Can the effect of a leader on an organization be overstated? Yes and no. An organization鈥檚 strategies, as well as its plans and goals for the future, are largely determined by its chief executive and the members of its C-suite. But any organization is much more than its strategic plan.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an old saying: 鈥楥ulture eats strategy for breakfast,鈥欌�� quips June Schmieder-Ramirez, director of the PhD in global leadership and change program at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP). An organization鈥檚 culture, she says, includes a variety of components, such as values, beliefs, and even artifacts. 鈥淭he celebration of Founder鈥檚 Day at Pepperdine, for example, is considered a type of ceremonial artifact,鈥� she explains.
Miriam Lacey, a business consultant and professor of applied behavioral science at the Graziadio Business School, identifies organizational culture as an institution鈥檚 鈥渘orms and values,鈥� underlying everything it does and how it is experienced by its constituents. Traditions, attitudes, behaviors, and all manner of implicit understandings go into the melting pot of an organization鈥檚 culture. Culture is at the crux of moving an organization in any strategic direction.
Because an organization鈥檚 culture is so foundational to its effectiveness and productivity, a new leader in an ongoing institution must endeavor to understand the business鈥� norms. But this is no small feat. Lacey recommends that new executives make a significant and concerted effort to dig deep into an organization鈥檚 culture as soon as they arrive on the scene.
鈥淵ou have to join them before you can lead them,鈥� says Lacey. This means that a new leader will want to speak with multiple people at every level in the organization. If the business has a number of locations, the leader must also visit as many as possible. To collect comprehensive data, she recommends asking everyone the same set of questions, such as, 鈥淲hat is it like to work around here?鈥� 鈥淲hat particularly helps you get your job done?鈥� 鈥淲hat do you value most?鈥� and 鈥淲hat gets in your way?鈥�
Schmieder-Ramirez agrees that developing relationships with staff and demonstrating genuine interest in their most basic needs in the workplace is crucial.
鈥淢ost of the studies I鈥檝e seen show that the number one reason that particular leaders don鈥檛 last long is that they either don鈥檛 understand the culture or it takes them too long to learn the culture,鈥� she says. 鈥淢any organizations are bureaucratic or they鈥檙e siloed, so one major challenge is to get into each of those silos and dig down into the grain鈥攏ot just the leaders at the top but actually talking to staff members.鈥�
Both professors stress mastering culture in their respective academic programs. Schmieder-Ramirez notes that the most successful students in GSEP鈥檚 doctoral programs are generally those who perceive that a new chief executive needs to have an open mind. They recognize that immersing oneself in a group鈥檚 norms is much more effective in building trust than to start off by identifying areas for improvement and forcing change.
At Graziadio, particularly in the presidents and key executives and executive MBA programs, executive students prepare a cultural assessment of the organization that they鈥檙e running, and they create a change plan for ways to meet their goals. Lacey and her colleagues also train leaders to release the narratives and assumptions they have about how an organization 鈥渟hould鈥� be. Rather than rely on their traditional decision-making criteria, they鈥檙e taught to 鈥減ay attention to what they鈥檙e paying attention to鈥濃�攊n other words, to examine how they create a particular narrative or mind-set and to explore information that supports a shift in that mind-set.
鈥淭he whole idea,鈥� says Lacey, 鈥渋s to be innovative and agile in their thinking. It involves a lot of self-reflection, self- awareness, and mindfulness.鈥�
By being open to the behaviors and values that are endorsed by an organization and recognizing how they shape it, a new leader creates an opportunity to effect change. Lacey offers the example of a product manufacturer that wants to ensure product quality by having each person involved in the process 鈥渙wn鈥� the quality of his or her work. Because this type of personal accountability is not a part of the organization鈥檚 current culture, the leader will need to shift the group mind-set to one where everyone is in charge of meeting quality standards.
To effect this type of 鈥渢hinking, acting, doing鈥� change, the leader must devise a method and provide training for the new process to occur. But perhaps more importantly, the executive will need to also show his or her commitment to the change, to repeatedly communicate the reason(s) for and importance of the shift, and to personally demonstrate the degree of accountability that they want others to adopt. A new behavior or value will become a part of the culture only when the leader takes it on. Here again, proving oneself a member of the team is crucial for success.
And so, like seeds in the soil, once embedded in their institution鈥檚 culture, new leaders become the impetus for new growth to arise. 鈥淎n organization鈥檚 culture is not mysterious,鈥� says Lacey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a manifestation of its leader鈥檚 personality. But you have to join them before you can lead them.