As a leader, one of the most powerful ways to shape the culture around you is through how you respond to the behaviour of the people in your team. Your culture is largely defined by the behaviours you reward, the behaviours you discourage or disallow, and the behaviours you ignore.
Most leaders I work with have a clear vision of the culture they want to create. Many also communicate that vision to their team. Yet in many cases, that vision never fully comes to life.
The reason: they haven’t operationalised it.
You operationalise your vision by:
Rewarding behaviours that are conducive to it
Discouraging or disallowing behaviours that are detrimental to it
Especially the latter tends to be tricky. These interventions can be uncomfortable, and many leaders simply don’t know how to do it. Because: How do you course-correct without putting someone on the spot?
As a result, undesirable behaviours often get ignored and, without noticing, those behaviours start to become part of the culture.
Over the years, I’ve discovered a very effective way of course-correcting. It makes it clear what you’re looking for in terms of behaviour, yet it’s framed in a way that allows the team member to recieve the feedback without feeling dejected. I use this approach in my trainings too, and I can say from experience: it works.
Ready? Here it is.
Three steps. Simple, but powerful.
Here’s what it might sound like:
Example 1
I see the dedication you bring to your job. It’s clear that you’re giving it your all, and I appreciate that.
At the same time, the messages you send in the evenings and weekends create an implicit expectation for others to also work during those hours. Since I want to promote a healthy work–life balance in the team, that’s something we need to look at.
I’d like evenings and weekends to be a no-mail timeframe. If you want to work on e-mails during that time, please schedule them for sending during working hours.
Example 2
Your enthusiasm is one of the great things you bring to this team. I love that energy.
At the same time, it sometimes leads to you taking up more airtime in meetings than others. It’s important to me that everyone gets a chance to contribute.
I’d like you to keep your enthusiasm, but also work on giving others space. Is that something you can do?
Keeping these three steps in mind helps you address unhelpful behaviour directly—without damaging trust or motivation. And in doing so, you start to build the culture you envisioned, one conversation at a time.
Curious to learn more? This is covered in the Building a team culture module of the Inspire to Lead programme.