Talking about culture, it is manmade, it is customised to suit the needs of different people, and it has various forms, for instance, organisational culture, culture in terms of religion and culture in terms of lifestyle. Having said this, why is it so important for us to have a culture in the first place?
We will answer this by quoting a definition of culture by Allen Faulton, ‘culture holds significant importance as it provides us with assumptions about how the world operates, and those assumptions, in turn, steer our behavior and perspective towards everything, aligning ourselves to the way things work’.
As we discussed, culture has varied forms. It is different in one place, and altogether on a different plane in another. Its legacy is carried forward by people who dwell under the umbrella of it.
The definition of culture applies within the premises of an organisation as well. An organisation governs the culture, followed by its employees. However, governing culture and leaving it on the will of its employees to follow or not, only leads to ambiguity, and ambiguity is the root of failure.
Leaders within the organisations, often disguised as managers and department heads should shoulder the responsibility to use culture as an empowering force for inspiring employees to work towards achieving collective success and growth.
Role of a Leader in Shaping Culture in an Organisation
A leader should have the ability to make sure that people have the right intentions and intense conviction. If our mind has conceived something, anything is possible to achieve. A leader can curate a culture where everyone is appreciated, achievements recognised and failures are seen as a collective error, and not as an individual’s flaw. This is the first step towards success.
Leaders are and always have been viewed differently in the eyes of those around them. A leader can expect positive and negative feedback, and that is irrespective of their performance. However, they should bear in mind that this feedback should not impact their fidelity towards their job. As a leader, one should embrace change and strive towards creating a culture where everyone adopts the mantra of continual evolvement and devises strategies that work best for everyone in the team.
A culture where everyone benefits and everyone excels is a culture which translates into the success of the organisation as a whole.
