Who Holds High Status?
What is culture? It’s the job or behaviors that give higher status to an employee over others
Humans are status-seeking creatures. We crave it more than even money.
It’s the invisible hand guiding our politics, friendships, dating, and work.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Status Creates Culture
At Google of 2000s, engineers were high status, managers were not.
At Microsoft, status came from the size of your team and proximity to Windows and Office.
Different definitions of status, different cultures, different outcomes.
America gives high status to lawyers and financiers. So, we turn everything into an asset and fight over Supreme Court nominations.
San Francisco gives high status to founders and VCs.
Different definitions of status, different cultures, different outcomes.
A Sales Team Example
What about your team? What gets someone “high status”? Let’s look at an example
On most sales teams, the quota-beating rep is “high status”. If two reps beat quota, the one who brought the biggest deal has higher status. They are publicly praised, invited to President’s Club, and given promotions.
But, what if the economy is tough and the business wants to have high retention and expansions.
This culture, built on the “what gives status”, hinders achieving that goal
To shift behavior, you need to redefine culture, by redefining status.
Maybe, year 1 expansions should matter a lot more. You may wanna give higher status to your Solutions team.
Conclusion
You can’t give high status to behaviors that don’t align with where you want to go.
As a leader, your job isn’t just to manage or direct. It’s to shape status. To reward the behaviors that matter most.
Status creates culture. Culture creates outcomes.
If you want better outcomes, start with what you reward.
What will you make high status today?