It is clear that not all leaders have the same impact and it will be essential that you understand what the greats do if you want to be one of them. So what is it that separates the average leaders from the great ones?
One may think it is their ability to communicate or the ability to motivate others, but ultimately, all leaders in the world have some ability to communicate and motivate. Those are important skills, but they're not the ones that build giant organizations.
The real difference between “those who are legendary” is that they know how to create the right culture.
What is culture? It is the identity of a group. Just as individuals have characteristics, abilities and belongings that mark our identity (for example when we say "I am Catholic" or "I am very disciplined), groups have their own elements that allow them to identify themselves. “The English are punctual”, “Muslims pray 5 times a day”, “Mexicans eat chili”… Does that mean that ALL Mexicans eat chili? no, but it is a common characteristic that identifies them as a group.
The wonderful thing about creating the right culture is that it educates new people. When the culture is punctual, new people feel like they have to start showing up on time or they don't belong here. When the culture is that we all use our product, the one who doesn't feel that they have to start doing it or they have to leave. Thus, groups can grow far beyond where the leader is. When you are a leader who only focuses on creating growth strategies, the day you are not there, there will be no strategy, therefore there will be no growth and all your work from the past will collapse. Instead, when you create a culture of growth, you can walk away knowing that the same culture will educate future generations to continue to grow.
Strategies have a short life span, while culture is the organization's way of life. If you want to ensure that your team lives many years and grows healthily, make sure you are clear about these answers:
What is your culture regarding the product?
What is your culture regarding teamwork?
What is your culture regarding professionalism?
What is your culture regarding ethics and consistency?
What is your culture regarding work and progress?
What is your culture regarding personal development?
If you're not clear on any of these answers, it means your team is misaligned and doesn't have a unified culture. That's not a problem, you can start to align the team, but first you must be clear about what you want the culture to be. Once you have it clear, educate him, re-educate him, over-educate him and of course, be the first 100% congruent person with the aequo you expect from others. Over time, your work will inspire the rest until those elements that are important to you become the normality of the group. If, for example, your goal is for your team to be on time, you may initially be the only person to arrive on time for an event. Then you will inspire another 2 and then another 20 until one day, punctuality is normal and everyone looks ugly at the one who is late. That day you will have won the game and you will know that the team will continue to comply with the promised schedule even if you are no longer in the room.
Tell me, what culture would you like to change in your team? I read you in the comments.
