Either you create the culture or the culture will create you!
n. Culture: the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a community or population.
How do you impact the culture in your organization? A leader’s every action, word and decision impacts the culture; their influence appears in their passionate communication, compelling vision and uncompromising values. When you take responsibility for creating a high-performance culture you build that culture. If a leader chooses not to act and allows “good nuf” behaviors it becomes evident throughout the organization. Either you create the culture or the culture will create you.
As leaders recognize and act on the forces of culture, others follow. Consider how a new hire adapts to your organization; they observe the behaviors, attitudes and habits of those they work with and then they adapt their behavior to this cultural framework. These visible forces help set a standard for performance. If an employee observes everyone arriving late for a meeting, she learns to show up five minutes after start time. A new production worker may notice everyone wearing their hard hat and goggles and he quickly follows suit.
Every leadership decision and action impacts an organization’s culture. Think about the organization that consistently moves to massive layoffs as soon as the bottom-line numbers do not meet quarterly projections. Compare it with the company that promotes from within. Consider the leader that listens carefully to other's ideas versus the leader that demands compliance.
The behaviors, values and beliefs displayed on a daily basis either help or hinder any business. Each attitude and action every member of your team shows, adds to the power of your organization’s culture; each must be examined and either reinforced or rejected. Every person must execute leadership behaviors and become conscious of how their attitudes and actions impact the effort to produce a high-performance culture. Effective leaders commit to and produce results that attract others; they generate the necessary force for creating the strongest culture.
For more information on how Rapport's training can help you create a high-perfomance business culture contact your Leadership Training Advisor at (800) 989-0715.
