Let\u2019s face it; when there are no contentious issues on the table, it\u2019s relatively easy to forge an atmosphere of collegiality and even warmth.<\/p>\n
But when the stakes are high, when issues of vital importance are on the docket, that\u2019s when your culture-building skills are put to the test.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of times in leadership when you can anticipate that the water temperatures will be rising:\u00a0<\/p>\n
In each of these, and a hundred more similar situations, leaders must be able to engage in conversations that are clear, unequivocal, potentially harsh, and yet at the same time, culturally enriching.<\/p>\n
How?<\/p>\n
The most effective leaders maintain the balance between culture-building and truth-telling by rigidly adhering to these 3 principles\u2026<\/p>\n
When there is a contentious issue on the table, it\u2019s entirely appropriate, even necessary, to summon all the passion you have in presenting your case.<\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t confuse\u00a0passion\u00a0with anger.<\/p>\n
If your perspective is being met with opposition, let that fuel your deepest passions, but don\u2019t let it drift into anger. At the same time, monitor the tone of your team. If you\u2019re hearing passion, fan the flame. If you\u2019re hearing unhealthy anger, let things cool down.<\/p>\n
Passion builds up a culture; anger breaks it down.<\/p>\n
You can always tell when an ill-prepared leader is losing their case. If they haven\u2019t lined up their facts they\u2019ll often begin to pepper their talk with clich\u00e9s, worn-out slogans and empty sound-bites.<\/p>\n
These are all culture-killers.<\/p>\n
Instead, do the rigorous preparation that effective leadership requires. Study. Research. Consult. Lay out your case in lawyerly-like precision. In other words, build your case\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0your culture.<\/p>\n And if you hear rhetoric rising from your team, call them on it. Foster fact-based debate.<\/p>\n The ability to debate the most controversial of topics while offering genuine respect to one\u2019s opponent is perhaps the noblest of leadership virtues.<\/p>\n Indeed, our divided culture is crying out for leaders who will restore such nobility to both public debate, as well as to organizational dialogue.<\/p>\n When the team\u2019s disagreement veers away from the problems and towards the people, you need to call a foul. Keep the focus on the problem at hand.<\/p>\n The bottom line; a healthy culture is not one where there is constant agreement. Rather, it\u2019s one where the team has learned to engage in positive, healthy disagreement.<\/p>\n Such cultures do not emerge by chance. They emerge by the skills of effective leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a leader, your role in building a healthy culture is never more crucial than when entering heated waters. Let\u2019s face it; when there are no contentious issues on the table, it\u2019s relatively easy to forge an atmosphere of collegiality and even warmth. But when the stakes are high, when issues of vital importance are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[769,7,744],"tags":[301,984,62],"class_list":["post-8359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","category-leadership","category-team-2","tag-culture","tag-leadership","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8362,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359\/revisions\/8362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}3. Target the problems, not the people<\/h2>\n