26 Facts About Creating A Healthy Organizational Culture

“Culture” is one of the key buzzwords in today’s leadership world.  We all want to lead healthy cultures.  We want to wake up each day and go to work in a healthy culture.  Most leaders do not know how to build healthy cultures but we certainly know the difference between healthy and unhealthy ones when we see it.  In many ways, a healthy culture is today’s leadership Holy Grail.

Michael Lombardi is one of my favorite communicators on the subject of leadership.  Lombardi worked on the staffs of NFL legends Al Davis, Bill Walsh, and Bill Belichick.  While with Belichick and the Cleveland Browns, he also worked with Nick Saban.  His new book, Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL, is a must-read for anyone in organizational leadership. 

To read just some of the lessons he learned from Coach Walsh, read The 17 Principles of Bill Walsh’s Standard of Performance.  You can also check out 11 Reasons Why Bill Belichick Is Such A Great Head Coach which I captured from his podcast.  I highly recommend you read both posts.

Recently, Lombardi took his message to the TedX stage to discuss the subject of culture.  Shown above is 14:23 of pure leadership gold.  The following are 26 Facts About Creating A Healthy Organizational Culture I gleaned from his speech.  First is the lesson followed by Lombadi’s quote.

1. Leaders Who Create Healthy Cultures Are Scarce And Therefore Very Valuable – “Becoming a head coach in the NFL, there’s only 32 teams, is a harder job to get than a United States senator.”
2. Healthy Cultures Are Hard To Create During Constant Transition – “The workforce of the NFL, one-third, gets fired every single year.”
3. Leaders In Healthy Cultures Have A Clear Job Description – “His job as a leader is to establish, drive, and maintain the culture of the organization.”
4. Healthy Cultures Can Be Killed By A Lack Of Focus – “Leaders spend more time focused on the bottom-line, on strategy and tactics, and therefore their leadership is killing culture.”
5. An Organization’s Culture Is Greatly Impacted By The Daily Behaviors Of Its Leaders – “Every day a leader’s behavior impacts the organization.”
6. Leaders Have Clearly Defined Plans In Healthy Cultures – “The Command Of The Room – a leader has to have a plan.  None of us follow anybody without a plan.”
7. Leaders Never Confuse Activity With Accomplishment In Healthy Cultures – “Mission statements are empty promises.  They have no purpose.”
8. Leaders Provide Clarity In Healthy Cultures – “Be fair.  Practice self-control.  Show discipline.  Real simple.  Met with everybody in the organization all the time.” – On Walsh’s plan when coaching the San Francisco 49ers
9. Everybody Is Responsible For And Carries Out The Organization’s Plan In Healthy Cultures – “Everybody here is responsible for the plan.  Everybody must carry out the plan.”
10. In Healthy Cultures Everyone Performs Their Job At The Highest Level Every Single Day – “Your job is to perform your job at the highest level every single day.  That’s command of the room.”
11. In Healthy Cultures What Is Important To The Leader Is Important To Everyone Else – “Those little details – those were so important to him made it important to everyone else.”
12. Healthy Cultures Are Primarily Led By Gifted Communicators – “Command Of The Message – What good is the plan if you can’t talk about the plan?”
13. Healthy Cultures Are Led By Authentic Communicators – “It has to come from your authentic style.”
14. Leaders In Healthy Cultures Are Surrounded With People Who Make Their Thoughts And Ideas Better – “The great Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (seated behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in D.C. for his famous speech), she says, ‘Tell them about the dream Dr. King.”
15. In Healthy Cultures People Can See Themselves In The Vision And More Importantly, Act On It – “They could see it.  They heard it and most importantly, they visualized it and they left Washington to enact it.” – Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech
16. Leaders Are Teachers In Healthy Cultures – “The message is great.  Telling the message, how we do it, is most important.”
17. Healthy Cultures Are Built On The Path Of Most Resistance – “Command Of The Process – Leadership is hard.  Leading people is very hard.  Sometimes you have to make tough decisions and sometimes you have to follow down the path of most resistance.”
18. Leaders Do Not Own The Vision In Healthy Cultures.  The Vision Owns Them. – “Leaders who create culture don’t need the light to find their mission.  They can see it in the darkness.”
19. It Is Tough Leading A Healthy Culture.  Not Everyone Is Built For It. – “It’s hard to ask tough questions.  It’s hard to make tough decisions.  It’s hard to be unpopular.  For the good of the organization you have to do it.”
20. Healthy Cultures Are Defined By Creativity And Curiosity – “Command Of Self – A leader’s job is to drive creativity and curiosity in the organization.”
21. Leaders Still Make Mistakes In Healthy Cultures – “We make mistakes.  We all make mistakes… How we deal with those mistakes are the most important facet.”
22. Leaders Just Do Not Hang Onto Mistakes In Healthy Cultures – “We hang on to mistakes too long.”
23. Healthy Cultures Are Led By Vulnerable Leaders – “When a leader admits mistakes he shows vulnerability.”
24. Healthy Cultures Are Led By The Smartest Leaders – “Smart people learn from their mistakes.  The smartest people learn from others’ mistakes.”
25. Culture Can Be Clearly Defined – “Culture is defined as shared attitudes, objectives, and vision by institutions and organizations.”
26. We Are All Leaders.  Therefore, We Are All Creating A Culture Where We Lead. – “We are all leaders no matter what we do in life.  We lead ourselves and others.”

What is one thing you learned from Lombardi’s Ted Talk which can help you build a healthy culture in your organization?

Once again, if you have not purchased Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL you can do so by clicking HERE or on the image to the left.  If you are an executive leader or coach, I recommend you also purchase copies for all of your staff and assistants.  They will absolutely love this book and get better as leaders!