The Leader-Culture Connection Part 4

Stagnant Cultures are characterized as follows:


• The leadership team sees staff members as production units, not people. The staff members are valuable when-and only when-they produce. All praise is based on performance, very little if any on character.

• Staff members tolerate their leaders, but they don't trust or respect them. They still do their work, but only the most ambitious invest themselves in the success of the organization.

• The only heroes are the top executives, and the employees suspect that the top leaders are making a bundle, or at least receiving lots of accolades, at their expense. The employees resent this.

• Without trust, respect, and loyalty, people feel compelled to defend their turf, hang on to power, and limit communication. In this atmosphere, relatively small problems quickly escalate.

• Complaining becomes the staff members pastime. Things aren’t quite bad enough to prompt open rebellion, but a few disgruntled people are thinking about it!

• The leadership team isn't happy with the lack of enthusiasm and declining productivity, so they treat staff as if they were wayward teenagers. They try anything to control them: anger, leading, threats, rewards, ignoring them, micromanaging them. But nothing works.

• With only a few exceptions, people become clock-watchers and check-cashers, caring little for the leader's vision. The whole organization lives in the status quo of lethargy.

• To correct the problem, the leaders may send people to seminars or hire consultants, but the top people aren’t willing to take responsibility and make significant changes. It's always somebody else's fault.

• These organizations usually attract people with low expectations and low motivation, but they may attract a few who believe their personal mission is to bring life to the organization. These individuals usually give up after a few months.

Source: Chand, S. (2011) Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.