Professor Peter Hawkins has defined organisational culture as what you stop noticing when you have worked somewhere for over three months. He has also illustrated this by quoting a Chines proverb: “The last one to know about the sea is the fish.” So what can leaders see then?
When I coach them they have very definite perceptions, views, and opinions about the organisation and the culture they lead in. If they are blinded like the fish in the sea, then what they are talking about?
How can you become a flying fish in order to be able to see the sea you are swimming in? How can you become a transformational leader by expanding your capacity to be, think and lead in a transformational way?
Leader in the mirror.
Leaders are the mirrors. The organisation is the mirror. If you are not sure how you are being perceived as a leader, how you are truly performing as a leader, have a look at your organisation, and your team.
- What cultural patterns have you noticed in your leadership team?
- How are these similar to and different from the cultural patterns you have noticed elsewhere in your organisation?
- What are you noticing in your organisation, in your leadership team?
- What are you not noticing?
- What is it that you don’t want to notice?
- When you notice something in your organisation, what does it say about you, and your leadership operation?