What you do speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say

his week studying for my coaching certification, we reviewed a super interesting chapter about organizational culture, and I would like to share some thoughts with you.

An effective culture is the key to strategy execution, and conscious leadership is the key to an effective culture. Therefore, organizations succeed when their leaders consciously develop an effective culture and fail when they do not.

Culture is the system of shared beliefs (what is true), shared values (what is important), and shared norms (what is right) that guide members about the way things should be done in the organization, the expectations they need to meet to fit in and what they can expect - and demand - from others.

Furthermore, for a culture to be effective, it must be:

1. Strategic

2. Integrative

3. Cohesive

4. Innovative

5. Flexible

Through the years, various processes have been implemented to create an effective culture, and it has been possible to conclude that the most important tool to achieve this is "Leadership." However, in all my years of experience, I have witnessed multiple scenarios of incongruity between the messages transmitted and the actions shown to achieve them. And I think this is still a vast space for opportunities.

"What you do speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have been thinking a lot about the examples that I have used to educate my daughter. I have realized that on certain occasions, what I say (the advice I give her to help her develop) is not always exactly what I practice and, ultimately, what she sees, creating a space of inconsistency between the values adopted and the values in action. And what happens to me today with my daughter also happened to me with my parents, and until today I had not taken a real dimension of what it meant to live "consciously."

Culture eats strategy for lunch, said Peter Drucker.

Constructive attitudes and behaviors are not just a matter of desire but of commitment. Look around you and think about how you can contribute to achieving an effective culture through conscious leadership, and if you need help, you will find below a small formula.

To create an effective culture, we can use the 4D model:

1. Define the standards

2. Demonstrate the standards

3. Demand standards

4. Delegate standards

And if you still wonder what makes a great leader? I recommend watching this video where Simon Sinek suggests that a great leader is one who makes his employees feel safe and creates a circle of trust and cooperation. But building trust and confidence, especially in an unequal economy, means taking on great responsibility.