3 Ways Strong Leadership Will Create A Culture of Excellence In Your Organization

For years now we have heard company managers and execs talk about the loss of work ethic, team work and loyalty in their companies. A lack of pride in coming to work and a lack of culture at the work place. People just checking in to check out again. All these issues are real problems for any organization. So, how do we overcome this?

Let’s talk about creating a culture of excellence, what does that look like? A culture of excellence will look different from organization to organization, but the principles will be very similar. The common principles will be team cohesion, understanding and striving towards the vision, and accountability in everyone.  A culture of excellence can only be achieved if it is realized from the very bottom to the very top of the organization. How do we achieve a culture of excellence? Strong leadership.
 
A culture of strong leadership = a culture of excellence. Here’s why:

1)            Strong Leadership will Generate Strong Team Cohesion – Strong leaders will employ their whole team, and employ them effectively. They are good delegators who can effectively break the pie of work up and give the right pieces to the right individuals. They will ensure everyone understands the importance they play in the bigger picture. They will play to their people’s strengths and help develop their short comings. Strong leaders understand human dynamics and are good at mediating conflicts in a way that will be, as best as possible, a win – win for parties involved – but will always be fair.  Strong leaders develop leadership in their people, which is another way of saying they develop people. Strong leaders will ensure their team will achieve its goals; winning is a catalyst for winning.
 
2)            Strong Leadership will Keep Everyone Focused on the Vision – The vision of the organization is what pulls the organization. Without a clearly communicated vision, chaos will ensue. A strong vision and everyone’s buy into the vision will help the organization weather many storms. Strong leaders are effective communicators and motivators. They understand the greater vision and direction of the organization and do their best to help communicate these to their team. When the whole team understands and buys into the vision, the pathway to initiative and ingenuity at the individual level will emerge.
 
3)            Strong Leadership will Develop Accountability in Everyone – Strong leaders lead by example. They can demand excellence from their team because they demand the same from themselves. Accountability is a leadership trait that does not require any followers, it is purely intrinsic and should be fostered in every individual in the organization.  Strong leaders will see to this. A team with a strong sense of accountability instilled in every individual is a team that does not need to be watched over as much, does not need to be pushed a much, and will create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect along the whole chain of command. Accountability is the difference between saying it will get done and actually getting it done. Strong leadership is the only way to grow this.

Strong Leadership does not magically appear. Many organizations understand this and are trying various ways to make strong leaders and develop that culture of excellence. Some do it with ‘team building’, some with retreats and some with social events. These are all great ways to start the ball rolling and are usually pretty fun, but normally, are short lived. We would like to suggest a more direct and sustained approach, leadership training. For everyone. Now let us clarify, we are not talking about teaching leadership, we are talking about training. Training is continuous, practical and will actually change the dynamic of a person. High performers do not just learn how to do things, they train on them.  Strong leadership is based on principles and is developed through practice. Knowledge alone will not do the trick. We at Leader School understand this, we understand how to develop, train and grow Leaders. And we want to do this with everyone, from the bottom to the top: A Culture of Strong Leadership = A Culture of Excellence.
 
Biren Bandara
CEO and Founder
Leaders School
www.leaderschool.ca