step #3: Encourage two-person relationships. The Stage 2 individual needs to develop better connections to move up. Encourage her to seek new friendships, especially with people who are at Stage 3.

Two main changes mark a successful shift from Stage 2 to Stage 3, according to the authors:

• Change #1: The Stage 2 individual starts using Stage 3 language. Instead of expressing that her life sucks, she’ll start to recognize her own potential—and she’ll express that with language like, “I’m awesome, I can definitely succeed.”
• Change #2: The Stage 2 individual assumes the mood of Stage 3. Now that she’s begun to recognize her own abilities and develop her confidence, the Stage 2 individual will assume the competitive attitude characteristic of Stage 3.

Encourage Nonlinear Development

Tribal Leadership presents a linear progression up the stages within one company. But while we’ve long thought of careers as climbing rungs on a ladder, a linear career path doesn’t always make sense. Instead, today’s workers must learn to navigate an unpredictable, ever-changing landscape of opportunities, finding a less direct path to career success and fulfillment.

When using Tribal Leadership’s coaching tactics, help your mentees understand that they don’t necessarily need to pursue a linear career. Encourage them to develop transferable skills, such as writing or productivity skills, so that they have more options when searching for roles. Last, kindle an employee’s ambition by finding what motivates them and giving frequent feedback. This way, you can assign her to tasks that develop her skills and help her clearly see how she’s doing.

Stage 3: Survival of the Fittest

The authors describe Stage 3 as the domain of “lone warriors,” where big egos jockey for power and personal accomplishment. It’s the most common culture, and where most professionals spend much of their careers. Stage 3 is highly individualistic, so members don’t see themselves as a tribe. However, they still share a particular culture: Shark-like competition, power politics, and high ambition.

(Shortform note: Recent trends suggest that collaboration is replacing the competitive workplace. About 88% of the millennial workforce reports that they prefer collaboration over competition. To the millennial employee, happiness and overall fulfillment matters more than career success, so many millennials might be jumping right to Stage 4 to avoid the ferocious competition of a Stage 3 work environment.)

The authors explain that Stage 3 has two distinct markers:

• Marker #1: “Me first” language. Stage 3 features egocentric language, and “I” starts most sentences. Stage 3 individuals say, “I can do it best,” or, “Let me figure it out.” Since a Stage 3 individual values himself first, he favors his own goals, ideas, and ambitions while often disregarding others’.
• Marker #2: Power politics. The Stage 3 individual hoards and controls information with one-on-one relationships. He’ll rely on gossip from spies in lower company positions, and he exerts a lot of energy to keep everything under his control. This tense, politics-heavy environment prevents effective teamwork.

(Shortform note: In Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck and Chris Cowan describe an “orange” value meme that corresponds to Tribal Leadership’s Stage 3. “Orange” individuals aspire to improve themselves, and they use rational, strategic thinking to dominate and win. In the workplace, Stage 3 individuals can be antagonistic and difficult, but they recognize that individualism contributes to innovation—think of people such as Steve Jobs, who demonstrated what audacious individual ambition can create.)

Paths to Stage 4: Embrace Teamwork

The authors describe two key coaching opportunities for helping individuals move from Stage 3 to Stage 4. Work one-on-one with Stage 3 individuals who are ready to make the shift.

• Opportunity #1: Encourage interpersonal cooperation. A Stage 3 individual can overcome his antagonistic individualism by learning to treat others with respect and dignity. Encourage him to get candid feedback through surveys, communicate transparently, and recognize the unique skills of his employees.
• Opportunity #2: Demonstrate the limitations of Stage 3. Since results matter most to the Stage 3 individual, emphasize that Stage 4 performs more effectively than Stage 3. Show him that working on a team will expand his reach and give him back his time.

(Shortform note: While the authors don’t cohere their coaching tactics into an overall system or framework, consider that you might not need a singular coaching system. Instead, gather a variety of tools and techniques into a coaching “toolkit,” or a repertoire that you can continually add to. For instance, you might combine the authors’ techniques with Kim Scott’s strategies from Radical Candor, in which she argues that bosses can better manage relationships by caring personally and challenging directly. By combining tips and tactics from a variety of sources, you can develop a skill set that’s tailored to your own needs.)

The authors describe three changes that mark a successful shift to Stage 4:

• Change #1: A shift to team-focused language. The Stage 3 individual will begin to credit his team with their successes and downplay his own role.
• Change #2: Stronger relationships. He’ll recognize the advantages of transparent, three-person relationships, and he’ll begin to build a stronger network.
• Change #3: Increased effectiveness. As the Stage 3 individual embraces teamwork and the power of networks, he’ll begin to achieve more with less personal effort.

(Shortform note: In Team of Teams, Stanley McChrystal explains how, when you develop people who trust one another and have a shared purpose, you strengthen the small units (such as teams or tribes) that make up your organization. In Navy SEAL training, prospective SEALs spend six months in groups of five to eight, and they learn to communicate clearly, trust and take cues from one another, and operate as a unit. The SEALs’ trust and shared purpose create a strong, unified team, and this same principle can create strong teams or tribes in your organizations too.)

