Why Leaders Need to Pay Attention to Culture

The culture of a group is crucial, whether it’s a family, sports team, church, or business. Only leaders who actively manage the culture of their teams will achieve the positive behaviors they desire. These behaviors cannot be simply wished into place or demanded. This is because the culture of a group influences its success or failure, unity or individualism, and even the well-being of its members. Given the significant impact, are you paying attention to the culture of your team?

I reflect on the impact of two managers I knew very well. Jessica prioritized the well-being of her leadership team. How did I know? I was blessed to have worked for her. Our team knew Jessica cared about us and our careers. Interestingly, the more she pushed us, the more we were motivated to go beyond our perceived limitations. Our organization’s results were outstanding. People wanted to work for Jessica.

The other manager, Paul, pushed his team to deliver results at all costs. His team was stressed trying to out-perform each other and stay in their manager’s good graces. Paul seemed to have skipped his training class on soft leadership skills because he did not seem to have much compassion for others. His organization’s results were acceptable but not stellar. Now, the members of both teams were good. So, what was the difference between Jessica’s and Paul’s teams? The culture created by the leader.

The leader sets the culture whether intentionally or not. Why? This is because people follow people, whether they are model citizens or not. People will reflect the behaviors, values, and even the very tone of their leader. If a leader exemplifies excellence, their organization will reflect that characteristic. On the other hand, if a leader is aggressive, it’s likely that the members of that organization will also display aggressive tendencies.

The Importance of Culture

There are many reasons why, as leaders, we need to pay attention to culture. Here is what culture does.

1. Culture drives the behavior of a group. If the culture of a team is one of shared leadership, teamwork and collaboration will thrive. If the atmosphere is negative, its members can become difficult, uncollaborative, and even abusive.

2. Culture sets the tone of a group. A positive culture will create a healthy community. It increases employee satisfaction, retention, and well-being. On the flip side, if the environment is stressed, then self-care will be ignored, communication will become sporadic, processes will become increasingly disorganized, and employees will be mentally exhausted.

3. Culture influences productivity. If a group feels appreciated, supported, and acknowledged, they will deliver more and sacrifice more for the cause. Internally, the team will become more efficient, and externally, customers will enjoy better quality. A team with a negative work culture will settle for mediocrity and won’t perform at their peak.

How to Create the Right Culture

We need to deliberately create the culture we desire. If we don’t do this, we end up creating our culture unintentionally, or by default. Here is the big question: Is the culture of our team what we need to drive the results we want?

Here are a few actions a leader can take to establish the right culture.

1. Define your vision and communicate your expectations. It’s easier to follow a leader if people know what the leader expects of them.

2. Role-model the behavior you want to see in your team. People will follow what you do more than what you say. And people will trust those whose actions match their words.

3. Encourage the behaviors you want by rewarding positive demonstrations. Reinforce the positive ones with affirmations, and discourage the negative ones.

4. Empower your team with the right skills (training), knowledge (information), and decision-making space (authority). This drives ownership and accountability.

5. Conduct organizational assessments. Anything left to its own will degrade over time. Periodically evaluate the cultural health of your team. Ensure it remains healthy, employee satisfaction is high, and your business results are improving. Look for continuous improvement items from these assessments.

If the culture of your group is not as you want it to be, start by conducting an organizational evaluation. This could be a family fireside chat for a small intimate group or a formal anonymous survey for larger organizations. 

Leaders need to pay attention to the culture of their organizations as it significantly impacts their business results. If results are poor, evaluate the culture; starting with yourself.

Empowered Leader Reflection

What one thing are you personally doing to create the culture you desire in your team?

Would you join the conversation and comment below in the reply section?

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