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Building your Leadership Culture for Today’s Business Climate

Guest post by: David Liddell

Article Overview: What is your Organizational Culture? What does "Organizational Culture" have to do with leadership culture?” Do your top executives set the tempo and culture of your organization?

Building your Leadership Culture for Today’s Business Climate

One of the first questions I ask when working with a new client is "Tell me about your culture - what is it like to work here?" If answered accurately, this says plenty about an organization and even more telling when the description from the employees does not match that of the senior management. Here is a basic definition - "Organizational Culture: The set of shared attitudes, practices, and beliefs of members within the organization". Unique organizational competencies - skills, work habits, and commitments - typically are deeply entrenched in the culture of the organization.

So, you ask, "what does this have to do with leadership culture?" It is common knowledge that the tempo and culture of an organization is established based on the actions and leadership philosophy at the top of the hierarchical structure and then filters down through the organization in alignment with related characteristics. For example - if 'accountability to results' is not practiced at the highest level in an organization then chances are very good that mid level managers will demonstrate a very loose performance management mindset.

Today's business climate (and for the foreseeable future) requires many organizations to change the way they operate. Our research indicates too many companies are focusing their change efforts solely on the organizations' systems and neglecting the people. This doesn't mean that system upgrades are not necessary but it does prove there is an issue when change efforts fail even after significant spending. I have witnessed people do great things with limited resources but it has been the rare occasion when a new system performs well on its own without the collaborative effort of people.

Effective change efforts should build on the strengths of the current culture without destroying those competencies critical to success. The first step is an understanding of your strengths (is your organization accountable, innovative, results-driven?), and building consensus - not difficult but it should be discussed openly. This will initiate the change effort at the executive level and provide the fuel for success however there must be a real lead-by-example mentality. Affecting cultural change can not be forced on people - it needs to be witnessed, adopted, and then realized.

Beliefs of employees play a major role here and can be difficult to change. If the executives truly believe in the change effort and adopt it as their own this will migrate into the middle layers of the organization and then filter through to every employee. Realistically, it will impact each individual differently but, on the whole, will have a significantly positive impact and create the momentum needed. This momentum will exist in the minds and hearts of your people and allow you to plow through the most challenging situations and achieve your desired results.

Related Articles
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  Define Leadership - The Missing Key Success Factor in Change Management
  Thought leadership is a culture not a tactic
  Motivating Employees in the Workplace
  Community precedes culture change

Article Tags: business climate, leadership, organizational culture



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