Karin Hurt > Quotes

“The difference in emphasis between psychological safety and courageous cultures may be a meaningful one. When we emphasize psychological safety, we risk putting the burden squarely on the shoulders of leaders—whether of teams or organizations—to do what they can to create environments where others’ voices can be heard. When we emphasize courage, in contrast, we put the spotlight on individuals—inviting them to step up and share what they see, wonder about, and worry about, despite the anxiety they may have about doing so, because of what’s at stake. Here the risk could be seen as asking for heroics on the part of undervalued and at times under-rewarded employees everywhere.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“As it turns out, Brian thrived in a high-Clarity culture. When handed a playbook, he knew exactly what to do. And did it flawlessly. But in the whirlwind of a fast-growing start-up, he was completely lost. He had trouble transferring what he had learned in his old role to his new job. Frustrated by the lack of guidelines and procedures, he kept going to his boss for help in making every little decision. He was too overwhelmed to innovate. He was lucky to just get through the day. In the interview, Violet had been so focused on what his company was doing, she didn’t get a good sense of Brian’s capacity to replicate it on his own.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“You can do this exercise as a team or break into subgroups and have each group take a letter and work on the related questions to then read out to the team. U—What are we Underestimating? Competitive pressures? New technology? Risk? The opportunity that we “don’t have time for”? G—What’s got to Go? What are we doing now that doesn’t make sense anymore? What processes are more habit than value? What meetings are wasting our time? What’s got to go for us to be remarkable? L—Where are we Losing? Where are we still underperforming despite our best efforts? Why? Who’s doing it better? How? Y—Where are we missing the Yes? What new opportunities are yearning for our attention? Where must we invest more deeply?”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“If I’m ever in doubt about whether a leader is making a positive impact on my organization, I ask myself this most important question, Would I want my child working for this person? If the answer is no, I know I need to make the tough call. —DAVID ALEXANDER, President, Soliant”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“We human beings are finely attuned to risk. Now, that ought to work in our favor, especially when it comes to things like engineering safety systems for airplanes or preventing wrong-site surgery in hospitals. The trouble is, we’re attuned primarily to interpersonal risk rather than technical risk.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“To draw out the great value silent, ponderous people can contribute, start by giving them time to think. For some meetings, this means giving them the main topic a day or two in advance and asking them to think about it. In some settings, simply having everyone write down ideas first will give everyone time to process.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“For most people, innovation takes energy and courage—the courage to be vulnerable, to risk rejection from their peers, or to invite uncertainty.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Innovation starts with information. If you want your team to solve more problems or to bring more ideas, they need Clarity about where you’re headed and what matters most. They need to know the one to three big strategic priorities where their ideas would make the most difference and which kinds of best practices are most important to share.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction. —ALVIN TOFFLER, Author of Future Shock”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When you solve problems for your team instead of with your team, you teach them to stop thinking. Take time to slow down just enough, even during times of crisis, to bring others along and help them rise to the occasion. Don’t be a hero, be a hero farmer.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Often, when we dig underneath the surface of organizations where leaders are frustrated at the lack of innovation or problem solving, we find that employees are totally overwhelmed with multiple priorities. Everything feels urgent and important. When their manager asks them for ideas, they don’t know where to start, so they don’t contribute. Clarity of values, processes, and goals gives people the foundation to readily innovate and solve problems.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Your employees experience your organization through their day-to-day team and their immediate leader.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Three qualities distinguish how leaders ask questions in a Courageous Culture: they are intentional, vulnerable, and action focused.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“We frequently encounter managers who’ve made a career of executing well in a culture with well-defined processes but who don’t know what to do with the “idea people” on their teams—so they shut them down. After all, innovation can be a distraction. And they may be proud of their no-failure track record—why take a risk now? If you have a cadre of well-meaning managers who are scared to pull the trigger on a new idea, you’ll need to help them work through their fear and teach them how to manage calculated risk taking.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“The academic research is overwhelming: when people believe they can speak up at work, the learning, innovation, and performance of their organizations is greater. Teams and organizations in which people believe that their voices are welcome outperform their counterparts.