Leadership and Culture

Developing leadership capabilities is often at the top of an organisation’s development plan – and rightfully so. Leadership behaviours have a significant impact on motivation, retention and productivity and equipping employees with effective leadership tools and behaviours is only going to help organisations achieve their objectives. What shouldn’t be forgotten, however, is the relationship between leadership behaviours and the company culture and infrastructure. 

Leadership behaviours undoubtedly influence organisational culture. However, culture is often not the subject of leadership development programmes and, in my opinion, should have a rock-solid place there. At the start, organisations need to create a strategy and revisit their vision. With companies having to deal with change on a regular basis, it is important to revisit the values and check whether the right behavioural norms are in place across the organisation. It’s likely that some skills are needed, others redundant, some attitudes and behaviours desired, others not, and it is then that leadership teams should be looking internally to assess how their behaviours, skills and attitudes need to change to successfully enable the vision to be achieved. 

Change in leadership will impact company culture as people will be treated in different ways that fall outside their expectations and experience. There will be different responses to the change – some will work with it, others not. What companies often don’t realise is that leadership programmes – if successful – will dramatically impact the company culture but are often not prepared for managing the culture change process. 

In conjunction with leadership development, companies should address the following points to ensure successful transition and productivity: 

Build skills in line with aspirational culture – conduct an assessment of where you are now in terms of how shared norms, values and behaviours are being displayed and introduce development tools to build skills and behaviours required to achieve aspirations. 

Create a culture of trust – people feel comfortable to share ideas and own problems, plus feel safe approaching leaders whom they trust. Trust provides an environment in which cooperation, higher performance and more positive attitudes are likely to exist. 

Recruit in line with values – ensuring new employees share values with the organisation will set the foundation for a committed workforce and higher retention 

Employee evaluation – performance management systems need to be transparent, employee driven, corporately supported and monitored, with a focus on achieving company objectives and broader mission. 

Create Open communication channels – regular, transparent communication needs to be facilitated up and down the organisation and between managers and their subordinates. Communication helps build employee satisfaction, commitment and performance. Not only is communication central to successful change initiatives, but it also helps create a sense of ownership and commitment to organisational goals.  

Review process – periodic assessment of management processes and practices is critical in ensuring goals are met and efficiency maintained. 

Collaboration – promoting collaboration and a proactive attitude in an organisation ensures efficiency and productivity is enhanced and problems are tackled more creatively. 

Transformation – Dynamic organisations are constantly evolving. Organisational culture needs to promote proactivity and collaboration as well as company-wide involvement 

At Penny Strutton, we can help with leadership and organisational development. If you’re looking for change, we’ll be happy to help. Please get in touch at penny@pennystrutton.co.uk or 0797 1979541