It comes as no surprise that effective military leaders in the US Army
leverage culture. They know why it’s important to take the time to analyze a
unit’s culture and then form a plan that effectively molds culture to accomplish
the institution’s mission. Similar tenets hold true for other leaders, who,
unlike the Army, do not have a unique organizational mission: to fight and win
the nation’s wars.
Every group, organization, and business has its own set of norms, values,
beliefs and accepted ways of viewing the world. These elements form the culture
of an organization. But to really understand culture, leaders must recognize
that culture is a continuous process rather than a stagnant characteristic. When
team members conform to historically based expectations and practices, they
actively recreate organizational culture by reinforcing established values and
traditions, a process called “cultural reproduction.”
When group members’ actions are different from culturally prescribed
expectations – such as organizational “mavericks” who act in new ways that are
not in line with cultural norms – these members are also reacting to
organizational culture. As it turns out, organizations need members who innovate
and challenge established procedures and beliefs to influence change as much as
people who reinforce effective aspects of the pre-existing culture. Leaders must
recognize the value of both behaviors and understand the forces that inhibit
change and those that promote change.
In my experience with the U.S. Army since 1989, I discovered that effective
Army leaders recognize the importance of culture and seek to leverage it to
maximize unit morale, and ultimately, performance. Moreover, those leaders who
fail to perceive the significance of culture often miss out on opportunities to
improve the performance of their units.
There are four specific steps that can be taken by leaders across
all organizations and industries that leverage culture to build the best
winning teams.
- Take note of the artifacts: tangible aspects that can be seen,
heard, perceived and sensed within the organization. Use these
artifacts to uncover what the team values. Examples include signs,
office equipment, unit organization, systems and procedures, and
people. The aspect of people includes words, appearances,
demographic representations, dress and behaviors. These artifacts
provide a veiled glimpse of the organization’s values; another level
in which culture is revealed.
- Record the stated values of the organization and determine
whether these align with the actual behaviors and attitudes of the
team members. A leader needs to pay attention to the distinction
between stated values – what is said to be important and the
actual
values – what is actually important. For example, customer feedback
at a service-oriented business like a clinic should suggest that
employee behavior – the interaction between patients and staff –
should be aligned with the stated value of quality customer service
and care.
- Examine the collective assumptions of the members of the
organization. Important assumptions include whether members believe
creativity is encouraged; whether mutual, two-way trust exists
between members and company leaders; and whether a caring
relationship between members and customers is emphasized.
Assumptions are the subconscious beliefs that lead to nearly
automatic attitudes and behaviors among group members. These
assumptions are to a group what a personality is to an individual.
They help the group perceive and interpret stimuli, and then help
the group to act appropriately under different situations. Climate
surveys of employees are one way to effectively gauge assumptions.
- Analyze whether the artifacts, values and assumptions of the
company’s culture best support its overall business mission.
Delineate the aspects that support the mission and identify the
parts of the culture that could better support the organization’s
overarching charter.
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When leaders fail to leverage culture and establish a culture game plan, the
operations of the entire company can actually be hindered to the point of
complete ineffectiveness. For example, one of my Army commanders who rarely
asked for input from subordinates before making decisions that affected the unit,
actually reduced its morale and motivation. Failure to solicit group input,
ideas and collective thinking prevented the generation of potentially creative,
innovative and useful insights. As a result, the unit performed at a mediocre
level. The company’s command team had failed to leverage the process of cultural
production to incorporate norms, values, and beliefs of a more collective and
creative nature, which directly hurt our mission performance.
Leaders must effectively employ knowledge of culture to maximize
organizational performance. Businesses can achieve this goal by appraising their
culture from a variety of sources, using a variety of methods. After finding the
causes that hinder performance, true leaders will redirect their efforts to
improve the organization’s culture, while reinforcing existing elements of
culture that are still positive. Building an effective culture first requires
building leadership teams; only then can the mission and goals be supported.
Just as the best Army units constantly assess mission performance in an attempt
to ensure they are doing everything possible to perform at the top level, Army
leaders continuously seek to ensure their unit’s culture best supports mission
performance.
Military and business leadership can draw many parallels when it comes to
establishing culture to meet goals. It’s a lesson other types of leaders in any
type of organization can emulate, discovering along the way what to change and
what to reinforce to improve culture.
About the Author
Maj. Remi Hajjar is assistant professor of sociology at the U.S. Military
Academy and serves as the sociology program director. This article was adapted
from an essay that originally appeared in a May 2005 special issue on
“Leadership Breakthroughs from Westpoint” of
Leader to Leader magazine, a journal of the
Leader to Leader
Institute, formerly the Drucker Institute. Major Hajjar can be reached at
remi.hajjar@us.army.mil.