How Great Leaders Create Urgency On Their Team
December 17, 2025
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Most leaders focus on results, because that’s what they’re measured on.
Revenue, metrics, quarterly performance. It makes sense because delivering results matters. But chasing the scoreboard doesn’t win the game. You don’t get exceptional outcomes by obsessing over the outcome. You get it by investing in the one thing that drives everything else: culture.
There’s a simple, powerful truth every leader must understand:
Leaders create culture → culture drives behavior → behavior produces results.
That’s the Performance Pathway, created by the late Tim Kight. And it changes everything.
So if you want better team results, don’t focus on the outcome, focus on the culture.
This way of thinking is dramatically different than how most managers think about culture. It’s often called “soft” or “moderately important.” In reality, culture is anything but these things. In Building the Best, I defined culture as “The shared values and beliefs that guide thinking and behavior.”
You have heard it, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The reason it’s true is that the ramifications of leaders not focusing on culture and only focusing on strategy is steep.
While each organization or team is different, the commitment to culture separates those who adopt and sustain it from those who do not. Leaders who commit to culture have higher revenue, more engaged teams, and lower voluntary turnover.
So if you are on the same page with me that leaders are responsible for culture and the impact of culture is significant, the natural question becomes, how do you do it? While there isn’t only one way, there are some common ways to think about it to help you.
Don’t leave culture to chance. Define it with clarity and intention. To lead well, you must define what winning looks like, not just in outcomes, but in daily behaviors and core values. Here are some great questions to ask yourself:
This clarity separates average teams from extraordinary ones. What I have learned is that this list can get long and complex. The best leaders simply make it memorable. If your team is a master of everything, they will be a master of nothing. Ensure whatever you and your team come up with is about performance, not preference.
The best leaders focus their culture on performance, not preference.
If your team can’t recite your values, they don’t know them. You must relentlessly communicate winning values and behavior. Every meeting, every message, every moment of recognition is a chance to reinforce what matters most.
You’re not just a manager or the leader of your team, you’re the Chief Culture Officer (CCO) of your team.
What gets celebrated gets repeated. Recognize and reward the team members who best live your values. Create a Culture Award that highlights teammates who embody your beliefs. Call it out in team meetings to create a ripple effect.
What gets celebrated gets repeated.
James Franklin, head coach of Penn State football, built core values into every part of his program. Each week, he honored the player who best lived out those values, not the top performer, but the top culture carrier and it was the catalyst that changed everything.
When people feel seen for the right reasons, they live up to the culture you want.
The truest test of any culture isn’t how you reward it-it’s how you protect it. It’s one thing to celebrate team members who live out your culture. It’s another to let go of those who don’t, even when they perform.
But culture is fragile. The moment you allow toxic or misaligned behavior to linger, you send a message: “Our standards don’t really matter.”
Everything on your team happens for one of two reasons: You created it, or you allowed it.
If someone repeatedly violates the values and behaviors you’ve defined, it’s your duty to act. You don’t have to be cold, but you do have to be clear.
You might be thinking, all this culture stuff fires me up. I want to do this with my team or organization. But you could be asking yourself:
“How do I shift culture on a team I’ve been leading for a while?”
“What if I’m a brand-new leader inheriting a team?”
“What if I’m leading a great team inside a bad organizational culture?”
Exceptional results come from exceptional behaviors. And exceptional behaviors come from exceptional cultures. So if you want better outcomes, don’t look at the scoreboard-look at the standard. Focus on the culture, not the results.
Because culture isn’t just something you have. It’s something you define, communicate, celebrate, and protect. Every. Single. Day.
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About the Author: John Eades is the CEO of LearnLoft and The Sales Infrastructure. He was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices. John is also the author of Building the Best: 8 Proven Leadership Principles to Elevate Others to Success. You can follow him on Instagram @johngeades.
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