“… in a study of nineteen insurance companies, the climate created by the CEO among their direct reports predicted the business performance of the entire organization: In 75% of cases, climate alone accurately sorted companies into high versus low profits and growth.”

“If climate drives business results, what drives climate? Roughly 50 to 70 percent of how employees perceive their organization’s climate can be traced to the actions of one person: the leader. More than anyone else, the boss creates the conditions that determine people’s ability to work well.”

“Primal Leadership”

Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee  

There is a shortage of effective leadership in all areas of our society… and yet billions of dollars are being invested in leadership training every year.

 Leadership Affects Everything!

• Leadership behavior creates the culture or climate that employees work in every day.

• Employee attitudes are affected by their perception of the culture... or how they feel about coming to work each day.

• Talented employees won’t stay in what they perceive to be a negative culture.

• Talented prospective employees won’t choose to join an organization unless it has a reputation of being a great place to work.

• Improving workforce performance is not possible without talented employees.

How employees feel about coming to work, their attitude, is primarily influenced by the climate or culture in which they work. Many managers don’t understand that it is their behavior that creates that climate that their team members work in. And climate, or culture, has a direct impact on business results.

There is no question about the importance of effective leadership, but with so much being invested in leadership training, why have we not seen the appropriate change in behavior and culture? There are two primary reasons.

The Importance of Building Trust is Overlooked

The most basic definition of a leader is one who has followers. No one follows or support s a leader they do not trust. They may stay, but they do not truly support the leader... which is perhaps why Gallup Organization research has identified that only 29% of the American workforce is engaged. The other 71% have stayed, but are either Not-Engaged (55%) or Actively Disengaged (16%).

Most managers do not understand the difference between being trustworthy and building trust. They expect that because they are trustworthy... and they are, in an ethical, moral sense, that people will trust them. Yet they may be going to work every day and destroying whatever trust there is.

For example, a senior manager may perceive that being trustworthy means maximizing shareholder value. An employee, on the other hand, sees a trustworthy manager as someone who values them as a person, and allows them to use their talents and creativity to improve performance. Both points of view are correct, to a degree, but the senior manager who is so focused on being trustworthy to the board and shareholders that employees feel not valued or respected... will destroy employee trust and their engagement and commitment.

Why is 74% of the American workforce Unengaged or Actively Disengaged? The level of trust for management is a primary contributing factor.

The second reason leadership training is not achieving behavior and culture change is that...

Behavior Change Takes Time

Leadership training is designed to change leadership behavior, so that business results can be improved. And most management and leadership training provided by internal training departments or external consultants are events... two to five day events with minimal or no follow-up, and it is entirely up to the participant whether they use what they have learned, or not!  

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Last Modified:  25 February 2008