How Leaders Create Culture—Whether They Mean To or Not

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Walk into an organization you have never visited before and stay long enough, and you will begin to feel it. You may not know its policies. You may never have seen its organizational chart. You may not know what is written in its employee handbook or displayed on the conference-room walls. But you will begin to know its culture.

You will notice whether people laugh. You will notice whether they speak freely when the leader enters the room—or become strangely quiet. You will notice whether mistakes are admitted or hidden. Whether people help one another or protect their territory. Whether meetings begin on time. Whether commitments mean something. Whether poor performance is addressed. Whether disagreement is welcomed, tolerated, punished, or simply driven underground.

You will notice who gets listened to. You will notice who gets away with things. You will notice what happens when someone tells the truth.

And if you stay long enough, you will begin to discover something else. The organization may have beautifully written values hanging on the wall. But the people will be living by another set entirely.

That second set is the one that matters.

Culture is not primarily what an organization says it values. Culture is what an organization repeatedly demonstrates that it values.

And leaders have far more to do with creating it than they sometimes realize.

Culture Is Being Built Every Day

Culture is the accumulated result of what leaders model, tolerate, reward, celebrate, correct, ignore, and repeatedly permit. Every one of those actions teaches. So does every failure to act.

If a leader says integrity matters but overlooks dishonesty from a high performer, the organization learns something. If he says people matter but routinely sacrifices his staff and their families because he refuses to plan, the organization learns something. If he says excellence matters but continually accepts sloppy work, the organization learns something.

If he says teamwork matters but rewards individual achievement at the expense of everyone else, the organization learns something. If he says communication matters but punishes people who bring him bad news, the organization learns something. And if he says character matters but repeatedly excuses destructive behavior because someone is talented, productive, influential, or difficult to replace, the organization learns that too.

Every repeated exception eventually becomes an unwritten policy.

That is how culture forms. It does not require a strategic planning meeting. It does not require a consultant. It does not require a new mission statement. It requires only repetition.

What happens once may be an exception. What happens repeatedly becomes an expectation. What becomes expected eventually becomes cultural.

That is why one of the most important truths a leader can understand is this:

What leaders permit repeatedly, they eventually establish culturally.

You Are Teaching Even When You Are Not Teaching

Jesus said:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” ~ Luke 6:40 BSB

That principle reaches far beyond formal teaching. People learn from what leaders do.

Peter instructed elders not to dominate those entrusted to them, but to lead by example:

“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, watching over them—not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed for money, but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” ~ 1 Peter 5:2–3 BSB

Being examples.

Leadership is inherently instructional. The leader who remains calm during a crisis teaches something. The leader who admits, “I was wrong,” teaches something. The leader who keeps his word teaches something. The leader who refuses to gossip teaches something.

The leader who listens carefully to someone several organizational levels below him teaches something. The leader who protects a struggling employee while still holding him accountable teaches something. And the leader who humiliates someone in a meeting teaches something too.

You are always teaching people what leadership looks like. Eventually, people begin reproducing what they have repeatedly experienced.

Culture is leadership multiplied.

Before You Change a Culture, Learn It

There is another side of cultural leadership that ambitious leaders sometimes miss. You may have been hired to lead the organization. That does not mean your first responsibility is to remake it in your image.

One of the easiest mistakes a new leader can make is to walk into an established organization, immediately notice everything he would do differently, and begin changing it. But different is not necessarily dysfunctional.

Before you change a culture, you need to understand it.

A new leader sees the expression of a culture long before he understands its cause. What looks like unnecessary caution may have developed under a previous leader who punished initiative. What looks like avoidance may be the residue of years in which disagreement carried a price. A cumbersome procedure may seem ridiculous until you discover the failure that caused it to be created. A tradition that appears meaningless to you may represent the season when people sacrificed greatly to keep the organization alive.

Culture has a history, and wise leaders study that history before they begin dismantling its results. Observe the culture. Experience it. Ask about it. Test it. Learn not only what people do, but why they do it. Then preserve what is healthy, repair what is unhealthy, and change what genuinely needs to change.

You may possess the authority to change the organization on your first day, but authority does not mean you yet possess the understanding—or the trust—to do it wisely.

Learn its history. Learn its people. Learn its stories. Learn what has been tried before. Learn why certain traditions matter. Learn where the scars are. Learn which practices appear strange from the outside but serve an important purpose on the inside.

Learn which people carry influence that no organizational chart will ever show you. Learn what people are proud of. Learn what they are afraid of losing. And perhaps most importantly, learn why the culture became what it is.

You inherited a culture you did not create, carried by people whose history you did not live. Honor both before deciding what needs to change.

There may be things that absolutely need to change. There may be dysfunction, fear, dishonesty, avoidance, poor accountability, favoritism, incompetence, or behavior that has been tolerated far too long.

Those things should not be protected simply because someone calls them “our culture.”

