Most culture change takes years to take hold (if it ever does) because management is often reluctant to address the most significant obstacles. However it can be accelerated if you target three main areas. The suggestions below are based on observing the behaviors of senior leaders in various companies and locations, research on how manager and leader behavior impacts their departments and overall company culture scores using validated models.

1. Drive for results combined with high-touch

The most consistently outstanding financial performance, employee satisfaction and culture scores can be linked to leadership behaviors that combine tenacity and focus on results with strong positive relationships and interactions with employees. Using a combination of formal and informal communication along with a rigorous focus on standardized work and continuous improvement can create a great culture and a great organization. Think lean without the mean.

2. Screaming and disrespectful conduct is not tolerated

The organizations with the best culture scores and long term track record of success do not tolerate any abusive leadership behaviors including screaming or yelling at subordinates or treating them in a demeaning or disrespectful way. In our experience, managers and supervisors with these traits can change, however rebuilding trust is a long, difficult journey. Whether it is addressed through training, coaching, reassignment or termination, any tolerance of these behaviors will drag the culture lower and keep performance from reaching its full potential. And these behaviors cannot be tolerated between employees and colleagues because the resulting conflict and lack of trust will block teamwork and limit performance.

3. Communication is the secret sauce

The second highest ranked motivator identified by employees is feeling that they are included in what is going on. To feel like an important part of the team, the employee needs to receive communication and be asked for their input. Using a combination of formal communication (newsletters, town hall meetings, small group discussion) and informal communication (conversations with managers as they interact with employees) – employees are keenly interested in how the organization is doing and the outlook for the future. This takes time, and the best leaders make the time to do it. They either invest more of their time, or they get so good at delegating less important tasks to lower levels in order to free up their time to do this. Any leader who stays in his or her office instead of mingling with the troops will never have the depth of relationships that truly motivate employees.

How good do you have to be?

During some recent training on the linkage between a manager’s or leader’s behavior and the impact on his or her department it was quite a surprise. Simply being above average, say having a 4 or 5 in a 7-point scale, often caused an incredible impact on culture. Only managers and leaders scoring a 6 or 7 out of 7 had the kind of positive impact that creates exceptional culture. This is not meant to discourage – simply to reinforce that truly exceptional leadership is required to create exceptional results and the best culture.

Our culture sucks but we make lots of money!

Companies can make profits for lots of reasons – few competitors, superior negotiating skills, proprietary technology, economies of scale. And some companies can confuse cause and effect, thinking that their aggressive or passive culture has made them successful when in fact it was other factors. This usually becomes apparent when the winds of change start to blow and the company can’t respond quickly or effectively enough.

It can be a challenge to change the culture when things appear to be going well. The symptoms of dysfunction are often apparent but ignored because the bottom line is strong or sales are growing rapidly.

Putting Ideas into Action

If you a senior leader in your organization, evaluate yourself and your leaders on how effective they are in the three areas above. Admit to your own short comings and get the training or coaching you need to make improvements. You will start to see an impact right away.

If you are a middle or front line leader, work on your own behaviors first. It is possible to create a positive sub culture at a departmental or divisional level.

Think someone else in your organization needs to read this, please send it along.

We can help you in a number of ways – training, coaching, measuring. It starts with a conversation.

And speaking of repetition… it seems that every time I’m working with front line supervisors and managers they identify ‘negativity’ as one of the employee behaviors they ‘put up with’.

When asked what they are putting up with, front line supervisors and managers always put employee negativity on the list. And the reason the leader puts up with it is because despite the negativity, the employee is often able to do their job to at least an acceptable level. Sometimes a negative employee is one of the top performers.

One of our clients relayed the story of their mail room. There were eleven employees working in the mail room of a large financial services company. One of the employees did his job but also was very negative in his interactions with co-workers. Finally management terminated the employee and the remaining ten employees were able to do more work, more quickly than the eleven had done previously. The negative employee was acting as a productivity drain on the rest of the work group.

What impact does negativity have in your workplace? Do you find it difficult to schedule two employees to work side by side because of conflicts? Do you notice employees going out of their way to avoid dealing with someone who is known to be difficult?

As a leader it is tempting to label the person as having a negative attitude. However most of us have negative attitudes from time to time. It is not the attitude, it is the behavior that is a problem. The behaviors might include speaking in a demeaning tone, always criticizing, talking negatively about other departments or coworkers, being abrupt with customers, being disrespectful, or not cooperating.

