S. Chris Edmonds is a sought-after speaker, author, and executive consultant. He’s the founder and CEO of The Purposeful Culture Group, which he launched in 1990. Chris helps senior leaders build and sustain purposeful, positive, productive work cultures. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Amazon bestsellers Good Comes First (2021) with Mark Babbitt, The Culture Engine (2014), and Leading at a Higher Level (2008) with Ken Blanchard.
Our integrity is maintained with every kept promise. If we live with unrelenting integrity, we might create a trend – in our work team, among our friends, in our neighborhoods – where others embrace unrelenting integrity in their lives. While getting others to embrace unrelenting integrity is beyond our control, if we can move the needle a bit that direction, greater trust, respect, and dignity might occur.
Are you a culture change skeptic? Do you have a hard time seeing how your organization’s work culture affects employee behavior, performance, or enthusiasm – so you tend to think it just doesn’t even exist?
When you are leading others, have you ever considered who are you as a leader? Your leadership point of view can help you stay aligned with your values and build trust and respect between you and your team members.
Every day we face choices about what we should or should not do. We have to consider what tools and techniques enable leaders and their team members to always do the right thing.
There are several insights anyone can gain from an effective, genuine leader. As a genuine leader, you should be bold about your values and about the behaviors you must demonstrate to live your values. Share them. Ask your staff to help you live them. Connect to each of your team members. Learn and support their plans, hopes, and dreams. Let people know you care – and they will care right back. Demonstrate your skills in the workplace and help others build their skills. Be bold about the skills you DON’T have, yet, and ask for coaching from players who do have those skills. Commit time, talent, and treasure to personal and company philanthropy. Share what you have with those less fortunate, not just during the holidays, but all year long.
Bullying causes immense personal grief as well as inhibiting employee work performance and work passion. Even so, it is all too common that bullying is ignored in organizations. Bullying often takes the form of subtle behaviors over time as opposed to bold actions – so, it can be difficult to gauge if a particular boss or employee is bullying.
Often whenever a change is introduced, especially when there is a strong following involved, there is going to be resistance. A recent study revealed that the well-known target of 10,000 steps a day will boost our health is a complete fallacy. Science wasn’t the foundation for that daily target. Lead researcher and Harvard professor I-Min Lee noted, “It likely derives from the trade name of a pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company in Japan called Manpo-kei, which translates to ’10 000 steps meter’ in Japanese.”
Changing daily practices is about creating new habits: clarifying desired practices, evaluating current practices, then closing any gaps. Research says that developing new habits requires demonstration of new behaviors for 21 days – and there’s no time like the present to start!
Are the stories being told within your organization today the kind of stories that clarify your desired culture? Storytelling is one of the most effective and impactful methods for communicating the desired culture of your organization to its members. For centuries, tribes of all kinds have utilized storytelling to support their desired culture. In man’s early history, those stories were told around the campfire each evening, with tribe members going to sleep with a clear image of preferred tribe behaviors, values, and norms in their minds.
During a session with a culture change client, the organization’s president had an epiphany: “For 30 years I thought my job was to manage processes and results. This culture change journey has helped me redefine my job – to manage people’s energy.”