Leaders create culture

Leaders create culture by setting the socially acceptable behaviour of their teams.

Whether that is a football team, a scout group, your team at work, your church or your family group. There are a set of behaviours that you adopt in that group.

When you visit your parents, you notice that their rules are slightly different to yours; how they lay the table, whether you take your shoes off at the door or not. These are the socially acceptable behaviours

Culture does not come from open plan offices, foosball tables or free beer.

Two things change culture; leadership and crisis.

Crisis is the big scale ‘how we have ever done things before is not working’ type of crisis. A pandemic sized event. Very few of us (thankfully) typically experience this.

Which leaves leadership

Your teams want to please you and will emulate your behaviours, working out what is important to you.

How do you show up?

As a leader you get the team and culture you deserve. If you don’t like it, or want to change it; look in the mirror. What are you doing which is causing the outcomes you are getting.

For change to be successful either change your leadership behaviour or change the change to fit the culture.