Culture Begins at the Top
Wells Fargo Bank has been in the news recently regarding the pervasive practice of employees feeling excessively pressured to meet their goals, resulting in the opening of as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts over the last 6 years. The bank has agreed to pay a penalty of $185 million and has faced heavy criticism and congressional scrutiny.
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf made a massive mistake at the beginning of this public scandal. An article in the Wall Street Journal accurately summarizes his original response: "Wells Fargo CEO Defends Bank Culture, Lays Blame With Bad Employees." He declared that the bank doesn't have a bad culture, just workers bad behavior. Sorry, Mr. Stumpf, but you got it all wrong and have made things harder on yourself.
When your employees are habitually behaving contrary to the values you've put on the wall and on your website, that's a leadership problem. That disconnect between promotion and reality can be found too frequently among schools too. The desired culture is achieved through clear expectations, consistent measurement, and wise accountability.
Culture is someone's job and it's everyone's job--and that begins at the top.
Keep Growing,
Scott