The manager has a right (and obligation) to address the situation. It can be simply by commenting and questioning in private, or if the behavior continues it might escalate into a disciplinary conversation.

Some supervisors and managers in a unionized environment will avoid the disciplinary route because they know that the discipline will likely be overturned in the grievance process. Effective leaders aren’t preoccupied by the fact that the discipline won’t stick – they still proceed because they know that at least the message has been sent that the behavior is unacceptable.

Putting Ideas into Action

• Identify the source of negativity in your work group.
• Think about the cost of putting up with the problem in terms of your time being wasted, customers not being serviced or employees not working well together.
• Consult with your manager and the HR department to develop a strategy and to practice what to say to the employee.
• Have the meeting with the employee.
• If you notice an improvement, offer praise and reinforcement for the changed behavior.
• Observe how your life as a leader gets easier and how the productivity of your work group increases without the negative influence.

When you tackle the negativity you will gain the respect of your employees and your manager.

Ian Thomas, a professional speaker from South Africa was using the illustration of a pride of lions and the lessons we could learn in terms of our workplace teams.

A few observations:

• Studies show that as little as 5% of employees actually understand the goals they are supposed to pursue. There is a pretty good chance then that your team is not pulling in the same direction.
• Strong teams require strong individuals. Thomas suggests that every member of a lion pride has a job to do – some protect territory, some chase prey towards other members who go in for the kill. If any one of the team members is weak it automatically causes other team members to mistrust them because they are not helping advance towards the objective.
• The team must challenge one another in order to make absolutely sure that they trust one another to pursue the goal together.

The conflict comes when the team debates the goal, makes sure they understand it completely and are totally committed to achieving the goal. They also have to challenge one another to bring 100% of themselves to the pursuit of the goal.

By not challenging one another in a work team, it might at first appear that everything is ‘okay’ with the team. In reality a team that loses confidence in itself and what the goal is will also breed mistrust and ultimately performance will suffer.

Putting it into action

1. Instead of assuming the team understands the goal – clarify it, debate it and ensure complete understanding.
2. Challenge each member of the team to be the absolute best at what they do and make sure you hire people who can perform to your expectations.
3. Encourage conflict be having the team challenge one another to be the best they can be.

How can I be a very good listener in selling and coaching situations and so poor at it at home?

In the same way, my teenage children can be remarkably poor listeners at times and yet hear the faintest whispers of a private conversation I’m having with my wife.

Perhaps you suffer from the same affliction – selective listening. Chances are when your boss or a customer is communicating you pay more attention and you may even lean in to hear a juicy bit of gossip. And yet when a coworker or employee approaches you, your listening skills plummet.

It turns out our selective listening isn’t just dependent on our interest in the information. It also has to do with who is delivering the information.

Supervisors and managers have to be particularly conscious of this because they tend to have certain employees they listen to well and others who they don’t listen to as effectively.

Much of this has to do with the judgments you make about people in determining whether they are worth listening to or not. In a manager – subordinate situation I may have already discounted the information the person is going to give me before they start speaking. It could be based on prejudice or past experience with the individual.

The effect is that I will miss out on some potentially useful information and send the message that I really don’t value the person as an individual. As my employee the person will then be less interested in helping me achieve the departmental objectives.

Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills

1. See the other person as having something useful to say even if it means deprogramming some of your past interactions or your own insecurity.
2. Avoid distractions and focus on the person – yes that means not looking at your computer screen or checking your Blackberry or iPhone for a few minutes.
3. Challenge yourself to summarize what the person said to you before adding in your own commentary.

Along with you, I will be applying these tips at home to see the impact it has on a personal level.

• Decide what you want to see happen. Many people know what they DON’T want but do not clearly know what they DO want.
• Meet (not email) with the individual you perceive as the cause of your frustration.
• Explain the situation from your perspective – express yourself clearly and fully.
• Ask the other individual to describe their position.
• Propose a potential solution – be as specific as possible.
• Ask for agreement and deal with any obstacles.
• If you are unsuccessful the first time, be persistent.

If there is no resolution and you decide to live with it, let it go. If you feel strongly enough about it then make a change.

