Episode 5: Leadership and Culture

John Hall Author

How does leadership impact company culture? What steps can leaders take to create a positive culture in their company.

Introduction: Leadership & Organizational Culture 0:08

Welcome to the leading from the ground up podcast. I'm your host, John Hall Welcome to Episode Five.

Today we're talking about leadership's effect on organizational culture. I wanted to start this one off with a show that my family and I have been watching called Ted lasso. Many of you may have watched the show but I wanted to take a different approach on it with the relationship between Ted lasso and Nate, the assistant coach that was originally the equipment manager. Ted came into the organization with not a lot of knowledge of how to play soccer or what soccer was about, but he did have a lot of positive energy. He was a leader prior to that so that's what he brought to the table. He started relationships with everybody with a super levels of positivity and those were things that they had not seen before and over time, it changed many of the players, the leadership that was currently there, leadership that developed on the field, and definitely had a positive impact on Nate, the equipment manager. Like I said before that was promoted to assistant coach. This was something that Nate did not have in his life prior to that. Many of the players treated him badly, did things that they probably shouldn't have done but they thought it was in jest and in good fun. Nate did not see it that way. He didn't believe that he deserved the respect from anyone based on things that was going on in his life. When Ted showed him the respect and the positivity that can come along with good leadership, it changed something in him. When that was pulled out from underneath his feet because Ted was going through something, it soured the relationship. Ted quickly got to a point where he apologized to Nate and owned up to the mistake that he made, but the the relationship didn't necessarily continue to go in the direction that Ted wanted it to go.

Definition of Organizational Culture 2:56

Now how does this relate to the organizational culture or the the effect that leadership has on it? Well, the culture can be described by three different things, the values, the expectations and the practices and procedures that we put in place. We want an importance placed on values, the expectations that we have in our organization in our businesses, that we want people to rise to achieve and we want them to follow specific practices that have been set in place to propel the organization forward. We also want to make sure that we are setting an example of the expectations and following the practices and the values that we've set forward. We can't very well expect our employees in our organization in our business in our departments to continuously follow those things if we aren't modeling them. They will follow them for a short period of time, but not necessarily if we do not model them in the right way. If we are not following them, if we are not holding ourselves to that standard, to that higher standard, then they will tend to back off and we will have problems with them meeting those expectations because they aren't seeing us do it.

Importance of Leadership’s Effect 4:32

Now, why is this important? Why is leadership's effect on organization culture important? We want to to ensure that there is a high quality of work and safety within the organization. When employees feel safe when they come to work, when they enjoy the work that they do, when they feel that they are valued, they have a better work life balance. They come to work, they're not dreading coming to work, they enjoy the work that they do, they understand the importance of it, they feel like they're making a positive impact on what they're doing. The customer service that they provide is aboveboard, is high quality and the retention of your employees is great. People are less likely to leave an organization that builds them up, that wants to promote them, that wants to give them meaningful employment that they see value in the organization that sees their value. They want to work for an organization that sees them, lets them know that they're valued and it is a positive environment as opposed to coming into a negative environment every single day. It is very difficult to work in a negative environment. And, you know, obviously you can't get rid of negativity completely because it's going to creep in from time to time but if the environment is positive, the majority of the time then they have no problem with dealing with that. They will find a way to remove the negativity and the leadership will find a way to remove the negativity even when it pops up and it rears its head to leadership. And sometimes the negativity is simply something that you would need to communicate a little better about certain things. So that wherever this negativity is coming from, they can understand why they are doing things, why it should be done a certain way. Why there are different avenues or ways to see what they are doing. So it is a high quality work. Coming into a safe work environment and better work life balance. The better your employees treat your customers, the more customers you're going to have they're going to tell everybody how they're being treated. They're going to be some of your biggest advertisement. Because the service and quality of the product or service that you provide shines through your employees.

Creating a Positive Culture 7:31

Now how does leadership create a positive culture? A positive culture can be created by making sure that your employees as stated before have a meaningful work environment meaning that the work that they do they see the purpose and they see the higher meaning in it, they they understand the direction that the company is going and what their role is in it. The employees understand that they appreciated. They feel it. They hear from the leadership. They see it on a daily basis that they're appreciated. Their well being in a an emotional connection with their fellow co workers with the leadership. It seems to them like they are part of an additional family. And I know that this isn't necessarily a family situation. But as leadership, you sort of have to at times treat it that way because people are going to be going through things and sometimes you end up being the counselor of your employees when they have to just get something off their chest because it's affecting their work environment. It's affecting their level of productivity and you want to be able to communicate with them well, you want to be able to have that connection with them. You want to know that they are appreciated. You want to know that they can walk in your office and they can be heard about certain things. And of course you're not going to spend half a day counseling them on something that is personal. But sometimes people just need to be heard so that they can move on through the day. And if that is a personal thing and they want to take five or 10 minutes and talk to you about it, because they just need to get it off their chest, then there's nothing wrong with that. I believe that it is it is the role of a mentor to just listen to those things and you are there to to provide advice. Sometimes people just need to be listened to. And part of having that meaningful work environment knows that they lets them know that they are safe to come in and and have a brief discussion with you about that. Or maybe it's simply that they're they're having difficulties dealing with a situation with a fellow employee and that is definitely something that you want to be involved in because if they are if they can't navigate that on their own, then it is your job to step in, in mediate the situation. So that you know it's resolved quickly. It is both parties involved understand the expectations, one understands where the other company is coming from. And you can resolve whatever issue that is and they can move on. The biggest thing here is that employees want to work in an environment that means something to them.

