LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture." Edgar Schein

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

We're talking about the importance of organizational culture this month and you can catch up on the past posts HERE.

Today I'm sharing this quote from Edgar Schein (Thanks Connie for the tip and feedback). I've read his theory before but didn't know it came from him. Schein was a business theorist and psychologist who was a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

His quote above really sums up much of what we've been talking about. However, there's another line that is often added to the quote above. It says this:

"The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening."

O.C. Tanner shares:

"Leaders are the first line of defense for your company culture. They are in charge of living and enforcing your company's values, ideals, and policies. If employees don't see your company's cultural goals embodied in their immediate leaders, your culture will suffer."

Think of some of the organizations you've worked in over the years. Can you articulate the CULTURE?

When you think about that culture, was there someone who was "creating and managing" that culture? Was there someone who was "protecting" that culture?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.” Mary Douglas

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Last week I introduced some conversation around CULTURE and I shared Peter Drucker quote HERE.

Today I’m sharing this quote from Mary Douglas, a British anthropologist, and her quote is just profound. I’m sharing this again so you understand how powerful culture is!

Look at this list: Red Flags of a Bad Company Culture

• You don’t have a list of core values

• There’s a lot of gossip in the office

• Unfriendly employee competition

• Employees are often tardy or absent

• Employees often work late or don’t take lunch breaks

• No workplace giving initiatives

• Little or no hiring from within

• Public criticism of employees

Do you resonate with any of these?

I love that first one… “you don’t have a list of core values”. This is a huge red flag. What’s worse? Having values and your team and leader don’t live them out!

Culture affects everything and it’s not something you can just FIX. The quote is right… you have to rebuild the organization around the culture you are trying to eliminate or the culture you’re trying to grow.

Have you ever worked in a place that had a TOXIC CULTURE? What was that like for you?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Peter Drucker

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Last week, while attending a Board Meeting, someone threw this quote out, and I've been thinking about it over the past few days.

Peter Drucker was an Austrian-American management consultant and he's called the "father of management theory". His writings and thoughts have influenced leaders and organizations for decades and his book, "The Daily Drucker" has been an inspiration for me for years.

I'd like to spend some time talking about Organizational Culture this next month. If you've learned something or seen something, please share it with me. When it comes to this topic, I'm a student, but having been a part of a number of organizations over the past 40 years, I've seen the difference a defined culture can make, and I agree with Drucker that while strategy is important, it's the CULTURE that truly drives an organization.

Patrick Lencioni, in his book, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" is really addressing CULTURE. I've shared earlier that I wish I had found this book earlier, but once I did, these principles became a staple.

Lencioni teaches that these 5 things contribute to a healthy team and a healthy organization. I encourage you to read the book to get the full context:

#1) BUILD TRUST

#2) RESOLVE CONFLICT

#3) COMMIT AS A TEAM

#4) HOLD EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE

#5) FOCUS ON RESULTS

When you look at this list, or revisit these 5, which one impacts the CULTURE where you work the most?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Be a builder, not a destroyer” Unknown

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This is our final quote on the theme of ENCOURAGEMENT this month. I hope you've been challenged by some of these quotes and thoughts.

Today to finish, I'm digging deep into the vault.

I have no idea if anyone said this, but it comes from a talk I've given hundreds of times using a hammer as an illustration. I saw someone do this at a camp years ago, and then I took the idea and put my own spin on it, but it's the power of a practical illustration that stuck with me all these years.

The image is of a normal hammer that has 2 sides to it:

The HEAD is used to build things.

The CLAW is used to destroy things.

See the image?

Two sides to the same tool, used for completely different things.

When I ask you the question, "Are you a BUILDER or are you a DESTROYER, just think about what side of the hammer you use more of.

Take this illustration, teach it, remember it, model it, live it.

"So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it." 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (MSG)

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

As we continue to look at quotes that talk about ENCOURAGEMENT this month, I want to give you von Goethe's quote and have you think about it.

The quote above talks a little bit about the value of CORRECTION, but it then tells us that ENCOURAGEMENT is better, or does more!

Think about the people that surround you, either in your work, in your community, your family, or just generally in life:

• How do you bring CORRECTION into those relationships?

• Are you known as someone who CORRECTS? Do people receive it well?

