Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Developing a Lean Culture (46-slide PowerPoint presentation). This presentation has 46 slides and consists of:
What is culture and definitions
What is organisational culture?
How to develop OC
Leaders & Leadership
Great leaders strategies
Developing a culture statement
Employee engagement
Organisational alignment
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Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Organizational Culture (OC), take a look at Flevy's Organizational Culture (OC) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.
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Editor’s Note: The author Curtis Chocholous, a seasoned executive and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, has written a whitepaper on The 80/20 Law of Leadership, which is available for free on Flevy here. This whitepaper is based on Lean Culture thinking.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Some leaders have a gift for bringing out the best in people. Others simply flounder when it comes to the finer points of motivating and lifting people up.
Effective leaders understand the critical difference between conversation and communication. Conversation is about giving and receiving information. Communication is about getting-through and gaining understanding. Great leaders know that interaction fuels action and that their ability to effectively Listen, Think, Talk, Decide and Act are essential to achieving and sustaining true leadership success. These five action verbs can be used as a [simplified] outline for creating a leader’s job description.
Listen
Successful carpenters are known for giving sound advice when they emphasize the importance of measuring twice and cutting once. That’s how good listening works. Effective leaders understand their primary role in a conversation by listening twice before they talk once. Like crossing a busy road, they stop, they look and they listen before they talk.
Many years ago, a short time after I joined a new company, I was in a closed-door one-on-one meeting with a senior associate. About five minutes into our conversation, his phone started ringing. His arms firmly folded — and eyes attentively fixated on me — he never turned to look at his phone or even flinch. With each ring, I glanced at his phone. After about three rings, I politely suggested that he answer his phone. He replied, ‘it can wait.’ That one conversation changed my approach to listening. I began to practice ‘it can wait‘ and by doing so I learned a vital ingredient in discovering the hidden potential in people.
Think, Talk, Decide, and Act
Processing information, providing feedback, decision-making and taking appropriate action are all important by-products of listening. That’s all I have to say [for now] about these four action verbs.
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. – James 1:19
5-page Word document
This checklist has 48 questions which you can rate on a 1 to 5 scale to understand the current culture of your organisation and set goals for improvement.
It focuses on the following:
Purpose, Values, Urgency, Trust, Competence, Customer Focus,Systems, Structure, Score Keeping and
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Want to Achieve Excellence in Organizational Culture (OC)?
Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Organizational Culture (OC). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.
Organizational Culture, also referred to as Corporate Culture or Company Culture, is the set of underlying and shared beliefs, vision, assumptions, values, habits, business philosophies, and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of the organization.
Organizational Culture permeates the organization, affecting all functions and all levels. It starts with what employees do and how they do it—and ultimately drives why employees do what they do. Culture is like the DNA of the organization.
That is why a healthy Company Culture leads to strong Performance, Growth, and Excellence—and the opposite is also true. For any initiative to be successful, we need a Corporate Culture that inherently supports that initiative.
Learn about our Organizational Culture (OC) Best Practice Frameworks here.
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