Does Your Company Culture Support the Vision—or Stand in Its Way?
“Becoming aware of your culture and managing it effectively is more than just a fun team-building activity. It is the key to your success.”
— Mario Moussa
The renowned American writer and philosopher David Foster Wallace is perhaps best known for the commencement speech he delivered to the graduating class of Kenyon College in 2005. It begins with a short parable:
Two young fish are swimming along when they encounter an older fish coming the other way. The older fish nods and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?”
The two young fish swim on for a while. Eventually, one of them looks at the other and asks: “What the hell is water?”
The point is that we often fail to notice or describe the simple yet essential things on which our lives and well-being depend.
Our natural environment, the people closest to us, our colleagues, relationships and time—we often understand their value only when we are in danger of losing them permanently or have already lost them.
It is a little like Tarmo Pihlap’s rendition of Smokie’s song Living Next Door to Alice: She stops for a moment and waves, and then…
What Is Company Culture, Really?
The same applies to company culture. It is something so natural and ever-present that it can be difficult to explain what it actually is or how it works.
Most of us can quote Peter Drucker’s famous words from memory:
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
But what exactly is company culture? How does it really work in our organisation? Do we actively manage it—or does it emerge on its own and begin managing us?
Culture consists of norms and rules—the agreements between people that determine how we work together every day.
Leaders can choose whether to manage this process actively. If they do not, the rules will develop on their own and may not support the behaviour or outcomes leaders want.
Then we are surprised by what people did or why they behaved in a certain way.
It can be difficult to change and manage something we do not fully understand.
A good first step would be to ask everyone at Monday’s leadership team meeting three simple questions:
What is our company culture?
How does it show up in our daily work?
Are we satisfied with the culture we have?
When everyone is busy, focusing on such “soft” topics may not seem practical. But if we know that culture eats strategy for breakfast, why wait until lunch?
And what exactly are we planning to do after lunch? ;-)
Culture Can Be Changed
Culture can only be changed by changing the management system. There is no other way.
The maturity of an organisation’s management system is reflected in its culture. If the culture does not support the execution of the vision, the management system must change.
To help leaders address these challenges, we have created a dedicated LEVEL UP! training programme.
The participating leaders empower one another, help each other tackle real business challenges and learn how to transform an unsuitable company culture into a critical success factor that supports the organisation.
Answering the questions above every Monday should be as natural for a leader and their leadership team as checking whether the car has enough fuel before setting off.
If there is not enough fuel, it is the leadership team’s responsibility to fill the tank before the journey begins.