Leadership sets the tone 10:45

Now how does leadership affect culture? Leaders set the tone in whatever setting that they're in. As a parent, I understand that if I come home from doing whatever if I come home from work if I come home from the office and I'm in a terrible mood, my my family my children are going to see that they're going to receive whatever whatever negative reaction they get from me when I walk through the door in in about 30 minutes they're going to be in that same mood and the nights going to go sour. I'm very much aware of having to purge all this before I walk in the door. So I spend time feeding myself and in in sort of meditating on drives before I get home. I get myself in the right frame of mind before I get to work. I get myself in the right frame of mind before I come back home. So it is a definite point that leaders set the tone in their organization. If they come in the terrible mood. Their employees are going to see that they're going to want to know why. Some of them may be may be brave enough to ask why. But others will not. They will just go about their day, as if they're walking on eggshells, and it won't be the best environment for them. It won't be a positive environment for them and it will start to sour the the culture itself.

Defining the Vision and Purpose 12:29

One of the things that another one of the things that leaders can do to affect the the organizational culture is to not work not not decide the right agenda or to not to not be focused on the right agenda. If you tend to have the squirrel effect and you you follow whatever rabbit hole there is in there's no meaning behind what you're doing and there's no clear clear vision or purpose there. Then employees going to see that they're going to know that it doesn't make any sense because you haven't communicated well with them. You haven't talked to them about what this new direction is and why they're headed down that way. And they definitely don't have any buy in because you've already decided on a whim that you're going a different direction than you were last week. So you need to be focused on the right agenda. You need to decide what that agenda is. And you need to have conversations with your teams. You need to mentor your teams well, the worst thing I've ever seen is a leader that is in the bushes in the weeds and wants to be involved in every single thing that happens. There is a reason that you hire smart people. You don't hire them to just sit back and wait for you to tell them what to do. That tends to diminish their skills. It is a it is a blow to their egos it is a blow to the skills that they know that they have and it definitely does not make for an environment that is conducive to producing more, is conducive to being positive. It is one of those things where you need to step back and you need to say these are the things that need to get done. Here's the vision. Here's the purpose for what you're doing. You hired them for a reason because they know how to do the job. You trained them, you mentored them and now they're very capable. Now you need to let them do the job that you hired them for. When they have questions, when there are problems, when you have questions, of course step in at that point. You do want to monitor it from time to time that things are being things that are being done. But if you have open lines of communication, they're going to let you know that you're going to see it you're going to see the results of what's happening in one way or another. At some point. If someone is not doing their job that's going to come up it's going to come up either by someone telling you that they're not doing their job or it's going to come up in productivity you will see that their productivity for that specific person or that department is slipping simply because they are not doing their job and if you are in the bushes as the as the leader. If you are the one trying to micromanage everything. That's what's going to happen because they are going to sit back and wait for you to tell them what to do because they are frustrated with the fact that they they're not really allowed to utilize their skills that they've acquired over years in and through training. And they've been conditioned to understand that what you want is what you want them to do is what you tell them to do. And if they try to do anything else, it's not really what you want. So they'll wait. They'll sit back and they’ll wait for you to tell them what to do. Leaders need to make sure that the vision for their company is clear to the employees. You need to make sure that it's communicated well. You need to make sure that they have some buy in with the vision that that you've created for your organization.

