People are at the heart of an organization's culture

     Leaders MUST understand that people are the most important element of cultural transformation.  People are at the heart of an organization's culture. If you want to change a culture or move it in a different direction, you have to win the hearts and minds of people, especially the right people; ones who recognized that the organization needs to move in a new direction. They could either be the formal leaders of the organization or an informal leader, someone with no formal authority who others naturally follow anyway. If you want to change the culture so that it can move in a new direction, you must lead the formal and informal leaders, to actively support and often lead the change in order for it to succeed. As you prepare to move the organization to a culture that embraces change determine who do you have to engage and bring along to make that new culture successful and sustainable. 

    Effective leaders understand that their every action is viewed and watched by others in great detail to see if the leader is walking the walk or simply providing the talk.  As a leader, physical communication is through actions that are viewed by others and reinforce the desired expectations and behaviors.  Sullivan and Harper (1996) point out that: by sponsoring specific activities and events designed to illustrate and test the new paradigm, a leader encourages similar behavior in others, causing them to look beyond today and participate in creating the new organization. (p. 187)   Without a well-conceived communication process, it is very unlikely that the members and leadership will become committed to and stay committed to the change.  To successfully achieve transformation, it is not enough to preach a new gospel once at the start of the journey leaders must always share knowledge by modeling desired behaviors.

     As a leader, you model the way by exemplifying the desired behaviors day today so others sense your commitment to the transformation and emulate your behaviors.  Leaders must influence and shape employee engagement as the fuel for the organization’s transformation.  Skills for building credibility and influencing for commitment:

• Building credibility
• Communications
• Listening
• Assertiveness
• Conducting meetings
• Effective stress management
• Problem-solving
• Improving creativity