The Hindu Business Line : Good leaders observe

Leaders lead people. That’s what most of us believe. But we may be wrong. For, actually, leaders lead cultures, says T.R. Warren in White Hat Leadership ( www.landmarkonthenet.com).

Culture, he explains, is a sum of values, attitudes, behaviours and language within an organisation. And it is a big force. “Great plans and systems are overwhelmed by organisational cultures that create significant barriers to success,” the author cautions.

We must therefore understand and address our corporate culture in order to achieve corporate and personal potential, he advises.

Warren analyses the task of leading a culture into three parts: “How we lead rather that what we lead; how well we work with each other versus how well we work; and how we succeed rather than whom we blame.”

He is dismayed that command-and-control leadership is still widespread, despite its many shortcomings: Such as, stifling innovation, frustrating good people who want to and can make a positive difference, and being too slow to adapt or to create and implement strategy with collaboration, staff support, and precision.

“In the top-down model, people do not act on behalf of the organisation because they wait for permission. Morale is low and trust is lower. Everything flows downhill, one-way, creating corporate paralysis.”

A negative culture can be debilitating, watch out. Productivity and profits take a hit; and so does employees’ happiness with the job.

For instance, “the absence of reaching potential, especially when the organisation clearly does not offer alternative avenues to growth, creates a series of recognisable phases that evolve into a destructive employee.”

The employee first feels emptiness, a longing for what is missing, before entering a stage of frustration that finally leads to anger manifested in overt or covert aggressive behaviour, Warren describes. “Once unhappy, these employees are only happy when everyone else is unhappy.”
To leaders who want to be good, Warren’s suggestion is to observe and conduct an audit or the organisation’s culture, because employee actions can tell the leader a lot about the state of culture at work.
“The culture of your organisation is shaped and exhibited by the way people think, problem-solve, engage in dialogue, respond to accountability, and lead and follow. Culture is also shaped and exhibited by titles, office space, furniture, views from the window, parking spots, reward and recognition systems, and a myriad small things.”
A great read to start the week with.

D. Murali

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