When it comes to culture change, people development equals execution.

Avoid Cultural Stagnation

Without execution, there will be cultural stagnation.

“There are three requirements for humans to act: 1) dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs, 2) a vision of a better state, and 3) belief that we can reach that better state. When just one of the requirements is missing, people will not act.” ~ Ludwig von Mises

Merriam-Webster defines stagnation as, “a state or condition marked by lack of flow, movement, or development.”

Development is the keyword when it comes to preventing cultural stagnation. I want you to think about development as much as I do. Development should also be the word that’s on your mind most when you think about building a high performance team.

Without development, there will be no transformation, personally or organizationally.

Development is the objective. Development is most often the missing piece of the culture puzzle.

Development is what separates great organizations from mediocre organizations.

Development is what separates high impact leaders from low impact managers.

Development, or the lack of it, will determine if your organization is consistently attracting great people or constantly searching for good people. Relative to culture change, lack of development indicates stagnation.

When it comes to culture change, development equals execution.

No development. No execution.

You can’t do one without doing the other. When you’re developing people, you are literally executing the cultural transformation plan. It’s impossible to execute the plan without developing the people. It’s also impossible to develop the people without executing the plan.

Peter Drucker shared these thoughts about planning and execution, “You cannot prevent a major catastrophe, but you can build an organization that is battle-ready, that has high morale, that knows how to behave, that trusts itself, and where people trust one another. In military training, the first rule is to instill soldiers with trust in their officers, because without trust they won’t fight.”

Development is what you should think of when there is an atmosphere of low trust among a team, in a department, between departments, or throughout the organization.

Development is what you should think of when you’re frustrated or when you encounter frustrated team members, customers, or suppliers.

Development is what you should think of when you encounter resistance for any reason, but especially resistance related to change, process improvement, vision, and mission.

Development is what you should think of when there is constant confusion among your team.

Development is what you should think of when you become stressed or experience anxiety or when you sense your team is experiencing stress or anxiety.

Development is what you should think of when there’s a lack of communication, people don’t feel understood, tempers are flaring, and voices are rising.

Development is what you should think of when you consider what it would be like to be the sought after employer of choice within your industry.

Charles G. Koch, CEO Koch Industries, commented, “Setting expectations according to general principles rather than specific orders not only helps employees understand the importance of their work; it frees them to think and innovate. We’ve experienced little progress when our people mindlessly followed instructions – whether they had good values or not.”

The goal must be to align your team behind unifying, timeless, character-based leadership principles.

Without continuous character development, your culture will become stagnant.

Without character development, low impact people will not become high impact individuals.

Without character development, low impact managers will not become high impact leaders.

When it comes to culture, if there’s no development, there won’t be any improvement. Culture development doesn’t happen accidentally. It happens intentionally or not at all.

Are you dissatisfied with the present state of your culture? What should be better? Who should be better?

Do you have a vision of what a better culture would look like? Who will benefit when it becomes a reality?

Do you believe you can create that culture?

“Above all, success in business requires two things: a winning competitive strategy, and superb organizational execution. Distrust is the enemy of both.” ~ Robert Shaw

Don't miss my 30 part Blue-Collar Leadership Podcast series on Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture. Get started by listening to Part 1 "The Cost of Culture" here.

“My first words are, GET SIGNED UP! This training is not, and I stress, not your everyday leadership seminar! I have never been a part of anything like it. After 30 years in technology and two years in Concrete Construction, I have attended dozens and sent hundreds to the so-called ‘Leadership-Training.’ I can tell you that while all of the courses, classes, webinars, and seminars, had good intentions, nothing can touch what Mack and Ria Story provide. I just wish I had it 20 years ago…I could go on-and-on…100% of the team that attended said that they were ‘blown-away, they did not see that conviction and passion coming.’ Many thanks, Mack and Ria!” ~ Sam M. VP, COO

About Blue-Collar Leadership...

Blue-Collar Leadership? provides leaders with a platform for training and developing their workforce to unleash their potential by taking powerful leadership concepts and packaging them in easy to understand and apply resources. Founded by Mack Story, Blue-Collar Leadership? is uniquely designed content specifically created to engage and develop the front line workforce, those who lead them, and those who support them.

We understand your biggest frustration as a leader is likely disengaged team members. We specialize in helping leaders engage the front line to improve the bottom line.

Mack Story has logged over 11,000 hours leading leaders and their teams through organizational change. He is the author of the extremely popular Blue-Collar Leadership? Series books.

Ria Story is an author, TEDx speaker, and expert in leadership and life skills for women. Ria has nearly 20 years of experience in leadership and management. 

Mack and Ria are certified leadership speakers and trainers and have published 23 leadership development and personal growth books. 

Highlights for them have been:

• Helping train 20,000 Guatemalan Leaders with John Maxwell
• Speaking at Yale University
• Offering leadership development support for the U.S. Military, Chick-fil-A, Auburn University, Chevron, and many other organizations

Are you in the USA? We will come to you! Checkout our "2020 Special Offer" below.

If you're willing to invest in your team, we are too. What do we mean?

What we will do…

We’ll provide 200 (any combination) of our six Blue-Collar Leadership? Series books to you at NO COST. WE’LL PAY ALL OF OUR EXPENSES to travel anywhere in the USA to conduct up to 2 hours of on site leadership development training or speaking for any size group at any level.

What you must do…

Invest in your team. Take advantage of our “Special Offer” reduced speaking fee of ONLY $3,600, which happens to be the exact cost of the 200 books. Distribute the 200 books to your blue-collar workforce, those who lead them, and those who support them. Note: Our speaking fees normally range from $5,000-$20,000 in the USA.

Call Mack Story at 334-728-4143 and make it happen!