Connecting to Admired Leadership

Pecking Order of Culture and Strategy and Talent

Episode Summary

A conversation with Lisa Colella, Executive Coach at CRA | Admired Leadership, exploring how leadership communication and style choices impact organizational culture, with a particular focus on the relationship between policies and cultural values.

Episode Notes

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Key Highlights

• Leadership Policies and Culture: - Policies act as powerful symbols of organizational values - Example: Including cultural behaviors in performance evaluations - Hybrid work policies reflect cultural priorities around collaboration - Every policy decision communicates organizational values
• Effective Leadership Communication: - Leaders must be goal-oriented in communications - Everything communicates something - even silence or inaction - Style should match the situation and relationship - Balance between powerful and attractive communication styles
• Cultural Pillars vs Company Values: - Values are foundational beliefs - Cultural pillars are the behavioral expressions of those values - Pillars show how values should be lived day-to-day - Culture is only as strong as leadership's tolerance for misalignment
• Building Strong Culture: - Culture is built through daily choices and behaviors - Not about perks but about consistent leadership actions - Requires intentional, ongoing practice - Must clearly connect policies to business needs and values

Notable Quotes

• "There's no way to not communicate, and there's no way to not have a culture. Everything you say or do, or don't do, is communicating something."
• "Culture can only be as strong as the degree to which leadership tolerates any misalignment to it."
• "It's not about the fancy ping pong tables - it really comes down to the day-to-day choices of leadership and team members."

Featured Speaker

Lisa Colella is an Admired Leadership Coach at CRA | Admired Leadership. She has extensive experience helping organizations align their policies, communications and culture.