The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

After-Action Review, or AAR. The AAR is a gathering that takes place immediately after each mission or training session: Team

Where did we fail? What did each of us do, and why did we do it? What will we do differently next time?

Embrace the Use of Catchphrases: When you look at successful groups, a lot of their internal language features catchphrases that often sound obvious, rah-rah, or corny. Many of us instinctively dismiss them as cultish jargon. But this is a mistake. Their occasionally cheesy obviousness is not a bug—it’s a feature. Their clarity, grating to the outs

(A strong culture increases net income 756 percent over eleven years, according to a Harvard study of more than two hundred companies.)

Use Flash Mentoring: One of the best techniques I’ve seen for creating cooperation in a group is flash mentoring. It is exactly like traditional mentoring—you pick someone you want to learn from and shadow them—except that instead of months or years, it lasts a few hours. Those brief interactions help break down barriers inside a group, build relat