"Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast" - Peter Drucker

In our office this quote is highly respected. We take caution to learn the nuisances to our client's culture. One of the first questions we ask a client's leadership is how well their company's culture is defined and communicated. The leadership typically rushes forward with statements like, "From our executive team to our truck drivers, our people know what we value." My response is then, "Excellent!" and I quickly follow with the request, "Please take the time to align these 5 value words by priority, your team is likely well practiced at this."
 

• Growth
• Health
• Wealth
• Family
• Higher Purpose
   

It is rather entertaining to watch the battles that ensue amongst the leadership team as they debate their views. There is no right or wrong answer, it's merely a reflection of our diversity as humans.  

I challenge you to:   

• Prioritize them for how you value the world.
• Prioritize how your company views the world.
• Are the lists different or are they the same?
   

After you move beyond the cliches, "work hard, play harder" and "family first", describing culture can be rather nebulas and challenging. Once your values are defined it will help you articulate your culture, a key step in organization building and retaining your team.  

Picture if you will:  

Warren Buffett, Gordon Gekko, and Mother Teresa 

These icons spur a lot of emotion and it is easy to project the value alignment and type of culture each of these leaders would build. For example: Gordon Gekko as a fictional character is the outlier of the 3 icons and we can certainly think of many ruthless people in the financial world, but why does Gekko's character stand out? Gordon's major mistake was hiring Bud Ward. Bud's values were not aligned with Gekko and the outcome was tragic.  While these examples are defined and easy to see...

What are the conflicts you have within your team?

What type of talent does your culture attract? 

Critical point: Every time you make a hiring decision you risk enhancing or destroying your culture. Take the time to make certain you are adding people who are aligned with the team's values.

In the book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg suggests that 40% of our behavior does not support what our current goals are. Duhigg brings a deep compelling revelation into the elements of being "creatures of habit". We are susceptible to becoming entrenched with our actions, which 60% of the time moves us farther from our goals.

What actions does your team put behind your Values?   

• If growth is important, do you support continuing education?
• If family is first, how are sick children handled?
• If higher purpose is valued, what non-profits are supported?
• If health is valued, does your team support a balanced work life?
   

Recruiting secret: The collection of your actions becomes stories and the stories tell a uniquely amazing human connection your company has with its people. The most effective way to message the company's unique attractive culture is through stories of company ball team, picnic outing, and tickets to sporting events all projecting an attractive human element. Actions speak louder than words.