My Project
A Fellowship Degree Study
in
All of us know how to be humbly inquiring. We do it with our friends, relatives, children and parents, so it’s not a skill we don’t have. (The issue is) “when we take it to the work place, for some reason we think we should now get stiff and formal.
The switch I have to learn to make, if I’m an old leader and I’m dissatisfied and want to change this, is I have to wake up to the fact that these subordinates are people and I have to get interested in them. If I get interested in them and curious, the behavior will become natural. It is not a new skill, it is applying an old skill in a new setting and recognizing its relevance.”
Skills and traits that tend to be associated with good leadership include the ability to effectively delegate work to and communicate with employees. This means that a leader must not try to control every aspect of an organization and must also be able to describe wants and needs in a way that is both clear and respectful to employees, according to Forbes.
An organizational culture is defined by how people inside the organization interact with each other. Culture is learned behavior — it’s not a by-product of operations. It’s not an overlay. We create our organizational culture by the actions we take; not the other way around.It’s not easy to change a culture, because it involves changing how we behave. If you’re running a company that has been doing something a certain way for a long time, it can be hard to get everyone on board with doing it differently. And that includes your organizational leaders.It’s easy to think that building a culture is about other people’s behaviors, not how you act as a leader. But I believe that culture change begins when leaders start to model the behavior they want the organization to emulate.
Our innovative culture is a product of the behaviors that we embrace throughout our organization. One of those elements is a willingness to have open and frank discussions about what separates great ideas from bad ones. If you want to be innovative, you also need to accept failure. If our associates aren’t pushing boundaries and sometimes failing along the way, we probably aren’t pushing hard enough. But by accepting and even celebrating a failed effort, we promote innovation. We will reward someone who tries to climb the tallest mountain, even if they fall short of the summit, because they have created an experience we can learn from and build upon. That’s what innovation is all about.
The point is that building an innovative culture starts by looking at how you behave as a leader toward those trying to innovate. The same is true about any kind of culture: It all begins with the behavior of your leaders. To say that another way, if you are interested in changing the culture of your organization, your first step should be to look in the mirror and make sure you are setting the kind of behavioral example you want everyone else to follow.
Culture and leadership
Culture and leadership are two sides of the same coin. When organizations start or when groups start there is always a leader who has a preferred way of doing things, and those preferences by definition are going to be imposed on the group members. If you don’t like the way I run this group, I’ll replace you. The leader’s values and preferences are the first ways that a group or organization does things and if that works it becomes eventually the culture of that group. So in a very real sense, founders and leaders create culture.”
Humble inquiry
Humble inquiry is creating a climate in which you display, through your asking genuine questions, an interest in the other person such that they will want to tell you the truth about what really is going on. Now why is that important? I think the major pathology in all organizations that I’ve seen is that upward communication is very faulty.
Subordinates know a lot of things that would make the place work better or safer that they for various reasons withhold. If you survey them and ask ‘why aren’t you telling your boss what is really going on, they’ll say 1) he shoots the messengers, 2) I used to tell him but he never really took any interest in it, or 3) I tell him but they never fix anything so I no longer have any incentive to tell.’
Now, if I’m right and that is the problem, the only way to cure that is for the boss to change his behavior, to go to that subordinate and engage in humble inquiry. Say to that subordinate, ‘I’m really interested in what you see in how we can be safer and better and what not, and I’m listening.’ If the boss doesn’t do that, we are going to continue to have accidents and low quality products because the information isn’t surfacing.”
1. Communication
- Articulating
- Business storytelling
- Clarity
- Concision
- Correspondence
- Editing
- Explaining
- Expression
- Facilitating group conversations
- Noverbal Communication
- Presentation
- Public Speaking
- Reading body language
- Reducing ambiguity
- Verbal Communication
- Written communication
2. Motivation
Leaders need to inspire their workers to go the extra mile for their organizations; just paying a fair salary to employees is typically not enough inspiration (although it is important too). There are a number of ways to motivate your workers: you may build employee self-esteem through recognition and rewards, or by giving employees new responsibilities to increase their investment in the company.
Leaders must learn what motivators work best for their employees or team members to encourage productivity and passion. Skills related to effective motivation include:
- Allowing employee autonomy
- Asking for input
- Assessing interests of staff
- Convincing
- Mentoring
- Open to employee concerns
- Persuasive
- Providing productive and challenging work
- Providing rewards
- Recognizing others
- Setting effective goals
- Team -Building
- Thanking staff
- Understanding employee differences
3. Delegating
Leaders who try to take on too many tasks by themselves will struggle to get anything done. These leaders often fear that delegating tasks is a sign of weakness, when in fact it is a sign of a strong leader.
