The Impact of Leadership on Group Culture
Leadership is so important in defining the culture of a group. Although some attempt to deny responsibility, it’s clear that group members follow their leaders’ every decision, word, gesture, and facial expression to figure out which way the wind blows.
Leaders of dysfunctional groups have a limited number of ways to exert their influence. The dysfunction of special interest here is the breakdown in civil conversation among employees.
- Lack of Direction. A laissez-faire leadership style works to create independence in a group, but little else. When the group’s mission requires coordinated effort, weak leadership undermines the group’s capacity to act. When leaders fail to respond to clear signs of incivility or worse in their group’s relationships, the group loses a critical moral compass. Members look to leader responses as providing important information on the group’s norms. A non-reaction communicates that civility and respect are not important values for the group.
- Lack of Commitment. Leaders’ actions that demonstrate low commitment to the group’s mission cause serious damage to the group’s shared values. Group’s pull together, putting aside petty differences in support of a larger, shared mission. Any sign from leader’s that they lack commitment to that goal, removes a critical uniting force for a group.
- Negative Modeling. The most insidious contribution of poor leaders is to model dysfunctional behavior. Poor behavior by leaders has a reverberating quality. It influences the behavior of members far beyond expectation. When employees receive or observe incivility from supervisors, they conclude that it is either time to leave this job or to start acting in the same way. These behaviors include gossiping, snide remarks, scowls, sarcasm, and beyond.
Leadership matters. Group members carefully monitor their environment for leadership cues on relationship and values. A consistent, constructive message requires a disciplined approach.
To build a supportive team with vibrant dialog among its members, leaders have a significant role in setting the agenda:
- Setting and Maintaining Direction
- Living Commitment to Values and Mission
- Modeling Civility and Respect
Which of these presents the greatest challenge to leaders today?
Comments (4)
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written by a guest , January 31, 2010
Dave
Thanks very much for your comment. You know the challenges in changing a culture from your excellent work with CBDHA. Change does come slowly. In my research it's clear that Generation X nurses are more distressed than Boomers and part of the reason is their relationships with leadership.
And you're right: you can't wait for time to pass, you have to take the initiative in establishing new ways of being a leader and being a colleague.
And I wish you every success in directing your management to this site!
All the best,
Michael
written by a guest , January 31, 2010
Dave
Thanks very much for your comment. You know the challenges in changing a culture from your excellent work with CBDHA. Change does come slowly. In my research it's clear that Generation X nurses are more distressed than Boomers and part of the reason is their relationships with leadership.
And you're right: you can't wait for time to pass, you have to take the initiative in establishing new ways of being a leader and being a colleague.
And I wish you every success in directing your management to this site!
All the best,
Michael
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written by David King , January 31, 2010
Hi Michael,
I think that for some modeling civility and respect may be the biggest challenge, and I believe it may be linked to the underlying culture. When I look at how nursing in my area has evolved over the last few generations, I see a profession steeped in hierarchical traditions, that may have viewed the workers as widgets to be moved about and controlled at will. Orders were given from the top, and were to be obeyed—rationales were scarce. This perception may have been compounded given my area’s (Cape Breton) labour relations history (e.g., coal mining run by foreign companies that did not treat the workers well).
I maintain that we are only a few managers’ generations from the nurse managers (Head Nurses, Sisters, etc.) of WWII, who mentored the nurses of the 50’s and early 60’s who mentored many of our current nurse managers.
Leadership styles changed along the way and the higher level approaches, such as servant leaderships (http://www.greenleaf.org/ ) where we focus on meeting the needs of those who work for us above our own, enabling an inherent civility and respect towards people, will be a challenge for managers schooled in the more autocratic models.
I appreciate the posts in your blog, Michael, and although I cannot get in as much as I’d like, I am going to remind Sr leadership about the site.
dave
written by David King , January 31, 2010
Hi Michael,
I think that for some modeling civility and respect may be the biggest challenge, and I believe it may be linked to the underlying culture. When I look at how nursing in my area has evolved over the last few generations, I see a profession steeped in hierarchical traditions, that may have viewed the workers as widgets to be moved about and controlled at will. Orders were given from the top, and were to be obeyed—rationales were scarce. This perception may have been compounded given my area’s (Cape Breton) labour relations history (e.g., coal mining run by foreign companies that did not treat the workers well).
I maintain that we are only a few managers’ generations from the nurse managers (Head Nurses, Sisters, etc.) of WWII, who mentored the nurses of the 50’s and early 60’s who mentored many of our current nurse managers.
Leadership styles changed along the way and the higher level approaches, such as servant leaderships (http://www.greenleaf.org/ ) where we focus on meeting the needs of those who work for us above our own, enabling an inherent civility and respect towards people, will be a challenge for managers schooled in the more autocratic models.
I appreciate the posts in your blog, Michael, and although I cannot get in as much as I’d like, I am going to remind Sr leadership about the site.
dave
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written by a guest , January 28, 2010
Pierre
Thanks for your observation on leaders' roles in maintaining focus. The variety of distractions at work and beyond are so prolific and intense, that buffering can be a real value. A focus on mission can take many forms while promoting a productive fulfilling worklife.
Michael
written by a guest , January 28, 2010
Pierre
Thanks for your observation on leaders' roles in maintaining focus. The variety of distractions at work and beyond are so prolific and intense, that buffering can be a real value. A focus on mission can take many forms while promoting a productive fulfilling worklife.
Michael
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written by a guest , January 27, 2010
Great insights Michael, and nicely put. Knowing I have been entrenched into the productivity topic, and how leaders contribute to the produtivity of their or not, I would like to add a more tactical aspect to this, and say that leaders need to be aware of the impact that interruptions has on their team's accomplishments, and help manage these interruptions instead of creating them. I have also recently written about this at: http://tinyurl.com/ya5p44g
written by a guest , January 27, 2010
Great insights Michael, and nicely put. Knowing I have been entrenched into the productivity topic, and how leaders contribute to the produtivity of their or not, I would like to add a more tactical aspect to this, and say that leaders need to be aware of the impact that interruptions has on their team's accomplishments, and help manage these interruptions instead of creating them. I have also recently written about this at: http://tinyurl.com/ya5p44g
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