Squeaky wheels and slippery slopes
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease”.
In a corporate setting, this phrase is often used disparagingly to describe a culture in which some people who don’t accept accountability, claim credit when it's not theirs, gossip and generally put their own needs before others, are rewarded for such behaviour. As a leader, giving that person what they want (greasing that wheel) to keep the peace impacts team morale, affects productivity and over time erodes hard earned team culture.
If you've ever been on a bike that squeaks, you know just how annoying it can be. It's natural to want to silence it by just giving it what it needs. That way, you can get on with a peaceful ride. But beware: just because something's quiet, doesn’t mean it is fixed. Choose the wrong lubricant and you risk that squeaky wheel becoming the weak link that wears down the entire system.
Having recently taken up gravel biking, I was struck by the parallels between building a healthy team culture and the maintenance of a bike.
Gravel bikes get really dirty with every ride. The bike chain is what connects the whole system together to move the bike forward. And it's constantly peppered with everything that flips up as you ride over it. Just like any team culture, the bike chain needs a lot of care and maintenance: lubrication to prevent wear and rust, or to silence those squeaks. Oil tends to be the lubricant of choice. But oil is sticky, so all the while it's quietly propelling you forward, it also distributes all the debris it picks up through the entire system, creates friction and wears down the components. In the end, it's not only the chain you need to replace, but all sorts of components whose names I won't claim to know. Back in the corporate world, pandering to that loud person by giving them the thing that will keep them quiet is equally short sighted and the long term cost high.
A more recent innovation to keeping the chain lubricated and clean is to treat it with hot wax. Wax it resilient. It envelops each chain link to keep it clean and supple. Unlike oil, it also acts as a repellent. The bike still gets muddy as hell out on those rides, but you can rely on the chain to not silently wear down the system.
So how do you deal with that squeaky wheel knowing that what you choose to introduce or allow into your culture will impact the whole system? Prevent it from happening. Introduce resilient culture-building ingredients, apply them consistently and maintain them holistically.
