“Culture drives behavior and behavior drives habits. It’s not the numbers that drive the people but the people that drive the numbers.” Jon Gordon

by Jim Solomon and Bruce LaRue, Ph.D.

Leaders Drive Culture; But Everyone Must Own It

Effective leaders influence to achieve desired outcomes and it must begin with culture. Leaders develop and drive the culture, but it must ultimately be supported and actionable by all throughout the organization. Success comes for organizations when everyone owns its culture.

According to organizational culture expert Ginger Hardage, former Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications at Southwest Airlines for 25 years and now founder of Unstoppable Cultures, “Culture is everyone’s responsibility. But how this priority plays out can look differently depending on your “seat on the bus” (to paraphrase Jim Collins). Culture is everyone’s responsibility. Every leader and employee in the organization should be held accountable for living the values of the organization. Best-in-class organizations make sure that measurement against the values of the organization are part of the performance evaluation process.”

Tie Culture to Purpose and Mission

Integrator Leaders understand the importance of their organization’s culture and actively propel it by routinely tying culture to their Purpose and ensuring that it is imbedded in How their team executes their mission.

Humans are unique among other species on earth in that we don’t simply adapt to our environment, but instead we adapt our environment to ourselves. This means that we are fundamentally and inextricably involved in creating and re-creating the world around us through the mechanism of culture.

For your team to buy into the organization’s culture and to truly own it, leaders must first demonstrate their commitment through their actions and behaviors. Employees can easily tell if the culture is simply some words on a sign and brochure or if its real and the foundation of your organization. Frankly, it’s all about “deeds not words”.

Middle Managers are Vital to Culture

Middle or direct managers in an organization are vital, they are the ones who make things happen. Employees feel that their direct boss is the most important and influential in the organization, therefore these leaders must have open communications to share with and learn from senior leadership.

Regrettably, middle managers are often the most neglected within any organization. This will show through productivity, retention, quality, reputation, growth, and ultimately customer satisfaction.

When sold on the culture, it is the middle manager who will own it, protect it, and ensure that it is lived by all throughout the organization. Investing in middle manager education and training can pay huge returns. Break down barriers and support these leaders with the tools, training, and attention they need to be effective for your operation.

Get Out of Your Office

It’s imperative that leaders at all levels get to where the work is being done to truly understand their organization and to observe the organization’s culture in action. These cannot be superficial or periodic visits; they must be a part of a leader’s routine. Make these a priority, put them on your schedule, and don’t postpone them.

Don’t make visits about you as a leader, but rather about your employees. Look for opportunities to listen to your people and take time to talk culture and core values. “Leaders must become champions and stewards of company culture. They ought to pause with a group when an example of culture is discovered to demonstrate its power. Leaders ought to formally reward shining examples of culture,” according to leadership expert Rob Campbell.

Organizational Culture Impacts the Bottom Line

Daniel Denison, Ph.D., global organization culture and leadership expert, says that “Measuring organizational culture and its impact on organizational effectiveness can be measured. Results, time and again, provide indictors that those organizations with strong, established cultures, that runs throughout the organization, clearly are most effective (successful) organizations. Think Southwest Airlines, Disney, etc.”

Dan’s research and his organizational culture surveys have revealed a strong relationship between organizational culture and business performance metrics such as higher profitability, growth, customer satisfaction, and innovation.

Results from an organizational culture survey provide a clear picture of what an organization needs to do to achieve higher performance. Much like an “executive dashboard”, survey results can show an organization’s vital signs. At a glance, leaders can know how their organization is performing on critical dimensions and can use this to know exactly where to place their “crowbar” in order to gain maximum leverage.

Surveys can expose areas of cultural strength and weakness, troubleshoot points of internal friction, back up culture initiative with hard data, and measure culture improvement over time. They can reveal employee engagement, employee commitment, innovation, trust, and safety and risk management.

Culture Matters to Employees

Factors that matter most to employee satisfaction in the US today are culture and values. Organization Culture research conducted by Glassdoor has discovered that great cultures are formed when:

• There’s a clear mission and that employees’ work has a direct link to a broad social purpose and positive change.
• Senior leaders are inspiring, empathetic, and are competent.
• The organization has a clearly defined pathway for career advancement, making job roles a journey rather than dead-end.

The surveys repeatedly found that the core values that assist in forming strong organization culture are:

Agility                                Collaboration                             Customer

Diversity                             Execution                                   Innovation

Integrity                             Performance                               Respect

This Organization Improved Its Culture

The Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) culture is driven by its senior leadership but is owned by its workforce as a result of their investment in their middle managers (supervisors).

DLA is the federal government’s combat and emergency disaster “go-to” organization that manages the global supply chain – from raw materials to end user to disposition; parts, products, fuels, and even the COVID-19 vaccines. DLA provides more than $42 billion in goods and services annually, with a staff of more than 26,000 civilians and military employees spread across the US and in 28 other countries.

With a focus on its supervisors who they predicted would have the greatest impact on the entire operation, DLA invested in creating an enterprise-wide leader development program to shape its culture. The aim was to spend time to educate, train, coach, and listen to these key leaders. As a result, the supervisors who participated in this program have bought into the organization’s core values and its organization culture of people first, mission always.

New employees along with the legacy ones are influenced daily by these direct leaders who live and operate in the culture that they “own”.

Biennial DLA-wide culture assessments over the past 15-years have shown a statistical improvement in the organization’s culture. The strengthening of culture across DLA has reflected in employee and customer satisfaction, enterprise-wide efficiencies with a reduction in costs, and the ability to show improvement in attracting and retaining their employees.

Insights to Your Organization’s Culture

Want to get a quick feel for your organization’s culture? Ask yourself these questions getting the answers from your observations visiting your employee’s workspace:

• Does your team have a clear view from the canopy level with an understanding of your organization’s purpose and where it is heading?
• Are your employees engaged in their work because they feel they are making an impact?
• Can your employees tell others the story of your organization?

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