Friday, June 8, 2012

New Perspective on Organizational Culture

A friend and collegue just sent me an interesting article from the New York Times about children and character.   It talks about grit - determination, goal focused, follow through and character that make a difference in the children that succeed in school and those that do not.  It is an interesting article  - here is the link.  It was printed last fall.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

It got me to thinking about all of leaders that I work with and how they have character and the grit described in the article.  They have goals and stick to them.  They are determined and work hard toward staying the course.  They follow-through on what they say they will do and they tackle tough problems.  Grit means you have the character to succeed. 

I wonder how you build grit and character into an organization.  What type of culture would you need to build that supports that type of goal focus, determination and follow-through for clients and customers.  How could a leader not only role model grit but also put in rewards and recognition for employees that demonstrate the traits and culture that would support grit.   What would characteristics of this model culture be - does  it below on the high performing list?

I think with the continued economic challenge we will all need grit to survive and thrive for whatever the next chapter brings.  Character as the article points out is important - maybe as important as grades and tests for those kids that become adults. How do we help adults, professionals and organizations develop character and grit? 

More to ponder as I try to come up with some new tools to help organizations face the next set of economic and social challenges.

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