Organizational culture refers to the overall personality of the organization and has to do with the daily activities that make up the company. It is the day-to-day beliefs and behaviors of a leader and his employees. It is essential for every organization that wants to be successful to build a healthy organizational culture. Guess what; it is the leader who is tasked with the responsibility of creating this culture. The culture of an organization will determine how the employees and leaders act and engage with the organization.
Before learning the role of a leader in building organizational culture, let’s look at the four keys that make up culture;
- Purpose
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
A leader needs to have a sense of organizational purpose and also the personal purpose. Sometimes, leaders neglect their purpose, and this, in turn, leads to neglect of the corporate culture.
A leader should have a sense of personal purpose and understand what is guiding their life, influencing their decisions before they will have a greater understanding of purpose in their organization.
Leaders must understand that they have an essential role in shaping the culture and direction of the organizations they lead. After finding out your purpose in the organization, you can understand the mission and vision of the organization, which will now influence the type of values you cultivate.
If you don’t have a mission, you don’t have values; you don’t have a purpose and just don’t have the overall vision of where you are going. Not knowing these things will make your team convoluted and not understand the direction in which they should go.
As a leader, you are meant to lead, and others follow and, if you don’t create a set of values that are beneficial to the company, then the people you are leading won’t have values because it’s not about writing the values of the company out or posting them everywhere, it is about you as the leader constantly portraying those values and going in the direction of the mission, purpose, and vision of the company.
So the role of leaders in organizational culture is to reinforce the organizations’ values by helping people (employees) grow and develop through the simple art of goal setting, opportunities, and recognition. Another essential thing to know is that leaders are the people who cultivate the foundation of culture to empower employees to achieve the company mission and realize the importance of their contributions to further the goals of the company.
The leader is also tasked with the responsibility of practically demonstrating the beliefs and values of the company.
In conclusion, you need to be clear about your purpose; as a leader, you have to share your vision and values. It is not just about writing it out or posting it everywhere; you have to live and breathe it every day so your employees will see it and follow through.
