How Leaders can Identify and Establish Core Values That Connect

Writing at Desk

If you asked your employees what the organization’s core values are, could they tell you? Most cannot.

This is a problem for leaders since it is impossible to create a healthy corporate culture, which I refer to as a “Connection Culture,” if employees can’t articulate what the organization stands for. Furthermore, the organization’s values should be ones that encourage connection and teamwork, rather than silos and dysfunctional behavior.

The following steps can help leaders to identify and establish core values that are meaningful and encourage connection across the entire organization:

4 Teamwork Lessons from the Iditarod

Iditarod

As seen on Fox Business

Saturday begins the Iditarod, a grueling dog sled race that spans nearly 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Not only is the terrain challenging but wind chill temperatures have fallen to as low as 130 degrees below zero in past races. The winner of the first Iditarod in 1973 took almost three weeks to finish. Today racers can complete the “Super Bowl” of dog sled races in less than 10 days.

Adversity faced by sled dog teams racing in the Iditarod makes the event a stress test for teamwork and the cohesiveness of a team’s culture. Reading about it, I could see parallels between sled dog teams and teams of people in organizations.

San Antonio Spurs’ Culture of Sustainable Superior Performance

Gregg Popovich

Image Source: Flickr Spurs-Magic080

As seen on Fox Business

Earlier this month, Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs basketball team, won his 1000th NBA basketball game, making him the 9th NBA coach in history to achieve this feat. Popovich adds this to a long list of achievements including five NBA titles with the Spurs and three NBA Coach of the Year honors.  This is his 16th season as the Spurs head coach.

How has he been so successful?

Like all great leaders, Popovich creates a culture that produces sustainable superior performance.  Here are four factors that contribute to making the Spurs’ culture a source of competitive advantage.

What Corporate Culture is Best for Change?

FCB Has a Culture Suited for Change

Photo Courtesy of FCB

As seen on Fox Business and SmartBlog on Leadership

Consider this: few of the 500 largest corporations from 50 years ago exist today. They failed to change and became irrelevant, left behind by emerging competitors more in tune with the market.

How is it possible that so many top companies made this same fatal mistake? The answer may lie in a very simple explanation. Humans run corporations, and humans have a biological aversion to change.