Culture and Leadership Development

Over the years, when I have talked with senior leaders about their organization, we eventually get around to a discussion about their organization’s culture. Some are attuned to the importance of organizational culture. They are quick to declare that their organization is a performance culture, that they are all about customer service, or they are all about the patient and quality outcomes, or some variation of that. Sometimes I’ll get a response that reflects a more personality-related description. Again, with pride, they’ll say things like we are a little quirky here, we like to have fun!

These organizations tend to be very thoughtful and strategic about the culture they have nurtured. They understand that culture is not only about the internal management and integration of the employees, but the organizational mindset when external challenges emerge. How is an external threat perceived and how quickly will the organization react?

Other organizations struggle to make the connection between the concept of culture and the way they function, their internal harmony or discord, or the way employees collaborate or compete. They just plod along as if the forces of culture are invisible and unimportant. To this group, time and market changes will catch up at some point. 

There are a few questions to ask:

What kind of culture does the organization currently have?

What kind of ideal culture is needed if the organization is to move into the next 3-5 years and be successful?

How do we make this happen?

We usually start with a conversation about the culture they would like to have. Imagine for a moment that you are walking into the business five years from now, describe what that would look like. This is an extensive conversation, but essential. It gets people thinking about a wide range, aspirational vision.

Then I’ll ask about the organization’s current culture? Is one’s perception of the organization’s culture based upon data or is it anecdotal? Do you know why your current culture is the way it is, i.e. how did they get there? How is this cultural pattern working for (or against) where you want to be? Most companies are not measuring their culture, maybe not even conducting employee engagement surveys, so they are really operating blind.

Just getting these two pieces of the human side of organizational life nailed down is tough, but there is a third leg of this journey: the operationalization of creating the new culture. Edgar Schein, the prominent author on organizational culture talks about the essence of strong cultures evolving when three elements emerge: a common set of shared assumptions, a common set of values, and a common interpretation of the artifacts of the organization (buildings, uniforms, symbols, dress code, myths about the organization, etc.) and what they mean.   

How do organizations get everyone onto the same page? There are many methods actually; branding, policies, artwork, buildings, room/office design to name a few. Organizations will often use the Orientation process to espouse their explicit values, we believe in diversity, we care more than anything about our employees, or we are very transparent with our team members. Once an employee gets past the Orientation and Onboarding period however, the true culture becomes more apparent.  The gap between the explicit culture and the tacit culture becomes evident. The larger the gap, the more ridiculous the pretense.

Cultural strength and alignment come from a variety of sources: the CEO and C-Suite, the talent management structure that rewards good actors and punishes bad ones, adherence to stated policies (or indifference), adherence to stated values (or indifference) and leadership communication messages that are focused on key themes (not disjointed).

But the most significant force for creating organizational culture, however, is through leadership and leadership development. Through leadership development, emotional temperament around business issues is safely examined and discussed. The gap between explicit and tacit stories that float around the organization can be explored. Learners gain a sense of their influence and that of their peers.