The limiting factor of every organization is the strength of its culture. In unhealthy cultures, organizations diminish and minimize the creativity and talent of their employees. In healthy cultures, employees grow and innovate, propelling the business past competition and creating success for everyone involved.
Every company has a culture, and the health of its culture will determine its growth. Most of us don’t have any issue identifying the problems with our culture.
There’s a bad attitude among your employees.
The work your employees are doing is sometimes poor and unfinished.
There’s a department head that leads by fear and intimidates his employees.
The hard part isn’t seeing what’s wrong with your culture, the hard part is fixing what’s wrong with your culture.
How do good leaders change the culture of their company? They change it by:
Being the culture they want to see
I remember one time asking a leader I respected how to create a strong and passionate culture. His response? Be strong and passionate. Culture cannot be determined by mission statements and core values alone. If we want to change the culture of our company, we have to begin that change in ourselves. Do you want a culture where people love to come to work? Then foster that in how you interact with them. Do you want a culture where people are consistently on time? Then start by not being late to meetings with them.
Whatever is in your organization that you want to change starts with you.
Defining who they are
Many company cultures are unhealthy simply because the culture of the company is not defined. Employees don’t know how to act because the values of the company have never been made clear to them before. What are the core values of your company? And I don’t mean stereotypical core values. Who are you really at your core? Are you hard-working? Are you joyful? Are you excellent? Whatever you are, define it to your team. It will give them a filter through which they can make every decision.
Using events to encourage behavior
Events give your team permission to behave the way that you’d like them to. If you want more relationships and fun, have a company picnic. If you want to have a culture of leadership, hold mastermind groups that encourage it. If you want more creative problem solving, select a few employees and have brainstorming sessions. When you want to make a change in the culture of your company, try to hold an event that spotlights and honors the values you want to see in your team.
At Legacy, we want to help businesses live a legacy every day. If you’re looking to develop your business and grow as a leader, we can help. Reach out to us on our LinkedIn company page or on our contact page.