Written by I watched a local high school soccer game in Orange County, CA last week and saw some pretty disturbing things. One of the coaches was laying on his side and was on the phone during the entire game. Another coach was sitting on a bag of balls and was occasionally on his phone. Both coaches seemed inconvenienced by the game in front of them. At halftime, one of the athletes put on music that was not remotely appropriate.
The athletes on the team followed their coaches’ example: Their warmup for the game was unfocused at best. However, during the game, their focus was on trying to play tricks with the ball, body checking the other players, making fun of the other team and their own teammates, and just being unsportsmanlike. It just seemed that they just wanted to show off and jeer and laugh at others.
While there was about one quarter of the team that was not following the script, this small group could not change the narrative. They tried incredibly hard to influence change within their small organization but could not make it happen. These players continued to try as hard as they could to create change throughout the game.
Organizational leaders are the ones who set the tone for the culture and climate of an organization. Look around your current organization and see where the climate and culture begin. Knowing this information, what can you do to effect change in the climate or culture of your organization? Who can you enlist to help this cause? Will a conversation with key managers or others assigned to positions of leadership influence a change in your organization’s climate or culture?
You may not be able to influence any change but if you do not try, it will never happen. If the culture or climate cannot change, no matter how much you and others try, you may need to be looking leave your current organization. In either case, a change must happen.