One of the most important questions a leader can ask is: what kind of environment am I creating — and what behaviours does it encourage?
Yet in practice, we often focus only on the people. In organisations, we hear: “He doesn't take initiative.” “She is too emotional.” “They don't think strategically.” “We've always done it this way.”
Labels are easy to apply. They conveniently explain what we dislike without making us look for the deeper reason.
But there is something important here: Behaviour does not appear out of nowhere. It adapts to its context.
For Kurt Lewin, behaviour was a function of the person and their environment.
Sometimes we take behaviour shaped by a particular environment to be a character trait. A lack of initiative may have been learned. Silence in a meeting may have a history. “We've always done it this way” may be a symptom, not a cause.
Quiet agreement does not always mean conviction. Sometimes someone has simply learned that disagreement comes at a cost.
And that brings us back to one of a leader's most important responsibilities: consciously shaping an environment that encourages the behaviours people need at work.
Changing the environment creates the conditions for different behaviour.
What behaviours does the environment you work in encourage today?
Explore business advisory for an independent perspective on the decisions and assumptions shaping your organisation. For work on shared leadership behaviours, see leadership development.