History deserves understanding. Dysfunction does not deserve preservation.

But wisdom asks you to know the difference before reaching for the hammer.

You Are Already Changing It

Here is the paradox. While the new leader is learning the culture, he is already affecting it.

People are watching him. What does he praise? What irritates him? Whom does he spend time with? Does he listen? Does he keep confidences? What happens when somebody disagrees with him? What happens when somebody fails?

Does he ask questions before reaching conclusions? Does he treat the receptionist with the same dignity he gives the board chairman? Does he change his standards depending upon who violated them? Does he keep his promises? Does he arrive prepared? Does he accept responsibility? Does he laugh? Does he care? Does he know his people?

The leader may think he is still observing the organization. The organization is observing him.

You do not get a culturally neutral first ninety days.

You may postpone major changes while you listen and learn—and often you should—but you cannot postpone your influence. Your character arrived on your first day.

Don’t Remodel the Organization Around Your Personality

Personality makes this even more interesting.

[We use The DISC Model of Human Behavior when talking about personality. It is a simple way of understanding the four primary patterns of personality: Dominant, Inspiring, Supportive, and Conscientious (spelling DISC). It considers a person’s Pace—whether Outgoing or Reserved—and Compass—whether primarily Task-oriented or People-oriented—to help explain how people naturally communicate, make decisions, approach work, and respond to others. Most people display a blend of all four patterns, with one or two usually appearing more strongly. DISC describes observable tendencies, not ability, maturity, or character, and it helps us understand how someone may naturally behave, but never excuses how anyone chooses to behave.]

Every personality entering an organization will naturally notice different things. A Dominant leader may immediately see inefficiency, slow decisions, unnecessary procedures, or a lack of urgency. His instinct may be: Let’s fix this and move.

An Inspiring leader may notice low energy, weak communication, relational distance, or a lack of enthusiasm. His instinct may be: Let’s get people connected and excited again.

A Supportive leader may notice instability, relational tension, inconsistency, or people who feel overlooked. His instinct may be: Let’s slow this down and take care of the people.

A Conscientious leader may notice inadequate systems, inconsistent standards, poor documentation, or work that simply is not accurate enough. His instinct may be: Let’s get this organized and do it correctly.

Any one of them may be right. And any one of them may be wrong.

The danger comes when a leader assumes: “What makes sense to me must be what is best for the organization.”

It isn’t necessarily.

One of the easiest mistakes a new leader can make is remodeling the organization around his personality and calling it cultural improvement.

Your personality is an instrument of your leadership. It is not the definition of healthy culture.

Healthy Culture Does Not Mean Everyone Is Happy

This is where cultural leadership becomes difficult. Somebody is going to push against the culture. Even a healthy one.

Create accountability, and someone who benefited from its absence will call the culture harsh. Create clear standards, and someone accustomed to doing things his own way may call the culture rigid. Encourage candid disagreement, and someone who equates peace with the absence of conflict may say the culture has become contentious.

Expect people to keep commitments, and someone who has lived comfortably among excuses may call the culture unforgiving. Create genuine teamwork, and someone protecting personal territory may complain about interference.

That does not automatically mean the culture is wrong.

A healthy culture is not one in which everyone gets what he wants. It is one in which people understand what is expected, why it matters, how they are responsible, and how they should treat one another while pursuing it.

Patrick Lencioni identifies “fear of conflict” as one of the five fundamental dysfunctions of a team, warning that the desire to preserve “artificial harmony” can suppress the productive conflict healthy teams need.¹

That distinction matters. Peace is not pretending disagreement does not exist. Trust is not everyone agreeing. Unity is not uniformity.

A healthy organization can have vigorous disagreement and still possess deep relational trust. In fact, sometimes disagreement is evidence of trust. People speak because they believe they are allowed to tell the truth.

What You Reward, You Reproduce

Leaders frequently underestimate the cultural power of recognition. What gets celebrated gets noticed. And what gets noticed gets repeated.

If the only people publicly celebrated are the highest producers, people learn that results matter more than how those results were achieved. If leaders celebrate the employee who worked all night to rescue a project but never address the poor planning that made the all-nighter necessary, they may accidentally create a culture that glorifies crisis.

If the loudest voice consistently receives the most attention, people learn that influence belongs to volume. If faithful, quiet, consistent people are never noticed, the organization learns something about that too.

John Maxwell describes organizational culture as a way of life cultivated over time through behavior, symbols, and systems—outward expressions of what an organization actually values.²

That means culture cannot merely be announced. It has to be reinforced.

If you want a culture of integrity, celebrate integrity when it costs someone something.

If you want a culture of service, honor the person who served when nobody was watching. If you want a culture of responsibility, recognize the employee who says, “That was mine. I missed it. Here is how I am fixing it.”

If you want a culture of growth, celebrate someone who changed after receiving difficult feedback. If you want a culture of teamwork, stop rewarding people who achieve impressive individual results while leaving relational wreckage behind them.

