Cultivating a culture of excellence: A matter of talent, or development?

Have you ever wondered how much your career choices have impacted your life and the person you are today?

As a leader, have you ever considered how much of an impact you are making on the lives of the people in your charge, beyond merely their performance at work?

The fact is, our behaviours, ambitions, achievements and even our personality characteristics are very much influenced by the work we do, or more specifically, the people we work with.

When motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with, he was speaking of the effect of culture. In the business world we often think about culture in terms of the impact on the productivity and profitability of an organization. However, the impact implied in Rohn’s observation relates to the effect culture has on individuals themselves, and the ways in which they are changed by their emersion in a particular culture.

One of the driving intentions of my work with Sentis is to inspire leaders to harness the great power of influence they wield within their teams and organizations. Because, as Professor Angela Duckworth entails in her riveting book ‘Grit: The power and passion of perseverance’ (2016), “The culture in which we live and with which we identify, powerfully shapes just about every aspect of our being”.

To bring out the best in an organization, you must bring out the best in its people, and have their hearts and minds galvanized toward a shared purpose. When culture is done well, whether in a business or a sporting club or in any other group of people, it drives its members to become better; to push past mediocre and raise the bar on their potential. Culture is essentially created by values consistently in action. It is the sense of pride in one’s self that is felt when describing ‘the way we do things around here’ and why, and the striving for excellence both at and outside of work.

The pertinent question that leaders often ask (and challenge!) is this: Can you cultivate a culture of excellence in any workforce, or is it dependent on recruiting for talent and finding the right people with a historic propensity for excellence? Or, the way it has been put to me on more than one occasion, “Can I really turn this bunch of bozos I work with into a top shelf team??”

Without plunging into the nature vs nurture debate or delving into research on the stability of personality constructs, it might be possible to come to a simple and logical answer. That a culture of excellence can both exist within a workforce of individuals high in talent, and be cultivated within a group of individuals of greatly varying levels of talent and ability. 

"Talent is common. What you invest to develop that talent is the critical final measure of greatness". -Anson Dorrance, University of North Carolina soccer coach  

As Professor Duckworth explains, there is a reciprocal effect of culture. When we become part of a great, or gritty culture, we ask ourselves “Who am I? What does a person like me do in a situation like this?”. “Thinking of ourselves as a person who overcomes great adversity often leads to behavior that confirms that self-conception”. And so, effort, a strong work ethic, and passion can be ignited by powerful leadership. With the term powerful leadership, I mean developmental leadership. The sort of leadership that is defined by high standards, wherein people are led from the front by a role model living and breathing the values.

A common problem I see, however, is that the culture in an organization is not strong enough to effect real change in its people. A lot of organizations have core values that are flagrantly ignored. As Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen of the United States Military Academy West Point divulged to Duckworth in an interview, “Words don’t sustain a culture when they diverge from actions”. When the company values exist merely as a poster on the wall or a 5-minute walk through in an induction process, the impact is nonexistent. Hardly even worth having.

In contrast, when the values and the mindset of ‘the way we do things around here’ is emmeshed into every practice and process, demonstrated by every leader, and considered in the remuneration, promotion and dismissal of every worker in the organization, then the values form a strong culture. As for how the rest of the world operates, the sharper the contrast, the stronger the bond amongst those in the ‘in’ group. Contrast strengthens culture.

So as for how to bring those ‘bozos’ into line, know this. All human beings have a great capacity to adapt to their environment. If mediocre is all that is expected, then mediocre is all you’ll get from the majority of people. However developmental leadership, leadership that is both supportive and demanding, that demonstrates and expects nothing short of excellence, will cultivate a culture of excellence and enable people to excel. This is the force of conformity and human need for belongingness utilized for positive gain.

An important final thought on leading for excellence comes from the great historic military leader, LTG John M. Schofield (1879). He reflected that the very same commands can be issued in a way that inspires allegiance or seeds resentment. General Schofield advised that the difference is Respect. Not respect from officers for the commander. The origin of great leadership begins with the respect of the commander for his subordinates.

When leaders respect their people, take ownership for the quality of culture within their organizations, and the quality of attitudes and behaviours of the people they lead, then they wield a mighty power than can turn a failing business into a thriving success. So, I encourage leaders to step up, lean in, and lead your troops from the front line. Be a powerful and unrelenting example of the values you want to see, and they will follow.