The Intermediary – July 2026 - Flipbook - Page 90
B RO K E R B U S I N E S S
Opinion
The culture you
aspire to create
I
ntegrity. Collaboration.
Respect. Innovation.
People rarely judge those
organisational values by
reading them on a wall. They
judge them by watching
their leaders.
For decades, organisations relied on
command-and-control leadership. It
was assumed that authority, hierarchy
and direction would produce results.
In truth, it was never especially
effective, and today it is increasingly
irrelevant. Modern leadership is less
about giving instructions and more
about creating the conditions in which
people want to perform.
That begins with behaviour. Not just
the behaviour of your team, but your
own. What you reward. What you
ignore. What you tolerate. If we want
to change organisational culture, we
have to understand why people behave
as they do in the first place.
I was once coaching a group
treasurer who was incandescent with
rage. An investment banker had
received a multi-million-pound bonus
that had been agreed in advance, yet
still complained that it wasn’t enough.
My client simply couldn’t
understand such greed. But if you
train a rat to run a maze for cheese,
you can’t blame it for running the
maze and demanding the cheese.
If an organisation consistently
rewards aggressive selling, heroic
firefighting or political manoeuvring,
it shouldn’t be surprised when
those behaviours flourish. Equally,
if collaboration, curiosity and
thoughtful leadership are recognised
and reinforced, those behaviours
become the norm.
Many of us are behaving exactly as
our environments have trained us.
That is why behavioural leadership
starts with curiosity, rather than
judgement. Ask yourself: why do I
behave the way I do? What has been
rewarded throughout my career?
Which behaviours have helped me
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The Intermediary | July 2026
succeed? Which behaviours may now
be holding me back? What genuinely
motivates me?
AVERIL LEIMON
is co-founder
of White Water Group
Leadership aspirations
I ask myself those questions every
Saturday morning. I’ve recently
returned to Parkrun. Some weeks I
wonder why. The weather is dreadful,
my legs complain, and staying in bed
seems an aractive alternative.
Yet every week I check my results.
30 seconds faster? Wonderful. Fastest
woman in my age group? Tiny
improvements keep me coming back
far more effectively than the distant
promise of beer health. Immediate
feedback is far more motivating than
vague aspirations.
Leaders oen forget this. We
announce ambitious visions for the
future, but fail to recognise today’s
small wins. Cognitive Behavioural
Psychology explains that our thoughts
influence our feelings, which in turn
influence our behaviour.
If someone believes, “We’ve tried
this before,” or “If this goes wrong,
I’ll be blamed,” they may outwardly
support your latest initiative
while inwardly expecting failure.
Compliance is not commitment.
Unless leaders address the
underlying beliefs, behavioural
change rarely lasts. It isn’t simply
about telling people what to do
differently. It’s about helping them
think differently.
One principle remains remarkably
powerful: catch people doing
something right. Praise works best
when it is immediate, specific and
directly linked to the behaviour you
want repeated. Psychologists call
this ‘response-contingent positive
reinforcement’. Most people simply
call it good leadership. Surprisingly, it
is still remarkably rare.
Equally important is recognising
that every employee arrives carrying
the legacy of previous managers. They
have learned what gets rewarded,
what gets punished and what is
safest. Coaching frequently involves
uncovering the assumptions that
drive behaviour.
A leader might believe,for example:
“I must have all the answers.” That
oen creates hesitation, perfectionism
and reluctance to delegate. Instead,
test an alternative belief: “My role
is to ask beer questions so that my
team finds beer answers.” One
belief creates dependency. The other
creates leadership throughout the
organisation.
Another common limiting belief
is assuming that people cannot really
change. Leaders who hold that view
rarely invest in developing others
because they have already decided
improvement is impossible. Ironically,
that expectation oen becomes selffulfilling.
The encouraging news is that
behavioural leadership can be learned.
Unlike theories that suggest great
leaders are born, effective leadership
develops through practice, feedback
and conscious choice. It asks leaders
to focus on actions rather than titles,
consistency rather than charisma,
and example rather than authority.
The most influential leaders are not
those who deliver the most inspiring
speeches. They are the ones whose
behaviour consistently reinforces the
culture they want others to create.
People notice: how you respond
under pressure, how you treat those
with less power, how you react to
mistakes, what you celebrate, what
you tolerate. Every day, whether
you realise it or not, people are
learning from you.
The question is simple: If everyone
behaved exactly as you did, would your
organisation become the culture you
aspire to create? ●
