Organizational Culture | Coaching Churches

Category Archive: Organizational Culture

Great Leaders Take Responsibility And Give Credit

Posted by on October 7, 2016

I have always been an Alabama football fan since the days of Coach Bryant. One of the things I always appreciated about him was when we lost a game he always took the responsibility in the press conference and never cast blame toward the players or officials.

According to Jim Collins in his best seller Good to Great all great leaders do the very same thing. His team noticed this pattern in all of the very successful leaders and they called it the window and the mirror effect.

All great leaders would look out the window and give credit to other people and not themselves when things were going well. At the same time, they would look in the mirror to assume responsibility for failure and never blame bad luck or someone else when things went poorly.

The comparison companies did just the opposite. These leaders would look out the window to blame someone or something when they experienced negative results. When they did get it right they would look admiringly in the mirror and take all the credit with great fanfare.

We all need to apply this lesson on a personal level. It is always easy to justify our bad behavior when we can use what someone else said or did to hurt us as an excuse. Assuming personal responsibility for our attitudes, words and actions is the first major step in becoming a leader who is driven by character and not by the fading recognition of the crowd.

Categories: Leadership Development Organizational Culture Servant Leader | Comments Off on Great Leaders Take Responsibility And Give Credit

6 Habits Of Trustworthy Leaders

Posted by on September 26, 2016

Trust is a hot topic and for all the right reasons. If you and your team have it, great things can be accomplished. Without it nothing gets done well. There are clearly things you can do to make deposits into your trust accounts and this Fast Company post lists some key ones:

“Do the people in your office trust you? Maybe not as much as you think they do. Consulting firm EY released its Global Generations 3.0 research which found that less than half of full-time workers between the ages of 19 and 68 place a “great deal of trust” in their employer, boss, or colleagues. Another recent survey from Globoforce’s WorkHuman Research Institute found that 80% of employees trust their colleagues, but only 65% trust senior leaders in their companies.”

Toxic Teamwork Making Destructive Comments

Posted by on July 11, 2016

One of the hallmarks of leadership in the 21^st century is participative team building and problem solving. We have moved from the old top down decision making model to one that allows and encourages everyone’s involvement in the process.

If you are a good leader then you will make sure that everyone has an opportunity to give their opinion and respectfully discuss and even debate the issues so that the best possible solution can be reached. For some people this type of give and take environment comes easy and for others it is very hard to open up and participate.

As a team leader one thing I watch very carefully is when someone starts to take on another team member personally rather than dealing with their ideas. This can be very subtle in the beginning but eventually something is said that really stings.

There is a big difference between I do not agree with what you are saying and here is the reason compared to you are wrong and just don’t get it. Certain people with strong personalities will go after another person when they feel threatened because they know they can intimidate them to back off.

During the meeting when I see this happening I will usually make a point to come back to the person who was attacked and draw them out again. After the meeting, I will go to the person making the destructive comments and make sure they understand that type of behavior will not be tolerated.

After clearly communicating with someone privately and they continue to demonstrate this type of behavior then they will lose their seat at the table and everyone will know why.

Categories: Organizational Culture Teamwork | Comments Off on Toxic Teamwork Making Destructive Comments

Why Chemistry Trumps Competency In Leadership

Posted by on February 19, 2016

In the book Good to Great the author makes a big deal about getting the right people on the bus, in the right seat on the bus and also getting the wrong people off the bus. Hopefully by now everyone gets the importance of this concept to the success of any organization.

Another interesting point that often gets overlooked is that he also states the people who are on the team are more important than what they do together. This goes far beyond the truth that if you have the right people they will figure out what you need to do.

He even says that one of the keys to having a great life is to genuinely enjoy the team of people that you are working with on a daily basis. He uses words like love and respect to describe these relationships.

I spoke at a conference where a departmental group of employees were having an annual getaway event. As I watched them for over two days and listened how they responded to each other I was extremely impressed with the community they have developed over the years.

I left with the clear impression that the relationships within that department were far more important to them than the specific jobs they accomplished on a day to day basis. Oh by the way, because of their strong sense of community their performance metrics were outstanding.

Building a team spirit that highly motivates people because they care about and enjoy the people they work with should move to the top of any leader’s agenda. This also may be the key factor in attracting and retaining the top performers in any industry.

Categories: Leadership Development Organizational Culture | Comments Off on Why Chemistry Trumps Competency In Leadership

Excellence Is A Choice

Posted by on November 7, 2014

There is a major difference between seeking excellence compared to wanting perfection. Perfection has no tolerance for risk that might lead to failure while excellence demands risk for the sake of improvement. Excellence has no tolerance either for average but it does not create a culture of fear and intimidation. Character driven leaders cannot settle for anything less than their best and Scott Williams has some great insights:

“Often times Excellence is viewed as this moving, high-level target that only a select group of fortuitous individuals can achieve. Excellence is simply a choice, it’s choice to: study more, practice longer, take that extra step in customer service,

5 Stages Of Organizational Development

Posted by on January 14, 2014

Every organization either within a corporate context or a church context goes through sometimes difficult transition stages that can be clearly defined. Some stages may last longer than others and quite frankly many times that depends upon leadership. Ron Edmondson has an excellent post on this subject:

“Every organization goes through life cycles. This includes the church. These cycles can be natural or forced, but part of leadership is recognizing them and adapting leadership to them for continued health and growth. Each stage has overlap, but understanding this can help a leader decide how best to lead…which is different in each cycle.”

6 Ways To Build A Culture Of Feedback

Posted by on October 24, 2013

One of the most significant responsibilities of leaders is to build an organizational culture where the truth can be told. If leaders only want good news and they always shoot the messenger then no one will feel comfortable enough to take the risk of candid feedback. Eric Geiger offers some helpful tips:

Under the guise of “being nice,” many leaders fail to offer feedback to those they lead. Instead, they often ignore or work around the deficiency. Because feedback is an essential ingredient in development, teams and individuals suffer when leaders fail to provide it. So how do you, as a leader, develop a culture of feedback in the team that you lead? Here are six ways to increase the value of feedback among those you are leading: