23 Habits Of Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture

The most important job of any leader is the ability to create a healthy staff and workplace culture.  It is not to hit goals or make a profit or cast vision or develop young talent.  All of those items are important but each only happens in the context of your organizational culture.  Your culture is what determines sustainable success.

I am currently reading Alex Speier’s excellent book Homegrown: How The Red Sox Built A Champion From The Ground Up.  The Boston Globe reporter does a wonderful job chronicling the critical decisions made over a decade which ultimately built a championship team.  You can order a copy by clicking HERE or on the image provided.

This book made me reflect on an October 29, 2018 ESPN article written immediately after their World Series championship by Tim Keown.  Keown profiled Red Sox manager Alex Cora and the impact he made on the team’s culture.  I felt the insights were so important I want to share them with you.

The following are 23 Habits Of Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture I gleaned from Keown’s article on Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora:

1. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Want Their Team To Feel Like A Family – Cora wanted his team to feel like his actual family as modeled by his parents.
2. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Value Diversity And Inclusion – Cora built a culture with tolerance, diversity and inclusion as core values.
3. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Absorb New Members – Baseball is a transitory game.  For the Red Sox to have a healthy culture, it needed to demonstrate its ability to easily incorporate new players.
4. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Are Humble – Cora gets this quality from his aforementioned parents.
5. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Make Good Decisions – Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi said of Cora, “Everything he did worked.”
6. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Give People Hope – Eovaldi continued, “He just has a way of making you believe.”
7. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Remove Silos – Five starters performed in relief roles during the World Series.
8. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Get The Most Out Of Every Person – Two pinch hitters, Eduardo Nunez and Mitch Moreland, hit critical home runs at key moments during the Series.
9. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Put People In Position To Succeed – Rafael Devers was struggling during Game 3.  Cora sat him at the start of Game 4 saying, “For the first time, we saw the game speed up for him.” However, Cora had him pinch hit in a tie game in the ninth inning.  In response to Cora’s confidence in him, Devers delievered the game-winning hit.
10. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Give All The Credit To The Team – Cora was asked if a manager can get hot.  He replied,  “Nah.  It’s the players. They make a manager look good.”
11. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Make Things Look Easier Than They Are – Cora admitted, “It wasn’t as easy as it looked.”
12. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Embrace High Expectations – Cora said, “One hundred and eight (regular season) wins, and we knew it wasn’t enough for where we play.  We knew we would be judged by our postseason.”
13. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Have Excellent People Skills – They relate well to others.
14. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Solve Problems – Particularly with how high-capacity people interact with others.
15. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Make Sure The Organization’s Core Values Are Lived Out Every Day – In fact, they are the embodiment of those values and model them.
16. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Are The Spokesperson For The Organization – They can effectively communicate its mission and vision.
17. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Have Soothing, Not Explosive, Personalities – When asked if he yells at the players, Cora said, “No, I don’t.  I talk to them.  If I have something to tell them, I just sit with them.  Casual, very casual.  I try to have good conversations.”
18. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture See The Big Picture – There is more to them than just their job.  After Hurricane Maria, Cora relentlessly advocated for his home country.  In fact, he just had one demand in his contract negotiations – the Red Sox would charter a plane and send relief supplies to his hometown of Caguas.
19. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Honor The Past – Cora never misses an opportunity to credit his mentor Sandy Alomar Sr. for his success.
20. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Are Continual Learners – Alomar told a young Cora, “The game will always tell you something.  You just have to pay attention.”
21. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Know How Their Employees Respond To Criticism – Feedback is like an elevator.  Depending on how you do it and who you do it with, it will either take them up.  Or conversely, it will take them down.  In a healthy culture, it should always take people up.
22. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Know Who Sacrifices For The Good Of The Team – They honor team-first members and remove me-first members.
23. Leaders Who Create A Healthy Staff and Workplace Culture Know How To Deal With Failure – We all fail.  It is how you handle it that determines the ongoing health of your organizational culture.

What is one thing you learned from Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora which will make you a better leader?

My book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is available for purchase.  If you have ever wanted to become the leader God created you to be, this book is for you!  By combining leadership lessons from biblical heroes like Jesus, Daniel and Joseph, along with modern day leaders like Bill Gates, Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant and multiple pastors, Timeless will equip and inspire you.  This book is not to be read alone.  Discussion questions are included in each chapter allowing you to develop those in your circle of influence.  Click HERE or on the image provided and order your copies TODAY.