Purpose or Profit Focus, Controls Engagement, Meaning, and Commitment.

How to Create a REVOLUTIONARY WORKPLACE High-Performance System - Free CLEARx HPO Assessment available to readers.

Truth: Organizations tend to take on the characteristics of their leaders and unaligned behaviors.

The values, habits, and biases, of the founders and dominant leaders leave imprints and constraints, on the organization and culture.

This then causes most departmental or organization-wide initiatives fall short of their full potential. because the leadership consciousness is still focussed on Greedership vs puposeful leadership.

Ever heard of the phrase ‘a chip off the old block’? Or “as the leader goes, so the pack follows”.  

Another truism is culture is "the shadow of the leader", is a similar metaphor or concept.

It describes the phenomenon where leaders, through their likes, dislikes, behaviors, values, attitudes, actions, biases, and consciousness, tend to impact, influence, and shape, organisational culture and consequent staff behaviors.

Quite simply – if your culture is bad, toxic, unsafe, or fear-based, stop looking in the “garden” (Staff) for the problem or cause, and start looking at the “gardeners” – your leadership, who actually controls and impacts your culture and context.

Culture is a CONSEQUENCE first, and a then a CAUSE.

Coined by Sean Delany the "shadow of a leader" is an insightful and helpful metaphor. 

Think of organisations you know and how the personality and behaviors of the leadership influences and drives their culture and results. Even look at our Governments negative impacts.

For many leaders, they are unconscious of how they are really perceived. A meaningless drive, purely for profit, creates a cold, disengaged culture.

LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS ARE DANGEROUS

We all have BLIND-SPOTS. If you have ever explored the Johari’s Window model, you’ll have an idea of the challenge of your BLIND SPOTS.

Problem: Most leaders drink their own koolaid! They believe their own story and Ego Bias! They believe and prioritise their own story and point of view.

As companies and teams grow, they experience serious impacts from the "shadow of the unconscious leader".

The consequences are that the culture takes on a life of it’s own and permeates the entire workplace. Within days, new staff become quickly “educated” on…how things go around here! Just pray your culture is enabling and not disabling!

To make a positive CultureShift, the leader’s consciousness, values, mindsets, and behaviors, needs to change from a Profit only focus, to profit AND people/meaningful purpose.

People don't want to "go the extra mile, to make the boss more money.. they need their life and efforts to add real value to something bigger and way more meaningful to them.

Saying, that things will change, is not good enough. Delegating culture-change to admin / HR Department just won’t cut it! The Root source of your culture comes from your leadership actions. Are you a CONSCIOUS Leader?

CEO ownership and personal engagement wins hands down as a key success factor for creating and establishing a new High-Performance positive culture.

A NEW CULTURE REQUIRES NEW CONSTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS

Positive Culture Improvement, is about actual personal leadership Mindset, Values, and Behavioral change that is reliable, dependable, aligned with espoused values and agreements, and sincere.

New processes, clear focus, reenergised actions, and better attitudes, are required. Plus clarifying purpose and aligning the team’s Energy, Fierce Focus & SWIFT Actions, towards meaningful goals, are top of leader’s priority list.

To grow successfully, and sustainably, in a Human-Centered High-Performance Workplace, the “leaders’ shadow” needs to change-shape, expand its influence and impact, become more Consciously Constructive, and positively aligned, with agreed values and behavioral agreements/ rules of engagement. It all starts at the TOP!

The kiss of death for a leader’s credibility, impact, and influence, is to have espoused and agreed company values, and then be seen NOT WALKING THEIR TALK!

The "shadow of the leader" makes clear the WHY and HOW we act or behave. It becomes the purposeful leadership example, walking the talk and inspiring force that enables, improves and drives a High-Performance Teams culture.

The most powerful way for a leader to ensure a High-Performance Workplace is established and maintained, is to ask for radically HONEST feedback and guidance.

