Today I was listening to HBR Ideacast and the interview with David Krantz, CEO of YP. In the interview David is incredibly thoughtful in describing how he manages his organization. He focuses on communication to his team and using skip-level meetings with his staff. I recommend listening as it highlights much of my thoughts in Why Good Initiatives Fail.

I encourage you to listen to the Krantz interview. Listen for the communication tactics he describes and how important they are to him in his job. He talks about a number of tools that he uses; he also discusses the importance of having a clear mission and a narrow set of priorities. David Krantz clearly understands how to be an effective executive.

A former colleague Dan Murphy commented that “leadership approach needs to align closely with the organizational culture” in order to be effective. I agree. Choosing a leadership approach is more difficult when you’re trying to change the culture in your organization.

I’ve stepped into leadership positions in a number of different organizations - each with their own culture. In one case, a small start-up. In another, a recently acquired company. In a third, a larger organization with 30 years of strong organizational history. In each, I’ve taken the time to understand the organization and the culture as I decide what tactics will be most effective in leading my organization.

How does one define the culture of an organization? The best way I’ve heard company culture described is: the standards and norms that are imposed and expected of the people within the organization. Once could say it is the values of the company, or the mission. In the end, I see it as the actions consistently taken throughout the organization.

These standards and norms can change over time. For example, I was in a company that was acquired by a larger company. The company culture was set by the owners of the company - it was small and influenced heavily by these two leaders. As the original owners transitioned out of the organization, the culture began to reflect the standards and norms of the new leadership coming from the acquiring company. Over the course of three years, the culture had shifted to reflect much more of the parent company than of the original owners.

In a comparable fashion, I became responsible for a larger software development organization that was having trouble finding an identity and culture inside a non-technical organization. I worked to reinforce habits that I believed would create an identity of a world-class software development organization. We prioritized implementing best practices, setting and meeting goals, and celebrated value delivered to clients. We emphasized the value of the team by celebrating team achievements over individual successes.

As a technical leader, your role is bridging the gap between the culture of the non-technical organization around you and your own software development organization. Spend as much time understanding the culture of the rest of the organization. Translate the value of the technical organization into the standards and norms of other departments (such as sales, account management or research).