How is culture reinforced in your organization? - SmartBrief

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How is culture reinforced in your organization?

2 min read

Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.

How is culture reinforced in your organization?

  • We micromanage people to drive it: 11%
  • We use principles for people to adhere to: 44%
  • We share stories that reinforce culture: 19%
  • We don’t focus on reinforcing culture: 20%
  • We do something not on this list: 5%

Principles and Stories Win. You can’t be there for every minute of every team member’s day. Micromanaging culture is simply unfeasible. The most effective way to reinforce culture is through the use of behavioral principles. A close second is telling stories. By giving your team members principles they can apply to any situation, you’ll be leading them and reinforcing culture without you having to be present to provide direction. Spend some time thinking through the principles you want them to live by. Tell them stories that reinforce those principles. Long term, their behaviors should fall in line with the culture you desire.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of “Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”