Therefore, you need to identify the skills of each of your employees, and assign duties to each employee based on his or her skill set. By delegating tasks to staff members, you can focus on other important tasks. Some skills that make a good delegator include:
- Accepting feedback from employees
- Allotting resources for employees
- Assessing employee strengths and weaknesses
- Defining expectations
- Evaluating employee performance
- Identifying measurable outcomes
- Matching the task to the right employee
- Prioritizing tasks
- Setting expectations
- Teamwork
- Time Management
- Training
- Trust in employees
4. Positivity
A positive attitude can go a long way in an office. You should be able to laugh at yourself when something doesn't go quite as planned; this helps create a happy and healthy work environment, even during busy, stressful periods. Simple acts like asking employees about their vacation plans will develop a positive atmosphere in the office, and raise morale among staff members. If employees feel that they work in a positive environment, they will be more likely to want to be at work, and will therefore be more willing to put in the long hours when needed.
Some skills that help make for a positive atmosphere in the workplace include:
- Caring
- Conflict Management
- Developing rapport
- Diplomacy
- Encouraging
- Empathetic
- Friendliness
- Helping others
- Humor
- Interpersonal
- Positive reinforcement
- Respect
- Social
5. Trustworthiness
Employees need to be able to feel comfortable coming to their manager or leader with questions and concerns. It is important for you to demonstrate your integrity – employees will only trust leaders they respect.
By being open and honest, you will encourage the same sort of honesty in your employees. Here are some skills and qualities that will help you convey your trustworthiness as a leader:
- Ability to apologize
- Accountability
- Business ethics
- Confidentiality
- Conscientious
- Consistent in behavior towards employees
- Credibility
- Emotional intelligence
- Empathy
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Moral compass
- Reliability
- Respectfulness
- Standing up for what is right
- Thoughtful
6. Creativity
As a leader, you have to make a number of decisions that do not have a clear answer; you therefore need to be able to think outside the box.
Learning to try nontraditional solutions, or approaching problems in nontraditional ways, will help you to solve an otherwise unsolvable problem. Most employees will also be impressed and inspired by a leader who doesn't always choose the safe, conventional path. Here are some skills related to creative thinking:
- Analytical
- Cognitive flexibility
- Conceptualization
- Critical Thinking.
- Curiosity
- Embracing different cultural perspectives
- Foresight
- Identifying patterns
- Imaginative
- Innovative
- Listening to others’ ideas
- Making abstract connections
- Observation
- Open-mindedness
- Problem Solving
- Sound judgment
- Synthesizing
- Visionary
7. Feedback
Leaders should constantly look for opportunities to deliver useful information to team members about their performance. However, there is a fine line between offering employees advice and assistance, and micromanaging. By teaching employees how to improve their work and make their own decisions, you will feel more confident delegating tasks to your staff.
Employees will also respect a leader who provides feedback in a clear but empathetic way. Some skills for giving clear feedback include:
- Being open to receiving feedback
- Building confidence in employees
- Clarity
- Clearly laying out expectations
- Coaching
- Following up
- Frequent feedback
- Listening to employees’ responses
- Mentoring
- Positive reinforcement
- Providing specific advice
- Respectful
8. Responsibility
A leader is responsible for both the successes and failures of his or her team. Therefore, you need to be willing to accept blame when something does not go correctly.
If your employees see their leader pointing fingers and blaming others, they will lose respect for you. Accept mistakes and failures, and then devise clear solutions for improvement. Here are some skills and qualities that help leaders convey their responsibility:
- Acknowledging mistakes
- Being open to customer feedback
- Evaluating best solutions
- Forecasting
- Learning from past mistakes
- Listening to feedback from employees and managers
- Project planning
- Reflectiveness
- Resolving problems
- Transparency
I want our people to be accountable and responsible for their actions. Here are my suggestions for building this culture within my remodeling company. As a leader, I must:
1. Communicate to everyone that accountability and commitment are important! Then, I model it! My actions will set the tone for all.
2. Align every job description to my company’s strategy and goals for the coming year. I ask everyone to commit to a shared vision of results. Then talk about it at every company meeting.
3. Make accountabilities clear for everyone by using a benchmark for their job. This is a document that lists key accountabilities, results that equal employee success and more. Use it to start a discussion about how each individual contribution matters.
