A common concern of new CEO’s is how to create a positive organization culture. In simple terms, culture is the personality of the organization – and if you’re the CEO you want to be leading a confident star, not a disorganized slob.

To develop their star, most organizations resort to gimmicks. We’ve all seen them: lunch and learns, staff BBQ’s, movie nights, theme parties, etc. I’ve even seen company’s define their culture in writing: “XYZ Company will be a high performing organization that is concerned about it customers, people and the environment.”

There’s nothing wrong with any of these – except that they’re useless in the absence of leadership by the CEO. That’s right, when it comes to culture, the CEO is either the hero or the bum – culture starts at the top and flows down through the organization like water. CEO’s concerned about the organization’s culture need only look at themselves for fixes.

Picture this #1: 2 year old technology company with leading edge software and a huge market opportunity. CEO/owner. Flush with cash from outside investors. He shows up for work every morning at 9:00. He’s usually gone by 4:30. A control freak, he’s never met an e-mail question or major decision that he didn’t have the answer for. He spends most of the day in the office with the co-owner, or on the phone. Door closed. Weekly management meetings are used to harangue staff on performance. He has serious trouble making decisions and that leads his staff do lots of firefighting. Cognizant of culture, he agreed to let a group of unhappy employees define the statement on culture (above). It’s posted over reception. Every 2nd Friday he invites the staff out to local bar to relieve stress. So what’s the CEO’s picture of the organization’s culture? He’d really like to see more performance and is concerned that maybe the Friday beer nights aren’t working. What’s reality? This organization is a few investor dollars away from serious trouble.

Picture this #2. 2 year old technology company with leading edge software and a huge market opportunity. Self-funded. The CEO is experienced. There’s a tight strategic plan for the company. Everyone’s roles are well defined. During the day the CEO spends a lot of time walking the organization coaching employees and helping them with problems. She maintains an open door policy. Recognizing the company’s early stage, she’s clear that product development, sales and cash are THE priorities. Each week she spends an hour with the development, finance and sales teams assessing progress and tweaking execution. Seven days of every month are spent on the road meeting with customers and prospects. Every month or so, she brings in some beer on Friday after work and those that want to stay can. Everyone does. What’s this CEO’s picture of culture? She hasn’t really thought about it but is comfortable that the organization is making great progress against its goals for the year. What’s reality? This organization has a strong, performance-based culture and a great shot at success.

If you’ve been around awhile, you’ve experienced or witnessed companies like these.

In the work I do, I work hard to focus leaders on causes, not symptoms. From my perspective, there is only one cause for most of the problems that ail organizations – poor leadership.

Unproductive culture is merely a symptom of poor leadership.

So is high turnover, ineffective teamwork, disappointing results, and much more.

Tons has been written about leadership. I like to keep things simple. Here are my observations on what makes strong leaders:

    * Smart
    * Secure
    * Walk the talk

Too simple? Let’s see…

Smart people know what they know and they know what they don’t know. Secure people get help with what they don’t know and focus on what they know. And those who walk the talk enable others to picture how it’s done while setting the bar on performance.

Simple? Only on the surface.

Effective? All the way to the roots of the organization.

Here are the barriers I see getting in the way of strong leadership.

   1. Ego. Being the smartest and having to make every major decision for the organization is a killer. The people that will follow you will be insecure affection-seekers who are afraid of risk… and your wrath.

   2. Lack of business experience. Fortune Magazine is a great magazine. However, reading Fortune should never be mixed up with understanding what makes a business tick.

   3. Not strategic. Execution and strategy are different beasts. Without strategy, execution is a waste of time and resources.

   4. Not financial. Business is all about performance. Performance is all about #’s – including sales, margins, profits, ROI, cash, etc. Ignoring the finances is a GUARANTEED recipe for disaster.

   5. Not a people-person. Leaders need to be comfortable around people. All types of people. Not just geeks. Not just financial wizards. Not just sales people. Leading means getting to everyone on their own terms. People who aren’t people-people can’t do that.

So what’s the bottom line? Let me ask you this: are you concerned about your organization’s culture? Then it’s time for a personal assessment. Chances are it’s you, not the organization that needs tweaking.

In 1983 Jim started his consulting career with CMA Consulting. However, what goes around comes around, and as a consultant, Jim has found himself leading several companies on a consulting basis. Currently that includes a small, fast growing software company that is harnessing the web to create a significant revolution in processing of P&C insurance claims.

Through Boardroom Metrics Jim offers CEO Coaching and Management Consulting to both public and private companies. He provides significant insight on management, governance and technology issues faced by executive management.

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