www.Forbes.com

The Truth About Creating A Great Corporate Culture

A past Booz & Company study, “Culture’s Role in Enabling Organizational Change” by DeAnne Aguirre, Rutger von Post, and Micah Alpern analyzes the results of a survey of 2,200 executives, managers, and employees from a broad range of companies across the world. This research sheds light on current perceptions of organizational culture.

Rob Peters
Aug 25, 2017 · 4 min read

This study shows a widespread belief that organizational culture is a key element of company success. For example, as the authors report, Eighty-six percent of C-level executives and 84 percent of all managers and employees say culture is critical to their organizations’ success, and 60 percent see it as a bigger success factor than either their strategy or their operating model.

However, this is contrasted with the astonishing statistics about the need for cultural change: A full 96 percent of respondents say some change to their culture is needed, and 51 percent think their culture requires a major overhaul. About 75% of the respondents believe their company needs significant culture restoration, which tracks closely to the proportion of people disengaged at work. The goal of the study wasn’t primarily to measure the need for cultural change. The survey did not ask what types of cultural change was needed or desired.

Leadership Plays A Key Role In Nurturing A Great Culture

Traditionally, the view of leadership has been that the main goal is to increase production and profits. This traditional view of leadership is fading, as more thought leaders in the 21st century are asserting that leaders also have the responsibility for adhering to higher standards of moral and ethical behavior. Effective leadership is not only about displaying competence but is also about ethics and changing people.

All leadership is responsible for influencing supporters to achieve an action, complete a task, or fulfill a commitment in a specific way. Effective leaders influence method, encourage change in employee’s attitudes and values, bolster followers’ principles, and nurture the adoption of the leaders’ vision by leveraging strategies of empowerment.

It is understood that the encouraging aspect of leaders can elevate organizational cultures and employee values to high levels of ethical consideration. Ethical leadership requires ethical leaders. If leaders are principled, they can ensure that principled practices are carried out throughout the organization.

Leaders who are ethical demonstrate a level of integrity that is important for stimulating a sense of leader trustworthiness or relationship capital, which is important for followers to accept the vision of the leader. These are critical and direct components to leading ethically. The character and integrity of the leader provide the basis for personal characteristics that direct a leader’s ethical beliefs, values, and decisions. Individual values and beliefs impact the ethical decisions of leaders.

Leaders who are ethical are people-oriented, and also aware of how their decisions impact others and use their social credibility to serve the greater good instead of self-serving interests. In ethical leadership, it is important for the leader to consider how his or her decisions impact others.

Conclusion

These characteristics of ethical leaders are similar to inspirational motivation, which is a style component of transformational leadership. Inspirational motivation “involves inspiring others to work towards the leader’s vision for the group and to be committed to the group”. Likewise, ethical leadership “falls within the relationship of inspiring, stimulating, and visionary leader behaviors that make up transformational and charismatic leadership”.

Ethical leaders support followers in gaining a sense of personal competence that allows them to be self-sufficient by encouraging and empowering them. Morality is reawakening in our globally hyper-connected world. Anything less can do great damage to your for-profit organization’s reputation, culture and ability to sustain in a world that expects you to Do The Right Thing. That’s the truth.

www.StandardofTrust.com

Sources:

https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Trust-Leadership-Transforming-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00IK1T6Z6?ie=UTF8&keywords=standard%20of%20trust%20leadership&qid=1463165203&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

Originally Published on May 31st, 2016 on Linkedin Pulse

)
Rob Peters

Written by

Relationship Capital | Gamification | Co-Creator of Peer SaaS Platform | HR Tech and Workplace Culture Strategist | CEO| Author of Standard of Trust Leadership

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade