What creates distinctiveness in your organisation? What sets you apart? How do you ensure you keep the good, talented people you have? 

Organisational culture has become one of those phrases you can just feel people ‘sighing' when they hear it. Something they know they ‘should' talk about - but it often doesn’t resonate - as it’s vague and just too hard to grasp. It’s much easier to stay busy with more tangible things on the lengthy priority list where you’ll see a direct outcome - an approach you may ultimately come to regret. 

Behavioural competence is as important as professional, academic, clinical, or technical competence in creating an organisational environment where individuals can thrive, feel valued, heard and work without fear of being bullied. And yet, it is the unique organisation that has captured this balance - as it takes courage, commitment and energy to publicly hold all these competencies on an equal level. But doing so is key.

One of the major challenges a leader faces is addressing the behavioural culture. It is one of the most critical elements for a healthy and productive workforce, but is often the area that gets most neglected. There is little else more important than creating an environment in which every member of your staff feels valued AND knows they have a personal responsibility to actively contribute to the organisation through every single one of their actions and interactions. 

But how does this happen? Where do you start? Can’t HR take care of it? It’s all just too hard…...

One of the most important mind-set shifts you can make in your leadership approach is to decide to address the issues of culture and behaviour openly. It takes courage to talk about caring, respect, communication and compassion for each other  - as well as your customers, clients, students, patients or suppliers - and even more so, to then role model the desired behaviours.

But it all starts with you - with you making organisational behaviour a priority in your own heart and mind - to not only improve the working environment for others, but to enhance the overall productivity and effectiveness of the business. And then get curious. Ask your teams to identify the specific behaviours that will define excellence in the organisation - both as a whole and in their individual area. Keep it simple - but real. Share your commitment to focusing on behavioural competence with your leadership team, being open to feedback and providing support as you seek a collective commitment from all of them to no longer ignore or feel helpless in the face of bad behaviour. 

Take the time to get clear what you personally value and what’s important to you. There is no room in this work for ‘going through the motions’. This commitment to holding yourself and others accountable for consistently meeting behavioural expectations is hard work and if it is not part of your value base, it will never fly.  

It is all about behaviours and an ethos of what ‘we expect around here’ vs. ‘what we tolerate around here’. Until you are willing to stand in the belief that behavioural competence will be treated in the same way as any other required competency in assessing positive and negative performance - nothing will change. Setting behavioural expectations that become part of the ‘fabric’ of the organisation - that are used on a daily basis for real-time performance conversations, serve as a basis in hiring decisions, and are role-modelled from the board level down - are key to creating a culture where individuals feel heard, accountable, and valued.

Look at the behaviours you see in your organisation - is there an energy of vibrancy and enthusiasm or are people withdrawn, quiet, fearful to speak up - or openly disruptive - all because it’s tolerated? There’s no quick fix or easy answer - but change can – and will happen with the right leadership focus. The first step is always to ‘look in the mirror’ and become more aware of your own actions. And with whole-heartedness, then commit to leading the charge to make behavioural competence one of your organisation’s distinctive attributes and to provide the support for everyone else in your organisation to do the same.

Organisations that place as much importance on behavioural competence as they do professional competence will own the future. 

Is yours one of them?