Aligning leadership styles with company values is essential for cultivating a productive organisational culture.
However, some 77% of businesses admit to having ‘leadership gaps’, making building a cohesive, productive workforce tougher.
There are essentially two areas of interest here: a) building strong leadership, and b) aligning leadership with company values.
Let’s break down this topic.
Understanding the Diversity and Impact of Leadership Styles
Leadership comes in many forms, each with its own impact on the workplace environment.
From authentic leaders who champion transparency and trust to transformational leaders who inspire and innovate, each style plays a pivotal role in shaping the organisational ethos.
Transactional leaders, focusing on structure and order, offer stability, especially in environments with well-defined tasks. In contrast, inclusive leaders foster a culture of diversity and acceptance, which is essential in today’s globalised workforce.
Agile leadership, prioritising adaptability and responsiveness, is increasingly relevant for startups operating in fast-changing industries, such as technology.
The Impact of Leadership on Company Culture
While these leadership styles may seem like buzzwords, the key is bridging your company’s values with your workplaces through leadership. It’s about creating somewhere people want to work and further their careers.
Leadership plays a key role in that, particularly in sectors that are struggling to modernise their workforces and attract new talent. For example, the construction and manufacturing workforces are experiencing a skills shortage caused by an ageing workforce and changing attitudes towards the industry.
The harsh reality is that many workers are put off by the antiquated company cultures found in these industries. Surveys show that most young people consider the construction industry unengaging and unattractive to work in. Similar can be observed across the industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Company values are not just a concept – they’re key to building engaging interpersonal dynamics within the workplace.
Harmonising Leadership and Values
The crux of creating a positive, progressive organisational culture lies in harmonising leadership styles with core values.
Leaders today must go beyond simpler forms of transactional leadership, ‘come to work and get paid’, to build more progressive workplaces. This fundamentally requires a more pragmatic, positive approach to leadership.
As a first port of call, organisations must:
- Encourage open communication, ensuring that every voice is heard and valued.
- Foster continuous learning and development, enabling employees to grow both professionally and personally.
- Recognise and reward contributions, ensuring that hard work and innovation are acknowledged.
- Create a supportive environment where employees feel valued, respected, and part of a team.
From there, it’s about fine-tuning leadership and management to offer a safe, modern workplace – the kind of workplace people expect today. Businesses that work hard to achieve this will outperform their competitors.
Final Thoughts
Harmonising leadership styles with good company values is necessary for businesses to keep their workforces happy and engaged.
Plus, with many sectors facing skills shortages, leadership in sectors like construction and manufacturing must go above and beyond the status quo to build more progressive and engaging workplaces.
Health and safety training, such as that offered by HCS Safety, enables businesses to create safe workplaces that cultivate positivity and well-being. Safety, after all, is fundamental to building longevity for your business and employees.
