{"id":23006,"date":"2023-02-13T14:07:09","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/?post_type=article&p=23006"},"modified":"2023-02-13T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:07:09","slug":"company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Company Culture Myth #4:\u00a0 Leaders must always demonstrate perfect behaviour<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Leaders have to walk the talk and lead by example. A popular belief that makes sense to some extent. After all, you can\u2019t expect your teams to change if you, the leader, are behaving in a manner that conflicts with what you\u2019re asking of them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, even leaders are only human. Prone to slip up now and again, just like anyone else. The issue at stake is how others respond when a leader demonstrates undesired behaviour. Some might observe, say nothing and come to private unfavourable conclusions about their leader\u2019s commitment. While those who are opposed to adopting the required culture will seize this as a mandate to reinforce their viewpoint, perhaps even stirring up trouble by trying to bring others along with them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that no human\u2019s behaviour will always be perfect, presenting leaders as super-humans who always get it right is asking for trouble. So what\u2019s the solution? If we replace expectation of perfection with acceptance of good intentions, and introduce the idea of shared accountability, a leader\u2019s human fallibility becomes much less of a high-stakes risk. This translates as creating a culture whereby team members and leaders have equal responsibility to call each other out, and help each other realign, when something\u2019s amiss. Which probably sounds a bit scary. After all, many cultures \u2013 in society as well as in organisations \u2013 are founded on hierarchical principles which make direct open criticism of leaders an unacceptable behaviour in its own right. How can leaders possibly lead when their team members have equal rights to telling them what to do?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The key lies in setting and communicating clear definitions of which behaviours are accountable, together with a universally understood definition of recovery behaviour. Recovery behaviour being how team members go about helping their leaders get back on track when they start to exhibit undesired behaviour, as well as how leaders help their teams when they go off track.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Achieving this means breaking out of long-held taboos. \u2018Obedient\u2019 team members have to be prepared to behave in a subversive manner. Leaders have to demonstrate vulnerability. But the end result is full and equal accountability for behaviour throughout the team, which reinforces new behaviours since it becomes a group responsibility, rather than only a leadership responsibility.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Putting recovery behaviour practices in place enables accountability to be shared by all.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23010,"template":"","categories":[],"region":[256],"class_list":["post-23006","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCompany culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5 - Argon & Co<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5 - Argon & Co\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Company Culture Myth #4:\u00a0 Leaders must always demonstrate perfect behaviour\u00a0 Leaders have to walk the talk and lead by example. A popular belief that makes sense to some extent. After all, you can\u2019t expect your teams to change if you, the leader, are behaving in a manner that conflicts with what you\u2019re asking of them.\u00a0\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Argon & Co\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/\",\"name\":\"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\\\/5 - Argon & Co\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-13T14:07:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/news-insights\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\\\/5\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Argon & Co\",\"description\":\"We help clients achieve their strategic and operational objectives, working together to transform their businesses and generate real change.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.argonandco.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5 - Argon & Co","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5 - Argon & Co","og_description":"Company Culture Myth #4:\u00a0 Leaders must always demonstrate perfect behaviour\u00a0 Leaders have to walk the talk and lead by example. A popular belief that makes sense to some extent. After all, you can\u2019t expect your teams to change if you, the leader, are behaving in a manner that conflicts with what you\u2019re asking of them.\u00a0\u00a0 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/","og_site_name":"Argon & Co","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/","url":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/","name":"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5 - Argon & Co","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-13T14:07:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_475120132-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/company-culture-and-the-art-of-herding-cats-myth-busting-4-5\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Company culture and the art of herding cats. Myth busting #4\/5"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/","name":"Argon & Co","description":"We help clients achieve their strategic and operational objectives, working together to transform their businesses and generate real change.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/23006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/23006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23006"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=23006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}