Stage 4: Unified Teamwork: The Tribe Comes First

According to the authors, just under a quarter of the modern workforce exhibits Stage 4 culture. Like the previous stages, Stage 4 has two characteristic markers: its language and its relationships.

Marker #1: Tribe-Focused language. In a Stage 4 culture, the prevailing mood is one of camaraderie and authenticity. Tribe members and leaders feel that they’re doing great work, and they openly express it—leaders usually credit their tribe for any success, while tribe members praise the leader. This language also expresses the tribe’s values, which keep members aligned toward a common mission.

(Shortform note: The authors’ description of a Stage 4 tribe evokes the camaraderie of a sports team, wherein the team’s success explicitly depends on how good team members feel about themselves and each other. In this same vein, some collaborative companies use sports-themed retrospectives to review their work and stay aligned, since sports offer a rich array of team-building exercises and wisdom to draw from.)

Marker #2: Strong, networked relationships. To the Stage 4 person, the tribe comes first, so he’s always looking to build strong relationships or introduce people he thinks might work well together. The authors explain that these relationships typically have three members.

(Shortform note: The McKinsey Institute suggests that successful organizational change often comes from focusing on the informal networks within your company, rather than trying to restructure the various departments and teams of a typical organizational chart. They argue that these networks determine what gets done, much like the authors’ view of tribes.)

Establish Your Values and Purpose

According to the authors, a tribe must establish and live its core values and find a purpose to stabilize at Stage 4. When the tribe has a solid foundation of values and an inspiring purpose to pursue, they come together and become more effective and innovative at work.

Find and Live Your Values

The authors offer these tactics for finding and living your values:

• Tactic #1: Create your values with the whole tribe. Hold a meeting—or a few—and use open-ended questioning, such as “What matters most to you?” to dig down and find shared values. Work with your tribe to articulate them.
• Tactic #2: Talk about values often. This encourages tribe members to continue thinking about the values and they’ll often suggest nuances, clarifications, and adjustments.
• Tactic #3: Hire according to your values. Test for values in an interview by telling a story that illustrates a core value of yours. If the interviewee can articulate the point of the story, you’ll know they understand that value.

Values Form a Core Philosophy

In Built to Last, Jim Collins explains that companies that achieve lasting success operate on a core philosophy—values that guide the company through thick and thin. To develop a core philosophy, consider Collins’s steps:

• Craft your core philosophy with five to seven employees who already exemplify it, as opposed to working with the whole tribe.

• Keep it concise. Stating your values plainly clarifies them for everyone.

• Limit yourself to three to six core values. Any more, and it’s no longer an essential core so much as a loose list.

Unite With a Worthy Purpose

After establishing shared values, a Stage 4 tribe must find a worthy purpose—the tribe’s North Star, or overriding direction. The authors recommend making this purpose audacious rather than realistic, since boldness unites people better than an easy, unambitious aim. They give two ways to find a worthy purpose:

• Method #1: Ask what the tribe works in service of. Have everyone explain their answer, and discuss until someone’s answer resonates with the whole group.
• Method #2: Ask four key questions. According to the authors, asking these questions allows a group to review their current situations and get a sense of where they want to head. “What’s working well?” “What’s not working?” “What can we do to make the things that aren’t working work?” “Is there anything else?” (Shortform note: These questions are a common review method: Reflect on the positives, then the negatives, then figure out what to change. For instance, James Clear uses much the same method for his annual review, asking, “What went well? What didn’t? What am I working toward?”.)

(Shortform note: Instead of starting with values, the Harvard Business Review writes that a company’s purpose comes first. They define “purpose” as “your company’s reason for being,” and say it acts as the center of a “compass” that guides a company’s values, strategy, brand, and vision. A purpose should differentiate the company and suggest its values: For instance, a minimalist, sustainable footwear brand might stand for “healthier feet and a healthier planet.”)

Markers of Success: Cherishing the Tribe

The authors describe three main changes that occur when an individual has stabilized at Stage 4.

• Change #1: Tribe-focused language. At Stage 4, a tribe member will use tribe-focused language, often praising her team and crediting them for any successes.
• Change #2: Commitment to the tribe’s values. When faced with decisions, the tribe member will choose according to the tribe’s values and purpose. According to the authors, she’ll prioritize the tribe by living their values as much as possible.
• Change #3: Proactive teamwork. The tribe member will take on difficult work that requires teamwork, and she’ll go out of her way to build new relationships.

(Shortform note: In Team of Teams, Stanley McChrystal explains how he transformed the US Task Force in Iraq. Like the authors of Tribal Leadership, he emphasizes building trust and aligning people with a common purpose. Applying these principles to the Task Force, he created a networked organization that had “shared consciousness,” or a unified mindset similar to the tribal unity the authors cite. McChrystal notes that organizational development is an ongoing effort—leaders need to continually fight against complacency and always adapt to the changing business environment.)