1. Senior management had become much more hands on because business had declined during the recession and there was more attention being paid to what was happening on the shop floor. This extra involvement by management was interpreted as micro-managing by the supervisors and team leaders. In addition, the front line leaders were told to focus on their individual areas and spend less time collaborating with colleagues.
2. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) were seen as overly restrictive and the front line employees were refusing to deviate even when the supervisor required a small change in order to get the work done. Management had reinforced this by directing employees not to do anything unless it was signed off by an appropriate individual. Supervisors and team leaders felt that their leadership had been usurped and they were now reduced to only policing the procedures.
3. The open door policy was being abused by some employees. They would approach management directly without going through the supervisor first. This isn’t bad in itself, however management would respond directly and not always inform the supervisor. The front line leader then felt that he or she was not trusted.
   Immediately following the workshop there was an improvement in attitude. The leaders themselves had regained some of their positiveness.

In a follow up meeting with management, there was agreement to make a few changes in approach:

1. The general negativity was a direct reaction to management being overly hands-on. Management decided to back off a little bit, clarify expectations of the supervisors and team leaders and give them the freedom to carry out their duties.
2. With a desire to increase accountability, the management approach had become more direct and accusational. The recommended change was to ask for input, encourage curiosity and be more positive.
3. Clarification was needed so that employees knew that their supervisor had the discretion and authority to require a deviation from Standard Operating Procedures. Then if a permanent change of documented procedures were required, it could be done after the work was completed.
4. Management respected the chain of command and requested that employees go to their supervisor first to address a concern and only come to management if the situation could not be resolved.

Turning Around Morale and Attitude

• If a rapid decline in morale and attitude occurs ask yourself, “What has changed?”
• Identify the two or three more aggravating factors and change the approach.
• Observe to see if the changes are having the desired impact.

Disconnected Leadership
 
Senior management crafts the strategies and front line leaders help execute them, right? In reality, both levels of leadership are frustrated. The senior leaders wonder why there is so much resistance to implementing new initiatives. Front line leaders wonder why managers appear so disconnected from the operational challenges faced at the front line.
 
The goal is to have a consistent and capable leadership team from top to bottom. Here are a few ideas to bring both sides together:
 
For Senior Managers/Executives

• Connect the Dots: Explain the link between the high level strategies and the front line. Don’t expect front line leaders and staff to understand terminology and the cause and effect relationships between their day to day action and the big picture. (For the record, it is safe to say that many senior leaders are also fuzzy on the connection so it helps them too.)
• Lead by Example: Lead like you want your front line leaders to lead. Focus on positives, spend time with your direct reports, explain what you want and why it’s important and be approachable, friendly and professional. Consider getting some training or coaching to improve your people leadership skills and approach.
• Focus on Values: Like a continuous drum beat, help the organization make sense of complexity by repeating the values. This helps everyone align what might first appear as confusing priorities into a set of cohesive actions. 
• Build a Coaching Culture: Be open to coaching yourself and create an environment where ego doesn’t build silos or walls between departments or divisions. Realize that internal competition can be a distraction from competing against external competitors and taking care of customers.

For Front Line Leaders

• Be a Good Filter: Realize that your job is to act as a filter – taking management direction and implementing it with employees and taking employee feedback and passing it along to management constructively.
• Avoid Us versus Them: Take responsibility for your own leadership role and stop blaming others in the organization. It makes you appear week with your employees and doesn’t get things done. Be a positive advocate for organizational initiatives.
• Manage Your Boss: Use the same behavior modification strategies you learn in front line leadership training to help your boss develop his or her skills.
• Lead Change: Be open to change yourself and help your team adjust to change. Recognize that there is always room to improve. 

Watch the Leadership Video

By looking for the symptoms that your leadership team is disconnected from each other and building a bridge between levels, you can reduce stress and frustration and redirect your energies to advancing the organization towards its goals.

• Do you provide adequate training so that employees understand both what is expected and how to perform in their jobs?
• Do you provide regular, detailed performance feedback both informally and formally?
• How to you treat your temporary employees? Do they feel that they play a worthy role on the team even though they might not work for you for a long time?

Action Items

• Refrain from maligning so called McJobs, especially if your organization doesn’t measure up to the robust people management practices of McDonalds.
• If you manage in an organization that employs relatively low-skilled employees it doesn’t mean that you should treat them with less respect.
• If you manage higher-skilled and higher-paid staff then you really should be implementing positive and proactive leadership practices. It will help you better manage your business.