Quotations on Culture
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Greetings!
Welcome to July's newsletter. Your 20 second scan will show the relevance of the email so pause before you hit the delete button.
Picking up on last month's theme of why Organisational Change Programmes fail, in this issue I give you some insights and help on how to go about assessing your current culture. Unless you know where you start from you can't be sure where to make changes or indeed how big a task you have ahead.
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Culture That's M.A.D
Well not really M.A.D but only in the sense of Making A Difference. It's a pretty safe bet that if you're looking to make a change to your culture then it's because you want the outcome to Make A Difference (M.A.D) in some way. You want better business results, or you want more productivity, you need to be more customer focus, you want more empowerment, you want more focus on H&S, or you want more creativity......or perhaps you need to align cultures across several acquisitions you've made.
Now that I've mentioned M.A.D let's define the meaning of culture in the context of your organisation.
On Wikipedia: "Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere,
meaning "to cultivate"), generally refers to patterns of human activity
and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance." So in your business your managers and leaders cultivate a certain culture by allowing certain behaviours to prevail.
U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Program: "The accumulated habits, attitudes, and beliefs of a
group of people that define for them their general behaviour and way of
life; the total set of learned activities of a people." So in business even though I might join as a new employee I will soon adopt and adapt to the culture and learn how to behave.
Oxford University: "It's a shared, learned, symbolic
system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception
and behaviour -- an abstract 'mental blueprint' or 'mental code.'" So in your business there's a sort of code - a way of doing things.
These definitions need simplifying for me so for what it's worth here is mine.
Mark Gregory's simple term: I can't claim to be the originator of this term but I love its simplicity. Culture..."It's the way things are done around here."
Therefore in an organisational setting culture is the shared values and practices of the company's employees. Getting to understand your current values (not the ones you have on the office wall in the fancy frame or presented proudly in PowerPoint but the ones that actually people orientate themselves around for real) is a vital step.
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Why Culture is Important
Culture is important because it can make or break your business.
Those with an adaptive culture that is aligned to the business
core purpose and goals routinely outperform competitors. Some studies report the
difference as high as 200% or more. So to achieve results like this for your
own organisation, you have to figure out what your culture is, decide what
it should be, and move everyone toward the desired culture that you need in order to thrive.
Over time cultures evolve and change. We can all see this as employees leave
our own organisations and replacements are taken on, the company culture will change, sometimes for the worse, often for the better.
But if the culture is strongly embedded single employees can make little impact and in time if they stay around long enough they will fall in line and adopt a way of behaving that's the norm.
You may have noticed this in your own environment when a new employee brings their own values and practices to the group the
culture will change, at least a little. Whether it lasts depends on many factors. As the company develops from being a start-up to a more mature company its culture will gradually change, and it has to.
Likewise as the commercial environment in which the company operates in (its regulations, business climate, competition, etc.) changes, the company culture will
also have to change.
The trouble with culture is that it can change very gradually without anyone noticing so that eventually what you started with has fundamentally shifted to a culture that may not be relevant or appropriate for present demands let alone the future.
So if you want to change your culture there are three phases to go through if you want it to be one that's M.A.D.
Step 1 - Assess The Company Culture
Step 2 - Determine The Desired Company Culture
Step 3 - Align The Company Culture
Simple!
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Assessing Culture
there are numerous ways to assess your organisational culture. Perhaps the obvious is to employ the expertise and resources of consultants..who will do it for you using sophisticated and reliable research methodologies.
There are surveys and questionnaires you can use, there are diagnostic tools and various resource materials too as well as interventions and books to help you along your way. Much can be done though through self-help if you are committed and have sufficient time.
Observe
One of the things you can do yourself is to
assess your culture through observation. Take a look around you. What do you see going on? How do people treat each other, how do they interact? Where's their focus? How do your managers behave and treat their subordinates? What are some of the rituals and rules that are in place that say so much about the way you all operate? Watch out for common behaviours and visible symbols too. How do teams treat new recruits, how well do they integrate and support them?
Listen
Carefully listen to your employees, your suppliers, and your
customers. Pay attention to what is written about your company, in
print and online, visit forums and see what the 'buzz' is about your business. Are you on You Tube or Face Book and if so what does it tell you? What's the social network saying about you? Interview people that are leaving you. The clues are all around you if you are prepared to listen.
These two simple approaches of listening and observing should form a key part in your quest to understand your organisational culture. But for those of you looking for something more sophisticated that can be repeated time and time again then the use of a consistent approach that provides easy reporting is likely to be your best approach especially if you have several thousand employees spread across numerous sites. For further info on such solutions please contact me via email at mark.gregory@thecustomersshoes.com or call me on 0784 328 4310. I have some recommendations for you which I'm happy to share.
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Determine The Desired Company Culture
Now that you have assessed your culture by whatever means you'll be keen to work upon it, but before you can change the company culture, you have to have a vision of what the new culture will be like in the future.
Different
organisations will have different cultures so you'll need to work out what type of culture you need for the future. What will give you the unique advantage that goes M.A.D
You might need to review your mission, vision and values and make
sure the company culture you are designing supports them too. Create a clear picture of how this new company culture will feel to work within. Involve your employees in this process so they help to build their future. You'll get more buy in that way.
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Align The Company Culture
Once you have your vision in mind it's time to set to work on the really difficult step - aligning your culture with your business core purpose and its goals. This sorts the men from the boys, this takes time, energy, commitment and resource.
- Start by creating an action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the misaligned areas that you have found during your assessment. You did complete your assessment didn't you?
- Brainstorm improvements that could be made in your formal policies and daily practices. Make sure you take into account employee and customer feedback, it's vital.
- Develop models of the desired actions and behaviours. Build these into your recruitment and selection processes as well as using them for performance reviews too.
- Communicate the new culture to all employees and then over-communicate the new culture and its actions to everyone. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Finally only a company culture that is aligned with your organisation's core purpose will help you achieve superior performance over the long term. Only then can you say that it's MAD.
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I hope this newsletter helps. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate your feedback via two questions in two minutes on how you found it. Please take my micro-survey here.
And don't forget to encourage others to sign up to receive these newsletters.
Kind regards,
Mark Gregory
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