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Be Humble. Next, a courageous question creates powerful vulnerability.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Cultivate Curiosity means to intentionally seek out ideas, engagement, and solutions. In organizations with a strong Curiosity culture, executives ensure that infrastructure and training encourage microinnovation, sharing ideas, and advocating for customers. Leaders at every level ask courageous questions to uncover new ideas, and employees consistently look for ways to make things better—and then share their discoveries.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Celebrate solutions, yes, but also celebrate the act of contributing. Call attention to and celebrate employees who share new ideas and solutions—even when those solutions don’t work. You get more of what you celebrate and encourage. Don’t celebrate only the ideas that work; celebrate the act of sharing thoughtful ideas and solutions. You’ll get more solutions and some of those will work.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“In contrast, when you embrace Curiosity to the exclusion of Clarity, you’ll experience a different set of challenges. Your customers’ experience of your brand fluctuates wildly. You can’t scale and it can take forever to implement change or best practices. Once again, you lose top talent—this time because they get frustrated at your organization’s inability to follow through and achieve results. You’ll often see teams full of “lone rangers” who invent their own, often different, ways to do the work.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Courageous Cultures require an elegant dance between two seemingly contradictory leadership characteristics: Clarity and Curiosity.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Teams that consistently improve don’t leave the creativity to chance. They have an intentional plan to find good ideas, test, refine, share, and encourage problem solving.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“Own the UGLY is a series of four provocative questions to brainstorm with your team: What are we Underestimating? What’s got to Go? Where are we Losing? And where are we missing the Yes?”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When your team is stuck between conflicting goals or constraints, the question that will help them get unstuck and generate ideas is, “How can we?” This question starts with the confidence that your team can succeed. We can do this. But it also includes the humility to recognize you don’t have the answer yet. We can do this—but it will take all of us to figure it out. When you ask “How can we?” it’s often useful to follow up with finding the and between two seemingly disconnected or opposing goals.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When people spend their courage reserves just getting past the bad stuff, there’s no energy left for the courage your business needs most—creative problem solving and microinnovation”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When you check for understanding, it’s important to know that people got it, but it’s also important to see how they’re feeling.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“When you ask courageous questions, team members are likely to share problems—after all, some courageous questions explicitly ask them to reveal the problems that keep them from being effective. When you hear problems, resist the urge to jump in with a quick fix. These are great opportunities to build trust—especially if you’ve uncovered the problem by asking a question.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“consistent with their culture and context. Localizing the principle is an incredibly powerful technique to create ownership, pride, and sticky customer (and employee) experiences. It’s not easy for your competitors to mimic because they can’t just copy a best practice—it requires careful leadership work to align the principles with your strategic goals and then the local creativity from empowered team members to Practice the Principle in ways that are relevant and make sense.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“In many organizations, Clarity and Curiosity don’t coexist. Leaders focus on one or the other and experience predictable challenges. When you embrace Clarity to the exclusion of Curiosity, you miss opportunities that are hiding in plain sight. Silos and internal competition creep in as forward motion grinds to a halt. FOSU becomes an epidemic as people become more reluctant to challenge the proven status quo. You often lose top talent who want to innovate and achieve breakthrough results. Ultimately, you have teams full of people who just want to be told what to do and aren’t creating the future.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“One of Amy Edmondson’s most important findings about psychological safety at work is that it happens at the team level. Two teams working at the same company with all the same infrastructure can have radically different levels of FOSU and, consequently, different levels of microinnovations, problem solving, and customer advocacy depending on their manager.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates

“A Problem Solver is the employee who cares about what’s not working and wants to make it better. He uncovers and speaks openly about what’s not working and thinks critically about how to fix it. Problem Solvers care about the business, treat it as their own, and focus on solutions.”
― Karin Hurt, Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates