Peter Drucker is credited with saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
No one knows for sure if he actually said that, but it fits perfectly with my experience. The culture always wins.
I wrote in my book Results Rule! that a compelling culture is your ultimate competitive advantage in a world where products and services are viewed as interchangeable.
Several times per year I do a session titled “Creating a Culture of Excellence” for MBA students at Southern Methodist University. The session begins with them describing what they think a great company culture looks like. Their answers usually fall into one of two categories: What the workplace needs to look like for employees, and what the company needs to look like for customers.
It is hard to fault them for their perspective. The discussion around “company culture” has been hijacked. Well-meaning authors, speakers, and consultants wrap their topic or expertise in the cloak of a culture of service, quality, innovation, or whatever they think a client will purchase. The HR community is too often sucked into thinking that culture is what you do to become a great place to work.
Ultimately, a great organizational culture has to include all of your stakeholders.
Attracting, retaining, and engaging employees are important. Your company needs talented people committed to doing great work. It also needs qualities that allow it to compete and win in the marketplace. Innovation, quality, and the customer experience are hallmarks of successful organizations.
The best cultures, however, consider what’s best for two additional stakeholders: the organization and the broader community in which you operate.
The company perspective recognizes reality—a fun, rewarding experience for employees and customers that doesn’t deliver business results isn’t the company. It’s a party.
The broader community perspective is receiving more attention since the Business Roundtable updated its guidance on The Purpose of a Corporation in August, 2018.
Great companies with a commitment to the broader community or a purpose beyond profit are not new, however. Johnson & Johnson published the J&J Credo in 1943, and the values it articulates have guided the company for over 130 years. Bridgeway Capital Management is one of a growing group of companies founded to use profit for a purpose. What’s different today is the expectation among your youngest employees that your company makes the world a better place.
Our work with helping organizations create and sustain great cultures over the past 25 years has revealed seven characteristics that distinguish the best from the rest. They provide you with a benchmark to ensure your company can flourish in the future.
- A unified set of organization beliefs, assumptions and values that define what all the important stakeholders need to succeed. Many organizations settle for generic value statements that don’t really mean anything to anyone. The best organizations invest the time to fully think about the beliefs, assumptions and values that will guide all areas of their business. More important, they are intentional in making sure that their habits match their words.
- An environment that attracts and retains top talent. Most of the factors the SMU MBA students share fall into this category. People want to know what is expected of them. They want the tools and the time to do great work. And they want to have a manager who recognizes their contribution and then develops them for the future. They want to work for a company that has a positive vision for where they’re headed. They want flexibility and recognition of their life away from work, and more and more. They want work to be a place that has a sense of purpose.
- The consistent achievement of desired results. Delivering results isn’t just important for the company. It is critical for attracting and engaging top talent. People want to associate with organizations that consistently deliver great results.
- There is a high degree of mutual respect, cooperation, and trust. This is another area that benefits the company while creating a place where top talent wants to work. When trust, respect and cooperation are low, people look out for their own immediate interest, even when it hurts the customers and company. The most productive cultures are inclusive. People readily cooperate and collaborate to do what’s best for the customer, and everyone is trusted to do what they’re supposed to do the way they’re supposed to do it.
- The vision goals and strategic objectives are all aligned. Everyone is clear on the most important things that make the customer and the business successful. This clarity focuses the energy, and it also allows people to feel and be successful.
- People who do what they say they will do. Great cultures have a high degree of accountability and personal responsibility. There’s a feeling of ownership that leads your team to take it personally when goals aren’t met or there is a breakdown in living your values.
- Continuous improvement and innovation are always present. Despite being lumped together, these aren’t necessarily the same thing. Continuous improvement is about getting better at doing your job as it is today. Innovation is about seeking new solutions and changes that potentially transform the future. The best cultures maintain a healthy balance between the two.
Great company cultures share these seven characteristics. They often have different ways of demonstrating and reinforcing them, but the characteristics are always there. Be intentional, and remember: The culture always wins!
Randy Pennington is an award-winning author, speaker, and leading authority on helping organizations achieve positive results in a world of accelerating change. To bring Randy to your organization or event, visit www.penningtongroup.com , email info@penningtongroup.com, or call 972.980.9857.