4. When I onboard new employees, I have job-related professional development resources already in place to help them reach their full potential. What skills do they want to improve over time? What resources do they need to help them achieve this goal?
5. Build accountability into my company culture using “what & by when” goal and task planning.
6. Offer ways for employees to communicate obstacles and request the help or resources they need to achieve their goals. When you listen to them, recognize that what you’re listening to is someone who is committed to producing results.
7. Involve employees in an ongoing dialogue about how they can identify process improvements or otherwise increase the quality of their work and the team’s productivity.
8. Use small “course corrections” on a monthly or as-needed basis to guide employees toward behaviors and practices that are effective for meeting goals.
9. “Catch” people doing something right: Give frequent, honest, and positive feedback.
10. Identify ways to recognize and acknowledge employees company-wide when their actions exemplify an “above and beyond” commitment to company objectives. Success breeds success!
Workplace democracy is the application of democracy in all its forms (including voting systems, debates, democratic structuring, due process, adversarial process, systems of appeal) to the workplace.
Workplace Democracy is implemented in a variety of ways, dependent on the size, culture, and other variables of an organization. Workplace Democracy can be anything from direct democracy to employers asking opinions of employees without taking into consideration their beliefs and opinions.Advantages/Arguments for
Economic argument
From as early as the 1920s, scholars have been exploring the idea
of increasing employee participation and involvement. They sought to
learn if whether including employees in organizational decision-making
would lead to increased effectiveness and productivity within the
organization. According to Lewin, individuals who are involved in
decision-making also have increased openness to change.
Different participative techniques can have either a stronger impact on
morale than productivity, while others have the reverse effect. Success
of the employee-owned and operated, Mondragon, suggests economic benefits from workplace democracy.
Citizenship argument
Workplace democracy acts as an agent to encourage public
participation in a government's political process. Skills developed from
democracy in the workplace can transfer to improved citizenship and
result in a better functioning democracy.
Workers in a democratic environment may also develop a greater concern
from the common good, which also transfers to fundamental citizenship.
Ethical justification
Making workplaces more democratic is the "right" thing to do.
Philosopher, Robert Dahl, claims that 'if democracy is justified in
governing the state, it must also be justified in governing economic
enterprises'.
Employee power and representation
Workers working for democratic leaders report positive results such as group member satisfaction, friendliness, group mindedness, 'we' statements, worker motivation, creativity, and dedication to decisions made within an organization.
When workplace democracy is used the effect typically is raised employee potential, employee representation, higher autonomy, and equal power within an organization.Leadership Affects Culture
Leaders should be story tellers, communicators, holistic, strategic, encouraging, creative, conservative, risk taking, ethical, competitive, inspiring, and a whole host of other attributes that are too numerous to mention. There are 940 books currently available on the subject and it would not surprise me if you there were close over half a million articles on the subject. It is the bread and butter of every consulting firm throughout the world. With so much thought and insight, why is it still an issue?
The answer lies with culture. The entire purpose of leadership is to create a culture. In a large and well established organization it can be difficult for an outsider to implement a new culture. So, does leadership create a culture or does culture create a leadership? The answer to both questions is yes.
Culture Affecting Leadership
The negative cultures especially can undermine positive leadership as initiatives are actively undermined by managers who have a stake in the old culture. Whether it through manipulation or complacency, negative cultures can be create significant challenges for change.
Negative leadership, however, can have a fast, dramatic affect on a positive culture. WorldCom was a telecom leader and very innovative culture until Bernie Ebbers took over. While squeezing every cent he could from the environment and putting pressure on employees to work harder with less, he was pillaging the company. Turnover soared and, within a few years, WorldCom was bankrupt.
Culture as a Function of Leadership
Companies reflect the ethics of the leaders who run them. Anita Roddick founded the Body Shop to show that you could build an environmentally friendly corporation that reflected her commitment to environmental activism. Jim Goodnight's commitment to work-life balance is part of the culture at SAS, the largest privately held company in the world. Jack Welch's commitment to being the best created an environment of excellence at General Electric. In each of these cases, the ethics of the leader became a central part of the culture.
The Obstacles to Culture Change
The real obstacles to culture change are what we call the internal obstacles. False ego, fear, complacency, and preconceived ideas create a negative environment. When change is introduced, there is resistance, even when the change is positive. People learn different coping mechanisms to avoid the change such as hiding behind procedures, 'office cooler' talk or gossip and complaining, or actively undermining the initiative. The question then becomes how can leadership have a positive impact on the culture of an organization.