Synopsis

VLC doubles the probability of successful transformation

Culture is a socially constructed reality, seen in the beliefs and behaviors shared among leaders. Cultural capabilities determine levels of performance. Executives often create complex strategies requiring considerable collaboration and yet, to their peril, discount or ignore the impact of culture on performance.

Leadership culture is the shared body of beliefs and behaviors in an organization about what good leadership is and how it is practiced. The key questions in assessing leadership culture are: How do we determine our shared direction? How do we align our work? How do we create and maintain commitment?

As organizational strategies and challenges become more complex, leadership cultures must evolve to cope. There is a hierarchy of leadership cultures in which each successive stage becomes more capable of dealing with complex challenges.

Leadership cultures can be intentionally transformed through three stages: From conformance, to achievement, to collaboration. The source of transformation resides in the integration of change leadership from the Inside-out and change management from the Outside-in.

Change leadership is the collective learning process that triggers intention, reflection, honest dialogue and public learning. The assets of change reside in the human spirit: beliefs and assumptions, imagination and creativity, emotions and mindsets.

Change management is the art and science of changing operational systems, structures and processes to execute a set of strategies.

Complex organizational strategies require the capabilities of an interdependent leadership culture. Because advancing from earlier cultures requires a leadership strategy to work in concert with the organizational strategies, leadership strategy then is a map for intentionally developing the leadership culture in ways that both support and drive the organization’s strategies forward.