To get this requires a context where the people have full psychological safety and freedom from consequences being enacted or carried out by immature/ low EQ and unconscious leaders.

Leaders and managers, by their daily attitudes, mindsets, and interactions, create the Context, Culture, Climate and Commitment, that directly influences and even controls your people’s mood and emotional/mental state.

You create the lift to boost their spirits towards higher happiness, or push them down to hopeless, helpless, and greater unhappiness.

Do You Lift or Lower You Staff's Mood or State?

Your staff all have their own environmental and cultural influences and consequences that they bring to work with them each day. As a MANAGER OF YOU PEOPLE, your responsibility is to create a context, and the Psychological Safety, where your people can flourish, thrive, unleash, and utilise their fullest potential in a positive manner for the greatest good and meaning for ALL.

The LEADER, as the Chief Culture Officer, is the catalyst for a new more effective culture, as they created their current – undesired culture. To be personally engaged in leading culture change, the CEO must:

• Consciously work on their leadership behaviors that they need to shift in themselves and then show up differently each day in the organization.
• Lead your senior team through culture-shaping sessions, activities, values and agreed rules of behavior, before any other teams take part.
• Take ownership of the focus and drive on defining the desired and needed culture and clarifying the organization’s Values, and purpose/ meaningful Goals.
• Focus on building a positive focussed appreciative and recognition based culture.
• Senior leadership own and lead the culture-shaping process.
• Leaders need a clear, compelling purpose for themselves, their entire organization, beyond just more profits; united with strong business rationales to inspire a Thriving High-Performance culture.
• The Culture Shift process must be supported by resources, and a methodical entrenching plan.
• Leaders cast powerful shadows; thus, the new desired culture needs to be explicitly defined with clear values and agreed associated behaviors. This is then consistently modeled by the senior team.

Many workplaces have “we vs them” turf-control issues between units, and different functions. 

The CEO wants to “fix” the organization, but often senior executives or managers are not fully competent, committed, aligned, or mutually supportive. They didn’t speak with one voice to their teams.

They don’t speak up in meetings… Why? Fear? They are generally polite and non-confrontational.

They appear to agree to CEO suggested or dictated decisions, but then they don’t support or communicate those decision outside the meeting all the way through to the rest of their teams. 

 If you asked staff at the lower levels of the organisations, why they don’t perform to their fullest potentials, and collaborate more effectively, you will probably hear, in a variety of comments… “Why should we? Our bosses don’t!”  Like the… Fish rots from the head – scenario.

It’s clear that the role of the leader requires modeling the agreed and desired behaviors, and letting others see the agreed values in action…Daily. 

To become a more effective and conscious leader, become aware of your shadows. Then learn to consciously match your actions with your messages and agreements/values.  

When u look in a mirror, the person you see looking back at you is the place where you have MOST control…

This is the best place to begin the Culture and Mindset shift. Start the mindset shift from profit only, to People, Purpose, Planet AND Profits. 

Now it’s your turn to show your team the ideal example of a Conscious high performance leader. Give your people and teams... a VOICE... Truly listen and uncover the potential. Otherwise whose job is it to listen to your people?

Please don't say HR!! History PROVES this is not a viable expectation that delivers the requisite results.

#ADAPTAGILITY: Agility Matters! Adaptability mattes! ....Listen today. Respond today.

We live in a real-time world, you need to be a real-time leader. If you listen better - you will definitely hear more... and we all want to be "heard".

The harsh realuty is staff often hear the new future BEFORE the leaders do...

To transform your #ADAPTAGILITY & Mindsets with Executive Consciousness Coaching or create a REVOLUTIONARY WORKPLACE with High Performance Teams, where people focus on passion, purpose, and service... and move beyond SELL SELL SELL More as the corporate vision.

If your Vision, and mission is about YOURSELF , you are into GREEDership and living in a very old unconscious past era.

Contact Tony Dovale - CEO of https://www.lifemasters.co.za on +27 (0)83-447-6300