Be careful what you applaud.

Applause is cultural fertilizer.

Whatever you continually water is likely to grow.

What You Ignore Grows Too

Culture is not created only by what leaders actively encourage. It is also created by what they repeatedly refuse to confront.

One chronically disrespectful employee can teach an entire organization that respect is optional. One leader who continually misses deadlines without consequence can teach everyone that deadlines are suggestions. One person allowed to gossip freely can make trust dangerous.

One high performer whose character problems are continually excused can redefine the organization’s actual values.

This is why cultural problems eventually become stewardship problems. People have been entrusted to you. Their time has been entrusted to you. Their work has been entrusted to you. Their development has been entrusted to you. And to some degree, the environment in which they spend an enormous portion of their waking lives has been entrusted to you.

Scripture says:

“When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” ~ Proverbs 29:2 BSB

Leadership affects the lives beneath it.

People should not have to spend forty, fifty, or sixty hours every week surviving a culture that leaders had the authority to address but lacked the courage to confront.

Leadership is faithful stewardship applied to people.

Culture is one of the places where that stewardship becomes visible.

Some Culture Problems Are Skill Problems. Others Are Will Problems.

Not every unhealthy behavior is rebellion. Sometimes people simply do not know. They were never trained. Expectations were unclear. Systems are poor. Responsibilities overlap. Communication broke down. The person has never been taught another way.

Those are often Skill problems, and good leaders teach, clarify, coach, equip, and follow up.

But other problems are Will problems. The person knows the expectation and repeatedly refuses it. He understands the standard and disregards it. She has been coached and continues the behavior. Someone has been given clarity, resources, opportunity, and accountability—and still chooses not to change.

Those problems require a different leadership response.

A culture becomes unhealthy when leaders continually treat Will problems as though they were merely Skill problems.

More training will not correct dishonesty. Another seminar will not create humility. A new procedure will not solve a character problem.

Sometimes cultural leadership requires patience. Sometimes it requires instruction. Sometimes it requires forgiveness and restoration. And sometimes faithful stewardship requires saying: This behavior cannot continue here.

Build the Place You Would Want Someone You Love to Work

Perhaps there is a simpler way to think about all of this.

Imagine your son or daughter coming to work in the organization you lead. Or your spouse. Or your closest friend.

Would you want them treated the way people are treated there? Would you want them sitting in those meetings? Would you want them reporting to your managers? Would you want them learning leadership from the examples your organization currently provides?

Would you want them discovering that telling the truth is dangerous? Would you want them watching poor character rewarded because it produces good numbers? Would you want them carrying home the emotional consequences of problems everyone at work knows about but nobody with authority will address?

Or would you be grateful that someone you love gets to spend his days among people who tell the truth, keep their word, work hard, forgive quickly, disagree honestly, accept responsibility, help one another, pursue excellence, laugh together, and genuinely care about the people around them?

Build that place.

Not because culture is fashionable. Not because employee engagement scores matter. Not because somebody said culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Build it because people matter. Build it because leadership is stewardship. Build it because every person entrusted to your leadership goes home at the end of the day to people who love them.

Build it because healthy cultures allow people to do excellent work without sacrificing their character to survive. Build it because good people flourish where truth, trust, responsibility, grace, excellence, accountability, and love are practiced consistently.

And remember: You are already building a culture. Every day. Every decision. Every conversation. Every behavior you reward. Every problem you confront. Every problem you ignore. Every promise you keep. Every person you protect. Every truth you welcome. Every excuse you accept. Every example you set.

The question is not whether you are creating culture. The question is what kind of culture your leadership is creating.

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Coaching Questions

Coaching Questions are designed to slow us down long enough to examine what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what faithful action should come next. Do not rush through them. Write your answers honestly, identify one specific action, and ask someone you trust to hold you accountable.

1. If someone watched what I reward, tolerate, correct, and ignore for thirty days, what would they conclude I actually value?
   
2. What part of our current culture is genuinely healthy and worth protecting—even if I personally would have created it differently?
   
3. Is there a behavior I have repeatedly permitted that is now becoming an unwritten cultural standard?
   
4. Am I trying to improve the culture—or am I unconsciously trying to make the organization operate more like my own personality?
   
5. If someone I deeply loved came to work here tomorrow, what part of our culture would make me proud—and what part would I immediately want to change?

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Endnotes

1. Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002). Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions model identifies Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Avoidance of Accountability, and Inattention to Results. The Table Group describes Fear of Conflict as the desire to preserve “artificial harmony” at the expense of productive ideological conflict.
2. John C. Maxwell, “Three Components of Cultivating Culture,” Maxwell Leadership Podcast. Maxwell describes culture as a way of life cultivated over time through behavior, symbols, and systems, which outwardly demonstrate what an organization values.
3. Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB).

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