Though I frequently talk about the importance of being inclusive as a leader, there are some aspects of being a leader that are better mandated.  Establishing the culture of your organization is one of those aspects.  Actually, that is not entirely true, but to a large degree it is.  First, let me address the NOT ENTIRELY TRUE  part since that is a shorter discussion. 

Establishing a culture does require involving the key leaders of your organization because the culture of the organization must be something that they also believe in.   Including them in determining those aspects earns their buy-in.  In addition, you must have an effective process to get to that point so that you do not develop a list of values for your organization that does not truly reflect the beliefs and values of your leadership team.  Okay…done with that part.

If you do not build a culture in your organization one will emerge anyway, and it will likely NOT be the one you want. 

However, the core of the culture of your organization must be yours as the leader.  There are some elements of that culture that must meet your own standards regardless of what anyone else thinks.  It is your obligation to yourself and it is your responsibility to your organization to spell out who you are and what you fundamentally require of everyone in your organization.  If the culture is not something that you TOTALLY buy into as THE leader, then you WILL NOT adequately lead that business, because IT WILL NOT BE SOMETHING THAT YOU BELIEVE IN.  Inevitably you will bend on those values at some point and your credibility, as well as that of your organization culture, will be damaged.

As a result, when you assume a leadership position you must be very clear on exactly what those minimums are for you…they are non-negotiable.  You must make them clear to everyone.  You must be unwilling to accept anything less than those non-negotiables.  Be very careful how you choose them. 

For me there is only one non-negotiable…Teamwork.  Anything that violates that principle and you’re gone.  Of course, there are many elements that make up that value to me.  They include:

• integrity
• honesty
• support for others
• taking personal responsibility
• respect for others

Understand, you do not need to be the CEO to build a culture.  If you manage a department you can, and should, build a culture for your department.  If you are a first-line supervisor you should do the same.  However, in any position other then the CEO you should be mindful to build your “departmental” culture within the context of the larger culture of the organization so that there is not a conflict between the two.  Your next question might be, what if the larger organization culture is not something I agree with?  If that is the case then you may need to have some discussions about the existing organization culture and how to change it, or you may need to find another organization in which you find a better fit with your own values.

Finally, one might say, why bother building a culture if it can be so fragile and cause such damage if it breaks?  The answer is that if you dont build a culture in your organization, one will emerge anyway.  Left to its own devises that culture will NOT be what you, as the leader, value and what you think will be the most effective to get you to your organization’s goals.  Your task will then become changing that culture, and that is more difficult than building one correctly in the first place.