LeadForward Vol.1 No. 3

Culture

If a team member believes “my boss is a jerk,” that person will behave very differently than someone who believes “my boss is fair and wants the best for me.” If a teenager believes “my parents only want to control my life,” that belief will drive a completely different set of behaviors than the belief “my parents want the best for me.”

The challenging part is that most of those beliefs sit below the surface. I have seen research suggesting that our brains process millions of bits of information each second, yet we are aware of only a tiny fraction of that. I accept the view that around 95 percent of what we do is driven by subconscious beliefs. People pick up a belief from a past boss, a social media post, or a painful experience, and they carry it into every new situation without realizing it. In my view, we cannot change what we cannot see. That is why measurement is so important. For nearly 50 years, scientists such as Dr. Rob Cook and Dr. Clayton Lafferty, and many others, have refined tools that make culture visible. These instruments give us data pictures of how people actually experience their workplace. I like to compare them to an MRI or an X-ray. A doctor does not guess what is happening inside the body. The doctor looks at images that show the truth underneath the skin. In the same way, culture tools reveal what is happening beneath the surface of meetings, staff surveys, and casual conversations. When we look at enough of these profiles, a clear benchmark emerges for what I call an excellent culture. It is not just a “nice” place to work. It is a high-performing environment where four constructive behavioral styles show up again and again. Achievement means people set and accomplish meaningful goals. Self actualization is about continuous improvement and fulfilling one’s potential. Humanistic encouraging behavior shows up as respect, support, and care for others. Affiliative behavior is unity, the sense that “we are in this together” like a playoff team, not a preseason roster where everyone is competing against each other for attention. Excellence in culture is not a slogan. It is a process, a set of skills, and, very practically, a strategy that can be learned and executed.

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