Role of Leadership in Culture Building

“It seems that every department is creating its own version of a good scooter, but all of us together are not creating a great one.”?

Back in 2017, when we were building the Ather S340 and having the first round of Culture Conversations at Ather Energy , I heard a team member saying the above statement. I found this to be a powerful statement because an organisation cannot operate with its departments working in isolation. Each department’s True North must align at one single point, and the leadership team is responsible for making this happen.?

What happens when there is a lack of alignment within the leadership?

We often come across scenarios of conflict or ego clashes between different leaders. If something isn't working out between two leaders, the organisation will look at it from an angle of ‘personality issues’ or ‘interpersonal issues'. But from an organisational culture perspective, we need to ask whether we have given these leaders space to co-create something, or have we pitted one against the other? At a system level, what is the team design we have orchestrated - is it encouraging envy and competition or harmony and inclusion - is there space for collaboration??

We also need to look at what we are encouraged to celebrate - are teams and leaders experiencing meaningful recognition? Is there enough space on the wall, or have we created space only for a chosen few? These are important questions to reflect upon, because what is often considered an interpersonal conflict hints at something deeper.?

Conflict within the leadership impacts the organisation and its culture, because the loyalties of the team members will be demanded or questioned. We put our team members in a place of having to choose between leaders instead of working towards the same organisation’s goals.?

So what really happens in a leadership conflict?

In a conflict, if there is a leader at fault, it is of paramount importance to call out the unconscious processes playing out in the room with courage and in service of the organisation. Have roles been defined clearly? Are there any overlaps between roles of leaders or between teams? Have we given enough authority to leaders to enact their roles? Have we communicated goals and boundaries clearly? Otherwise, we are unconsciously signing up for and encouraging conflict or even toxic behaviour. Silence is sanction.?

What kind of leaders build great organisations and cultures?

A great leader generally feels comfortable in their skin, expresses confidence in the team,? and sets a clear direction. They know their self-worth and derive joy from their work content. They hire the best people, preferably someone better than them, without feeling inferior or challenged or having their ego get in the way. They try to build a team that is not inherently dependent on them. They create trust in the system and give the team the space to achieve their goals. They know that the organisation’s goals cannot be achieved in isolation.?

A leader’s behaviour always has a ripple effect on their team members. They influence a set of people, and they will always leave their imprint somewhere. The scripts of a leader are often deeply embedded into their team member’s minds, and they have to consciously either work towards or against that script. Bad leaders leave their fear or anxiety in the system, thus subverting the goal of an organisation. This is how leadership influences the culture of an organisation.?

As leaders, practice zooming out on leadership and its role in culture. Learn to look ahead, look back, and aim for moonshots that build excellent and sustainable teams. Leaders who understand the importance of self-awareness are willing to recognise and work with unconscious processes of a system, and can collaborate with other leaders and subsystems to achieve what is best for the organisation to create a great culture.?

Ultimately, leadership and culture are intertwined - one cannot exist without the other.