How to Break Your Team Culture

"Your team culture is being defined by each member's desire to successfully change. This, of course, depends on your ability to lead."

Have we become too soft as leaders? A team's culture is only as good as its leader. Effective leaders are the result of effective training, education and skill development. We find that leaders who have under-performing teams have usually become that way due to a lack of engagement or a break in the team culture. Times have changed, people have changed, and standards are changing. Someone needs to take action to ensure long-term success and health of your organization. That person should be the leader or someone who steps up to lead boldly.

Some leaders have become afraid of what people think. They do this to the fault of influencing business impacting decisions. It is chronic and is driving business in the wrong direction as we cater to emotional wants and needs. In my book Lion Leadership, I outline the core character traits of a bold and fearless leader and teach strategies to lead in today's business climate. In previous years, we would work to be disruptive in the marketplace. Now we are being disrupted by accommodating the needs of team members that clearly contrast with the needs of the organization.

I often hear poor performers exclaim "This is what 'I' think." Lion Leaders don’t care what those people think, when those thoughts are expressed as negative opinions, usually for personal interest or gain. Lion Leaders recognize that opinions are usually misrepresented recommendations fueled by emotion and clouded with personal agenda.

Lion Leaders aren’t afraid to take a stand and uphold boundaries that protect the best interest of the entire organization, not the agenda of a few, only to make them feel better. Lion Leaders challenge their team to share ideas to become better; they challenge the ideas and encourage the team to grow their potential. They do this to stay ahead, to stay aligned with progress, and for the survival of the organization.

Because there is not a ‘constant standard’ in today's marketplace, Lion Leaders recognize that what worked in the past might not have the same impact today, or it might not even be relevant. In order to grow as leaders, we must embrace change. Lion Leaders vet through opportunities of change, removing opinions and emotion. They know that change is difficult for people to embrace, not because change is bad, but because it makes people uncomfortable. Since we can agree that most people operate within their comfort levels, it goes without saying that a culture will be defined by the team’s desire and ability to successfully change. This, of course, depends on a leader’s ability to lead.

It is natural for people to resist change and only focus on the negative aspects. A Lion Leader sees and understands this. They challenge the staff to not only confront the difficulty associated with change, but also realize the benefits while they guide the team through. When a team can work together towards a goal, the culture will improve, regardless if they fail or succeed. If a team, working together, encounters failure, they understand that it is only temporary and they re-engage to find a new way. An aligned team that accomplishes success is creating a bond and reinforcing their vision to become more. Every business has created their own culture based on the accepted mindset of everyone’s ability to deal with change.

"The truth is that a company culture change starts at the individual level."

In a Healthy Culture, there is balance. The responsibility to perform is apparent and recognized by leadership and team members. Leadership has validated the trust of the team and the team works to uphold the standards and the results together. The team can see and understand the vision, which impacts their morale and their quality of work. They know the boundaries and respect them.

In a Broken Culture, it’s just the opposite. The team is out of balance by believing leadership is ineffective or that the company owes them something, all while shirking personal responsibility. This shift happens through either the team agenda of demanding their 'wants' or by leaders who are implementing their own. Team attitudes are severely influenced by individual attitudes. Selfish attitudes are validated as acceptable as others act poorly together and the team slowly accepts the behavior. The end result is that no one is performing or they are performing at less than desirable levels, all while creating a 'great work environment' without adequate results. A Lion Leader’s job is to establish and grow the culture for the benefit of all. In any team culture, we find that it is either:

1. Fashionable to be positive and perform, or
2. it is acceptable not to.

My research has determined that a culture will decline and will become complacent very quickly due to poor performance, negative attitudes, or by accommodating the mediocrity of the select few. The questions for you are:

• Are you leading like a Lion to pull your team to new limits together? or
• Are you incorrectly pushing people to get what you want? or
• Are you going along with the ride, tolerating mediocrity, giving everyone what they want, all in the name of happiness, while you stifle growth?

Now Go Forth and Lead Like a LION! - Mike Rodriguez

(This is an excerpt from Mike's book "Lion Leadership"- Teamwork, Strategy, Vision