Discover the key to cultural transformation in the workplace.

George Grieb is intentionally transforming himself and the culture of his business! He purchased 500 books (various titles) for his ~50 team members and brought me and Ria in to speak to them for 4 hours on May 3rd, 2024. But, he didn’t stop there. After we left, he started facilitating book studies with everyone from top to bottom. Be sure to visit?BlueCollarLeadership.com/BookStudyTraining?to learn more about facilitating high impact book studies.

The Leadership Dilemma

You can't develop others without developing yourself.

“Becoming a leader is a lifelong endeavor of study, action, reflection, and refinement.” ~ Colonel Tom Connally, USMC (Ret.)

When you consider the Leadership Development component in The Transformation Equation, you should know it consists of two parts:

1. Development of self
2. Development of others

Developing others is not about you, but it starts with you.

As a leader with a desire to create a high impact culture that will ensure your organization becomes a highly sought after employer of choice, your primary role is to lead the charge up the mountain. Since you’re not literally climbing a mountain, this means you must be the model of what you expect from others because someone is always watching, especially during culture change.

My favorite quote of all time is by Abraham Maslow, “If we are not modeling what we’re teaching, we are teaching something else.” What Maslow means is you’re not teaching what you’re teaching. You’re teaching what you’re modeling. Actions truly do speak louder than words.

High impact leadership is more caught than taught.

Do you want your team to see you as a tour guide or a travel agent? There’s a big difference.

Often, travel agents have never been to the places they’re telling others they should go. They tell them how wonderful the “climb up the mountain” will be and what they will experience along the way. But, they’ve never actually made the climb themselves.

However, a tour guide has “been up the mountain” many times. Their mission is to lead others up the mountain, not direct them over the radio from base camp (or over the phone or by email from their office).

Who would you trust most?

• The travel agent who has never made the climb and has no interest in joining you?
• The tour guide who has made the journey many times and wants to lead you?

Which will your team see?

Some reading this may be thinking, “Well, I’m neither at the moment. I’ve never directed a cultural transformation or led a team through one.”

If that’s the case with you, consider me a guide willing to help you and your team climb.

But, here’s the question you must answer:

As my team’s leader, will I be applying for the job of travel agent or tour guide?

An organization with a leader who attempts to create a high impact culture as a travel agent will never become a sought after employer of choice. Why? Because those on their team who actually follow the directions of their “travel agent” leader will outgrow their leader who isn’t on the journey with them.

When this happens, these team members will become frustrated because of their leader’s lack of leadership development.

They will come to understand their leader is disengaged, so they will disengage. They will either give bad word of mouth advertisement about the leader and the organization, or they will leave the company in search of a better leader. Most often, they will do both.

The Key to Cultural Transformation

To create high impact culture supported by a high performance team, you must become very intentional about your own personal development.

Although it helps to be at the top of the class, and I think you should be, the main thing is that your team sees you in class and knows you’re on the development journey with them.

“We make some of the best industrial machinery in the world. But, I will not go to my grave being proud of all the machines we have built. Instead, I will be deeply grateful for all the lives that we touched and uplifted in our journey. The machinery we build is just the economic engine that enables us to touch lives. The flourishing of those lives is our paramount concern.” ~ Bob Chapman, CEO Barry-Wehmiller

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If your company culture isn’t a competitive advantage, it’s a competitive disadvantage.

Blue-Collar Leadership??& Culture?features content specifically for the top leader who has never led a cultural transformation but is curious to find out what will be required, what to do, and how to do it.

Discover why you should transform your culture, and also what to do and how to do it.