leadership must drive culture

behavior will drive the bus off the road.

by anthony zecca
leading from the edge

“culture is like the wind. it is invisible; yet its effect can be seen and felt.” – bryan walker, partner and managing director, ideo

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edge leaders are magnificent creators and stewards of a winning culture. i use the concept of “creating” because, regardless of what process is used to develop the culture of the firm, it is the firm leader who either gives life to it or modifies it through action and communication. edge leaders reflect the firm culture in all their actions, and they focus on ensuring that the firm’s performance is achieved within the culture and roadmap (strategy) that creates a standout, high-performing firm.

as tanya mann (author) states, “your organization’s culture is either an asset or a liability, either helping business performance or hurting it.”

let’s define culture. there are so many definitions, but two that i think encapsulate the leadership/culture duality follow.

“culture is defined as the leader’s ability to change and grow,” according to a definition from author mark vickers. this definition suggests that culture is not static and evolves as a direct reflection of the leader’s own ability to change and grow.

another, and perhaps better definition of culture is from wikipedia: “organizational culture has to do with the behavior of humans within an organization and the meaning that people attach to those behaviors.” examining this definition, the culture of an organization is reflected in how all employees behave. one definition focuses on the leader while the other focuses on organizational behavior – reflecting the duality of the leadership/culture causal relationship. many firms have instituted culture assessments with the goal of improving the firm’s culture. most of these firms fail to achieve any real impact on culture because they are just announcements of “new values” without any focus on required behavior changes and expectations or organizational changes that give life to the new values.

most of the thousands of articles and books on leadership and culture posit that it is leadership that creates culture – which is one aspect of this duality. it is impossible to argue that leaders don’t clearly and significantly affect culture. you can look at any firm or organization and see the impact leaders have on culture.

center leaders are not able to clearly see the culture that actually exists in their firms. what they see is their own myth surrounding the culture – and they use adjectives describing their imagined culture such as “entrepreneurial,” “teamwork,” “accountability” and “growth.” culture is something center leaders might talk about but never make the linkage between what they say and the culture that they actually create through their own actions and communications.

edge leaders understand that it is their actions and communications as well as the actions and communications of the leadership team that has the most direct impact on the firm’s actual culture.

“the leader has a great influence over the firm in terms of direction, tone and the culture that is created.” – glenn friedman, leader of pragermetis

a key aspect of culture relates to how the firm leader uses his position of authority. a stark difference between center leaders and edge leaders relates to how each type of leader deals with authority and the power to make decisions. the degree of power delegation ranges from the center leader telling everyone what to do to the edge leader empowering everyone to make decisions. as depicted in the graphic below, center leaders see their responsibility as making decisions and then telling everyone what the decision is. the edge leader, by contrast, sees his responsibility as creating a collaborative culture that empowers everyone to make decisions within defined boundaries of authority.

 

 

leadership and culture

let’s look at a failed example of leadership attempting to drive culture at a midsized accounting firm that wanted to implement an accountability model. like most leaders, this firm’s leader and executive committee believed in the importance of accountability to drive performance. in an effort to create an accountability-based culture, the firm leader communicated to everyone the process that would be used to establish goals and accountability – a major cultural change for this new york city-based firm. a committee was established to oversee this important initiative and to develop a process for setting goals, monitoring progress and establishing accountability. this process included quarterly progress and coaching meetings to help everyone achieve their goals. this is a good example of leadership attempting to drive culture.

fast forward a year, and unfortunately few if any quarterly meetings were held; the reporting necessary for everyone to stay on top of their goals and for leadership to monitor performance against goals was never implemented. when the fiscal year ended and compensation awards were allocated, the allocation process was the same it always was. at the beginning of the year, the firm leader clearly wanted to create a culture of performance linked to accountability and ultimately compensation. at the end of the year, performance and behaviors of most partners did not align with the goals created at the beginning of the year and yet they were rewarded with the traditional increases in compensation. with little success in achieving a successful accountability model, the firm leader accepted the behavior and did little to enforce accountability. so, what started as leadership attempting to change culture, ended up with behavior maintaining culture.

contrast the above example to a west coast firm with edge leadership. this edge leader understood his responsibility for creating/supporting the culture necessary for the firm to become a standout, high-performing firm. when behavior is at odds with the culture the edge leader wants, that behavior is dealt with in whatever manner is necessary to ensure that it is the culture driving behavior and not behavior driving culture. this edge leader understands that neither he nor the firm can be successful if behavior is what drives culture – end of story.

culture, good or bad, is what drives the behavior of individuals, teams and the overall performance of the firm. one of the critical responsibilities of the edge leader is to create a culture focused on uplifting levels of performance at the individual, team and firm levels, achieving results that reflect a standout, high-performing firm.

repeating tanya mann’s thinking, your organizational culture is either an asset or a liability – it either drives performance or stifles it. culture is the great multiplier – it either geometrically improves the performance of individuals and the firm or it inhibits the performance of individuals and the firm. a great vision and a great strategy without a great culture will be a zero-sum game.

“our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like great customer service or building a great long-term brand or empowering passionate employees and customers, will happen on its own.” – tony hsieh

finally, a great culture cannot exist without a great leader. culture is a fluid intangible that evolves in either a positive or a negative direction based on the actions of the leader and the behavior of the leadership team. regardless of what leaders say the culture is or how many posters are on the wall celebrating culture, the real culture of the firm is most directly impacted by the actions of the firm leader and the leadership team. a great example of this was reflected in a long island firm where the firm leader proudly told me that the culture of the firm was “entrepreneurial.” when i spoke to staff what i heard was that if anyone was creative and tried something new, even if insignificant, they got called to “the principal’s office.” words don’t create culture, actions of leaders do.

“culture is a lagging indicator. our actions today directly impact culture and how our culture is perceived tomorrow.” – steve mccarty, leader of uhy

the bottom line is that leadership is the single greatest contributor to what the culture of the firm reflects. edge leaders understand their responsibility to create and support a winning culture if the firm is to become a standout, high-performing firm. they also understand the importance of driving the culture throughout the entire firm – starting with their own actions and communications – and are absolute in their commitment to leadership driving culture and not behavior driving culture.

edge leaders understand the direct link between culture and performance and will not accept actions and decisions that are not aligned with the culture of the firm regardless of who the offender might be. they understand that the firm’s culture also has a significant impact on how the firm services its clients. a culture of personal responsibility within a client-centered focus will positively affect the firm’s clients and their level of satisfaction with the firm. edge leaders accept the responsibility to lead from the front as it relates to culture – showing the way to the entire firm.  edge leaders understand that culture can make extraordinary things happen when the culture is based on empowerment and accountability driving exceptional strategy, exceptional performance and finally, exceptional talent.

“as leader, you have the responsibility to lead from the front and drive positive changes in culture.” – steve mccarty, leader of uhy

center leaders pay lip service to culture and allow behavior to drive culture, which always results in a culture that no one really believes in or acts within. when center leaders allow behaviors that are inconsistent with what they communicate as the culture of the firm, not only does the leader lose the confidence and trust of the rest of the firm, but he creates an environment where the stated culture can never exist. when it is behavior that drives culture and not the leadership of the firm, a culture of silos and me-first becomes the norm, and everyone loses.

posted on october 22, 2020