Leading Cultural Change

In an earlier blog, I wrote about courageous conversations. In so many companies in order to have that kind of openness, there needs to be a cultural shift.  As the leader, you really can create an environment where your people can be more direct and won’t have to worry so much about managing egos in the process of sharing information.

If you want authentic conversations to feel less risky here are some things to consider:

• Help your people identify their vision.
• Treat mistakes as the intellectual capital that they are.
• Reserve the right for you and your people to get smarter.
• Don’t ask ‘who’… ask ‘why.’
• Recognize the smallest changes in your people.
• Balance advocacy and inquiry.

Ask yourself, what are you going to do to model the cultural shift that you want to see in your staff?