Relationships at Work - The Leadership Guide to Building Workplace Connections and Avoiding Blind Spots.

From Now to Next: Leading Through Cultural Awareness

Russel Lolacher Episode 215

Change is exciting, but it’s also challenging—especially when leaders aim to create a new culture without understanding the one they’ve inherited. In this episode, we explore a story of leadership missteps and their lessons, featuring a tale of two Prime Ministers and the impact of mismatched visions and teams.

We’ll discuss how leaders can bridge the gap between the culture they envision and the reality they face by conducting cultural assessments, developing aligned leadership, and managing change with respect and transparency. Discover the essential steps to navigate the journey from where you are to where you want to be, ensuring your team joins you in building a better future.

Because leadership isn’t just about dreaming big—it’s about understanding the map, the people, and the path to get there. Tune in and lead the way.

And connect with me for more great content!

Welcome back to Relationships At Work – Your guide to building workplace connections and avoiding leadership blindspots..  I’m your host Russel Lolacher

I’m a communications and leadership nerd with a couple of decades of experience and a heap of curiosity on how we can make the workplace better. If you’re a leader trying to understand and improve your impact on work culture and the employee experience, you’re in the right place.

This mini-episode is a quick and valuable bit of information to help your mindset for the week ahead. 

Inspired by our R@W Note Newsletter, I’m passing on to you…  

Chasing Horizons Without Understanding The Road We’re On

I’ve shared this story before but it’s worth repeating. 

I remember going to a presentation on leadership a few years ago where one of the panelists shared a story that well illustrated the importance of understanding culture. 

He spoke of a previous Prime Minister of Australia who had a very specific vision for the future of their country and how it would be accomplished. So to realize this vision, his administration hired “doers”, people were there to ensure the Prime Minister's vision became a reality. They weren't there to question or challenge, but purely to be "YES people" and get the result their boss wanted. That's what they were hired to do. No more, no less. 

Here's the thing, especially in government. Nothing stays the same for long. Especially the people. Fast forward to when there was a change in government. The next incoming Prime Minister was more of a collaborator. They knew the direction they wanted to take the country but they were looking to others on how best to get them there. He was very into innovation and new ways of thinking, wanting creativity and bold ideas. But when he arrived, he was soon very frustrated to find that wasn’t the kind of organization he had inherited. It just wasn't built that way. They were all still those that were there to enable a previous vision. They weren't creative or innovative. That's not what they were hired to be. So the new Prime Minister soon was talking about the ineffectiveness of this government and how he couldn't get anything done.

Which isn’t fair to those that worked there and definitely shows a lack of compassion, adaptability and… leadership from this new Prime Minister. 

I tell this story to highlight a challenge many of us as leaders face. The desire to achieve a new future, new ways of a working… a new culture while also needing to face the reality of whether we actually work with leaders, team members or in a culture that can even achieve that future. 

If this was a metaphor – it’s basically chasing a horizon without understanding the map or means to get there. Does the path go in that direction? Are we with the right people to be successful on this journey? 

To build the workplace culture we want, we must first understand where we stand and what it takes to get there. I’ll see so many leaders talk about the culture they’re trying to build with no understanding that they already have a culture. And they’re contributing to it for good and for bad. 

So how do we as leaders bridge this gap between what we want and what we have? We know leaders need to dream. To think big picture and aspirational. We need to have goals to work towards to improve the ways we work and the health of our organizations. But there are needed steps we need to take to make it achievable.

Here are some first steps:

1.    Conduct a Thorough Cultural Assessment - this is the important piece of understanding where we work. Surveys, feedback, culture audits, and gap analysis work is vital to understanding we we're starting from and how far we need to go.

2.    Engage in Strategic Leadership Development - if we're going to achieve our vision, we need leaders with the skills to get us there. Take that info we’ve learned from the assessment and start training leadership in the necessary areas, then help them model the behaviours that align with our vision. Don't forget to make sure all our leaders are aligned with each other as well. If they aren't, it can actually cause confusion and reduce trust in the path forward. We need to all be travelling together. 

3.    Implement Change Management Strategies – with those leaders that get it, identify them and empower those change champions that not only have bought into the new vision but also have the trust and connection needed with staff. Here’s no surprise… get those communication plans created to articulate the vision, explain the reasons for the change, and outline the benefits. Transparency and consistency are key. Then implement incrementally. Sorry, I know we want to move quickly, but moving too quickly can cause more problems as it'll feel like we don't respect what we heard in the cultural assessment. People don’t necessarily love change. And we want to bring as many people with us as we can. 

Having a destination is essential. But team members need to feel like there's a plan forward that they can trust and believe in that respects the current sitation – successes and challenges. If we don't respect that current situation and what's needed to get to that destination we want, we'll find ourselves alone and wonder why no one joined us.

To truly look to the future we must face the reality of the present. 

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