• Are you known as an ENCOURAGER?

• How do people respond when you ENCOURAGE them?

Personally, I respond well to both CORRECTION and ENCOURAGEMENT, if it's delivered in the correct way. Here are some things that make a difference to me:

• Do I TRUST the person that is sharing with me?

• Do they CARE about me and want the best for me?

• Have they EARNED THE RIGHT to speak into my life?

• Do we have a RELATIONSHIP? A history?

• Are they focused on things that MATTER? Or just small trivial things?

What makes a difference for you when you're receiving CORRECTION or even ENCOURAGEMENT?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don't know how great you can be!

How much you can love!

What you can accomplish!

And what your potential is." Anne Frank

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

As I dig through some quotes that talk about ENCOURAGEMENT this month, these words from Anne Frank resonated with me in a couple of ways...

First, she says that "everyone" of us have some good news inside of us. All of us have something we can be positive about, something we can encourage other people with.

Second, it's just that it's simple: people don't know how great they are, and if we want to be encouragers, we need to tell them.

The thing that I am reminded of is this: THE POWER OF WORDS.

We can be used to encourage someone by using our WORDS to speak into their life or we can use our WORDS in a written note or message that speaks truth into them.

Words are free, but they are so powerful!

This past week, a colleague of mine affirmed me. He literally pulled me aside, made me look at him, then he spent about 2 minutes speaking words of encouragement into my life. He was intentional, he was articulate, and I knew he had thought about what he wanted to say.

It was impactful to me and it gave me a boost in my spirit for the rest of the day.

Words matter!

I want to speak powerful words into peoples lives because I know the impact of those words and how it be used to change someones perspective or their reality.

When was the last time someone spoke words of encouragement into your life? Who was it? What did they say? How did it make your feel?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"When you encourage others, you, in the process, are encouraged because you're making a commitment and difference in that person's life. Encouragement really does make a difference." Zig Ziglar

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

I read the quote above from Zig Ziglar, and I've been thinking about the value of encouragement in our lives, and thought I'd spend some time this month camping on this theme.

This quote is not a surprise, but just a profound reminder to us of the value of encouragement. It does make a difference on all sides... when it's delivered, when it's received and when it's observed.

Everyone benefits and it can be either a simple expression or a grand gesture. It makes a difference.

I remember a moment in my own personal leadership development when I was in a leadership role in my university, my senior year of college. I can't remember the situation, but I remember feeling unsure, I remember wondering if I could do the job I had been tasked with doing, and I was thinking about how much happier I had been in my previous role, which carried much less responsibility and pressure. I was overwhelmed.

It was then that a mentor of mine pulled me aside. He actually took me out to dinner, and spent the evening "encouraging me". He listened, he asked questions, he responded, but at some point in the evening, he just looked at me and said something like this:

"Russ, you can do this job. You have the abilities, the passion and the strength to do it. Don't be afraid of it, but embrace it. People will follow you."

At least that's what I heard, and it worked!

I felt empowered and affirmed, I felt that I COULD do the job, and I think just knowing that this Guy believed in me, I was ready to go.

37 years after that conversation, I can still remember it. I remember the restaurant, I remember the conversation, and I remember how it made me feel.

That's the power of ENCOURAGEMENT!

Think of a time when you were encouraged. Where were you? What was said? How did it make your feel?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection." Mark Twain

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Here's a final thought this month on productivity from Mark Twain. I love these simple words that should be an encouragement to all of us.

We'll never fully accomplish being productive. It's a work in progress.

The quotes I shared from Tim Ferriss, Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King Jr. are all words reminding us to keep moving towards purpose and value, and to not get bogged down in getting everything right.

That's what I need to be reminded of today: It's a process, and my hope is to keep moving towards the goal, towards fullfilling what I've been put in this world to do, and towards my calling or purpose.

January can be a month full of pressure because we spend it trying to get it all right, and when we don't, we end up just quitting: quitting on our dreams, our goals, our new ideas, rhythms... all these things.

Today, just commit to taking another step forward.

The passage from Philippians 3 reminds us of this...

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

The Message translation says it this way:

"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: by no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."

Today, do your best and take another step forward... Then another.

Think of the things in your life that motivate you, that pull you, that "press" you... How does God use those things to keep you moving forward?