With over three decades of leadership experience, I’ve learned a few things about workplace culture, and I’d like to share some of them with you today.

There are common characteristics within organizations that perform at very high levels, characteristics that are often missing in lower performing enterprises. I call them “cultural elements.”

With over three decades of leadership experience, I’ve learned a few things about workplace culture, and I’d like to share some of them with you today.

There are common characteristics within organizations that perform at very high levels, characteristics that are often missing in lower performing enterprises. I call them “cultural elements.”

Here are the six cultural elements I have found to be critical to cultural effectiveness:

1. Core Values – How we deal with our stakeholders.
2. Products & Services – How well we are meeting stakeholder needs.
3. Direction – A clear understanding of our direction as an organization.
4. Structure – Our organizational capacity to perform effectively.
5. Measurements – Being able to understand our progress.
6. Rewards – Recognizing associates for desired behavior and results.

Leaders who have done the work to properly “flesh out” each of these critical elements build high performance cultures that:

1. Consistently produce outstanding bottom-line results
2. Attract, motivate and retain top talent
3. Readily adapt to changing conditions

During my career I continually sought better ways to effectively communicate the need for these important cultural elements within the organizations of the leaders who reported to me. By doing this I made sure the elements were in place within every part of the organization (the “subcultures” of the enterprise).

Unfortunately, most managers tend to believe that only the top managers of an enterprise are responsible for organizational culture. I’ve found that the most important cultural leaders are in fact the divisional and departmental leaders. These leaders must be trained and held accountable for cultural leadership if any enterprise is to reach its full potential.

Remember, while outstanding enterprise-wide cultures may be ideally led from the top of the organization, having a "less than optimal" corporate culture should never be an excuse for  leaders (at any level) not to assume the responsibility for maximizing the effectiveness of their own sub-culture. As long as the organization is viable, leaders of sub-cultures have all of the resources necessary to dramatically improve their workplace.

In the coming blogs we will look at each of the critical cultural elements and give every one of you the opportunity to objectively assess the potential of your present culture. We will also look at ways to develop specific action steps for building an improved workplace culture, no mater how good it is right now. 

So, stop looking around for someone to fix your workplace culture, and get ready to take your own inherent, personal responsibility for creating an exciting and more productive workplace for yourself and everyone in your organization.