Growing a Thriving Garden of Team Culture
Culture refers to the unspoken, yet palpable climate of a team. It is social energy, the team’s personality, and the air of expectation within a group. For better or worse, your team has a culture. The question is whether it is the intended one that you want to exist.
A good culture lets members know what is expected of them in situations, which diminishes the need for additional formal instruction and control systems. When people have the opportunity to manage their own activities within the context of an intentionally built culture, they have a strong sense of obligation to themselves, to their team, and to the entire organization. The common trait of successful leaders is their ability to develop a positive team environment where “what is good and right” is understood and pursued.
How do leaders create culture?
They shape the environment by the attitudes they project, the stories they tell, the statements they make, and the heroes they elevate.
Individuality in Culture
Nurturing the culture you desire begins with recognizing that a staff member is not your clone, but an individual who chooses to embody the team's vision. Pastor Hardy Clemens observed, “The entertainment world has room for a [primary] star supported by a cast of backups, but I do not think this is the biblical model. I do not want to see my colleagues as ‘my staff’ who assist me as I carry on ‘my ministry’ in ‘my church.’ The church does not prosper as much if they are echoes or extensions of me and my approach… My job as leader is to facilitate the harmony of a team working together for God so that each staffer becomes a faithful, effective pastor in his or her own right.”
Do your team members exhibit the culture you expect? We first acknowledge that their lives will demonstrate it in unique ways because each person is an individual. As many garden plants receive the same water, sunlight, and support from the same good soil, yet produce different fruits, you create a cultural environment that enables diverse fruitfulness. It begins with you demonstrating cultural expectations and allowing individual expressions to bear fruit.
Freedom to Risk
A firm culture prevents a vision from toppling. You as the Coach build culture amidst your team interactions – on the practice court – while giving your team freedom to express it. “The only way to translate vision and alignment into people’s day-to-day behavior is by grounding lofty concepts in the company’s day-to-day environment,” Naisbitt and Aburdene wrote.
When UCLA basketball coach John Wooden introduced the fast break into college basketball, his team committed the highest number of turnovers and fouls in memory. But Wooden knew mistakes were part of learning, and that every opportunity for failure was equally an opportunity for success. Wooden’s teams went on to perfect the fast-break offense used today by nearly every team in the nation. His team won ten national college championships in twelve years.
Consider carefully how you’re creating culture. Is it the kind you really want to exist?
What is your vision and has your team caught it?
Have you established company values? How would your team know and embody them?
Do you use feedback and evaluation to keep cultural standards high?
What is the current culture of your team? Does your environment allow each member the freedom to risk, succeed, and fail?