To build a winning a team and a successful organization you must create a culture of greatness.
It's the most important thing a leader can do because culture drives behavior, behavior drives habits and habits create the future. As the leaders at Apple say, "Culture beats strategy all day long."
When you create a culture of greatness you create a collective mindset in your organization that expects great things to happen - even during challenging times. You expect your people to be their best, you make it a priority to coach them to be their best and most of all you create a work environment that fuels them to be their best.
A culture of greatness creates an expectation that everyone in the organization be committed to excellence. It requires leaders and managers to put the right people in the right positions where they are humble and hungry and willing to work harder than everyone else. A culture of greatness dictates that each person use their gifts and strengths to serve the purpose and mission of the organization. And it means that you don’t just bring in the best people, but you also bring out the best in your people.
If you are thinking that this sounds like common sense, it is. But unfortunately far too many organizations expect their people to be their best but they don't invest their time and energy to help them be their best nor do they create an environment that is conducive to success. They want great results but they are not willing to do what it takes to create a culture of greatness.
Here are 4 ways to start cultivating it:
1. A culture of greatness requires that you find the right people that fit your culture. Then you coach them, develop them, mentor them, train them and empower them to do what they do best. As part of this process you develop positive leaders who share positive energy throughout the organization because positive energy flows from the top down.
2. You don’t allow negativity to sabotage the moral, performance and success or your organization. You deal with negativity at the cultural level so your people can spend their time focusing on their work instead of fighting energy vampires.
3. You focus on communication (because where there is a void, negativity will fill it). Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
4. You build trust and create engaged relationships that are the foundation upon which winning teams are built.
If creating a culture of greatness sounds like a lot of work, it is, but not as much work as dealing with the crises, problems and challenges associated with negative, dysfunctional and sub-par cultures. While most organizations waste a lot of time putting out fires you can spend your time building a great organization that rises above the competition.
- Jon
Suggested Book Resource: SOUP: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture. Soup, an inspirational business fable, shares a recipe for success filled with the essential ingredients to build a winning team and create a culture of greatness.