Creating Inspiration 16:33

The Vision needs to be something that gets people moving and needs to be uplifting it needs to needs to inspire. It needs to inspire them. You need to be able to communicate well what that vision is and how it is going to move the company forward. You need to make sure that they understand their role in it. The purpose of the vision and the purpose of what they do is very important. You want to make sure that you provide things like what you're doing which is which is division, who you're doing it for and you want to buy in that you bought from your employees. You want to make sure that they provide it to you you want to have that conversation you want to get their feedback. You want for them to provide you ways to to make that vision come true to make that to move the company forward to when it when that vision should be reached or brought to fruition. You want to make sure that your employees understand that they are they are important. Their skills are important and they are part of this journey that you are you you want to take the company down so you you want to make sure that the vision and the purpose of the organization is inspirational enough that it gets people moving it gets their blood boiling, it gets them it gets them going and they want to come in on a daily basis and go to work on this because they know at the end it's going to be something wonderful and great. The vision that you have your organization it needs to be one of those things that when you come up with it, it's so stuck in your mind that it keeps you up at night. When you finally do go to sleep you wake up, it wakes you up early. You want to get to work on it quickly. You want to to go as hard and as long as you can to get to that to where you can see that vision. Come into reality. And when you have that, you are having problems falling asleep because the vision is stuck in your head. When you're when it's waking you up early in the morning. You're dreaming about it. It is not a hard thing to communicate that and convey that to employees so that they are inspired by whatever that vision is. They will understand why it is keeping you up at night. Why It's waking you up early. Why you want the company to go hard in the paint, so to say to get these things to get this done. They want to know where this vision is taking them when that the company is expecting to be there. If it is an overarching vision that you're constantly going to be reaching for they need to know what that is. This goal that you are that you are so excited about. They will be excited about because of the way that you conveyed it communicated it to them. And they will want to work on it simply because you're excited about it. Now they're excited about it. And they want to show you that they have the ability to push the company forward. And when they work on it, they realize at the end of the day that they are a part of something bigger. They are instrumental in getting these things done. And when you finally reach that goal, it's time to celebrate and it's time for the employees to celebrate as well with you because it's a goal that was reached as a team. You couldn't have reached that goal. Even though you had the goal. You had the dream you had the vision. You couldn't have reached it without these employees. And if you could have you wouldn't have the employees to begin with.

Being a Role Model 20:55

One other thing that I wanted to say about leadership's effect on the culture is you have to be a role model for the culture that you expect to see. If you set some expectations for the culture and you don't follow it, employees will realize it very quickly that there is a double standard. You expect them to be one way within the culture, you think the culture is going based on the expectations that you have set. And they see that those rules don't apply to you. You want to be the poster child for whatever that culture is going to be. If you want it to be a positive, inclusive culture, then that's what you need to create and that's what you need to convey on a daily basis. You want to be positive. Now mind you I've said before negativity comes around, it's there. You can't always get rid of it. You can't be the most positive person in the world.

Conclusion 22:01

I know I use the analogy or the story of Ted lasso in the beginning and now I'll circle back to that. But there are going to be times when you're going to have some negative thoughts and you just need to realize that you're having those you need to let them go you need to release them and you need to make sure that that you are you swinging back to the positive side because that's a choice that you're making. Not everything is going to go perfectly. Not everything is going to go your way, all the time. But you can choose to live in a moment and learn from whatever lesson you're being taught in that moment. And you can model that for your employees by showing them that you're learning from things, that you're you're capable of making mistakes, you're capable of owning up to those mistakes, and you're capable of learning from whatever those mistakes are and finding the the gems or the diamonds or the positivity in it and moving forward. Now let's circle back to the Ted Lasso story about the relationship between Ted and Nate. As the two seasons progress, you start to see that Nate is more focused on being the boss or the leader of the organization because he feels that he's the one making sure that the team is doing as good as it is in the second season even though the you know the team was relegated at the end of the first season. But he believes that it's all him. He's forgotten the fact that he is part of the team but thinks that he is the team itself and it wouldn't be able to function without him. In that isn't necessarily the case. Ted continues with the positivity but Nate is on a path where he is still upset with Ted because he pulled the rug out from underneath him. After giving them all the positivity and attention that Nate was not receiving prior to that. In that one act, Nate believes that the relationship was severed, the relationship has soured and Nate went down a path that was negative in many, many ways. If you've watched the series this isn't something new if you haven't, it's it's a decent watch. So it is something that you you can go check out. I'm not plugging the show, but my family and myself, really liked it and we're waiting on the next season to come out. But nevertheless, Nate in the end realizes that he does not enjoy or like the things that he's done. So he's still mad at TED. He's mad at himself because he's let that one situation take him down a path that is not very positive is is not is definitely is definitely negative. So he cannot forgive Ted, even though Ted has asked him for forgiveness. Now at the at the end of the second season, Ted asked them again for forgiveness and he doesn't come half hearted with with the apology. If he had said, you know, Nate, if I've done anything that that has offended you it was not my intention Ted owned up to the mistake again. And Nate was not willing to give that forgiveness, now if that's the way your wording for your your apology for when you're apologizing to an employee or to someone else. It's you're going halfway in and not just acknowledging that you've made a mistake. We are human as leaders. We're not Superman, we're not a Marvel character, we’re not a DC character, we make mistakes and the best way to get past them and mend whatever relationship that is, is to is to own up to them. And Ted has done that on multiple occasions here but Nate is not accepting that and in the end, it severed completely severed the relationship and understand that you can apologize to people in your life, your employees or your family and you as a leader in whatever aspect that may be needed. You need to own up to it and just apologize for the mistake that you made. And then ask the person for forgiveness. And you can't control what happens after that. You just need to realize that you've made the move you've owned up to it. You've taken responsibility for whatever mistake that is, and you've asked a person for forgiveness. That's the only thing that you can control. Beyond that you can't control what their response is going to be and you definitely cannot control whether or not they forgive you. This has been the fifth episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time. Thank you for listening and continue with me on this journey.

As always, if you have specific questions that you would like covered in an episode, please send those questions to John@apertureadvising.com until the next time, remember, I believe in your ability to lead from the ground up.