Send to KindleMuch has been written about culture in an organization and that culture is certainly an important thing for a leader to study. In both my personal experience and study of leadership, I’ve discovered that there is another culture in an organization that deserves a leader’s attention. This culture is probably not clearly defined and there won’t be signs hanging on the wall about it, but it can severely impact how an organization functions and whether it flourishes or remains stagnant.
What is this culture? The leadership culture. This leadership culture may be a subset of the organizational culture as a whole, or it may even be completely different, which tends to lead to very dysfunctional organizations. I define leadership culture as the way leaders and groups interact within the organizational hierarchy. Within the organization’s overall culture, the leadership culture can change from one level to another. In fact several types of leadership culture can exist, usually adhering to the overall organizational culture as defined by the senior leader or perhaps by tradition built over a span of years. I say usually because sometimes, the leadership culture can seem to be the polar opposite of the organization’s stated culture.
Study of the leadership culture, as a vital yet separate part of the organization’s culture as a whole, is critical for two primary reasons. First, strategic planning should be done by a leadership team and that team, and especially its leader, must recognize what leadership cultures exist within the organization and how to react to them. When creating a strategic plan for the organization, it’s essential for the leader to consider the existing leadership culture (or cultures). It’s also critical for the leader to be completely honest in his or her evaluation. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, or even painful, but it must be dealt with to achieve success.
Additionally, the leadership culture has a significant impact on the development of future leaders. A company may have developed a successful culture of quality service or constant improvement, yet if up and coming leaders are stuck in a leadership culture that doesn’t encourage development, the organization will suffer as a whole. This is where a leader must be careful to understand the leadership culture of subordinate groups. While a clear connection between organizational culture and performance is difficult, I’ve found there is a definite link between leadership culture and the organization’s development of leaders.
I’ll cover each culture type in future articles. For now, let’s start with the Lockstep Culture.
The Lockstep Culture
In this organization, everything runs on a bureaucratic model. Leadership is very formal with a strict chain of command. There is usually very little interaction between the higher and lower levels of the hierarchy. Communication flows downward in the organization, but sometimes the reverse is difficult. The military is an example of this type of culture and it is more prevalent in older companies. Depending on the size of this organization, there may be one or more subcultures; however, everyone will usually defer to senior leaders. The Lockstep culture is not necessarily a bad model. In very large organizations it can be a natural development. But, its success or failure though largely depends on what subcultures develop in the various parts of the organization.
Effects On Leadership Development
This leadership culture can be very conducive to developing leaders. The downside is that to be successful, emerging leaders usually must conform to the style of the organization without much deviation. I’ve observed that emerging leaders who can master the difficult upward communication in this type of organization usually prove to be more successful.
Effects On Strategic Planning
In the Lockstep culture, strategic planning is made easier when the senior leader supports the process, and very difficult if he or she doesn’t. Once created, the plan will be accepted because the boss said so, but enthusiasm for the plan may be a completely different story. Since it may appear to be just another top-down direction, the new plan may not be embraced by the larger organization. Proper communication of the plan is critical and the senior leader must involve lower levels in implementation.
Another issue with the Lockstep culture is within the leadership team itself. Because of the strict and hierarchical nature of this culture, the team’s leader must work hard during the planning process to encourage honest contribution by team members.
In the next post, I’ll discuss the Anything Goes and The Boss is God cultures.
This post is taken from the mini-book Leadership Culture and Its Effect on Strategic Planning and Leadership Development. Learn more at http://www.planleadexcel.com/Products/copypreptolead.html.
