Culture Matters
Carly Fiorina
Building leaders & problem-solvers. Keynote Speaking I Consulting I Leadership Development I Author
If the first three sides of the Leadership Framework – Strategy, Process and Structure, Metrics – are the “hardware” of an organization, Culture is the software. And if you don’t have the software and the hardware working together, you are not going to achieve the goal that you set out.
People will describe Culture as the “soft stuff.” It is not the soft stuff. It is the very, very hard, tough, difficult stuff. In fact, it is the most difficult stuff. And it’s very important.
Culture is essentially a big, fancy word for: “What is it like to work around here?”
Every organization has a statement of values. We all do. Every team has a statement of values. Most people aspire to very similar things. I worked in an organization once where, in our statement of values, when we talked about our Culture, we said one of our values was having the highest standards of respect. “We respect one another.”
Most organizations say something like that. And yet, as is true in many places unfortunately, this was an organization where people were unbelievably disrespectful. Particularly higher-ups to subordinates.
Culture needs to be consistent with what you’re trying to achieve – and it needs to be defined by behaviors, not just words. People do not listen to the talk. They watch the walk. How do people behave? Who gets promoted? Who gets lifted up? Who gets rewarded? These are incredibly important, powerful signals to your organization about what your Culture really is. And, over time, they drive behavior.
Start to think about the culture that you need to achieve your goal. What do you want it to feel like to work on that problem? To work with you? What types of behaviors do you want to see? What types of behaviors are essential to achieve your goal? Collaboration? Innovation? How will you recognize and reward people who practice those behaviors?
Remember, Culture might be last in the Leadership Framework but it's not because it's least important. Do not short change this when you work on your Leadership Framework.
Saudi Licensed Lawyer || LLB|| Harvard Law School Executive
3 年Spot on!
Investigator
4 年Culture over compensation
Strategic Empowerment Leader | Driving Teams & Organizations to New Heights
4 年Excellent and very insightful article!
Sr. Director of Stores at Perry Ellis International
4 年Culture is what impacts retention, and the culture is something everyone needs to walk the talk top down. Transparency, respect and collaboration are a must.
Interested in: Human BEINGS, EDUCATION, Unity, Harmony, Universe, Art, WORLD CULTURES, Etymology, Nature, Spirituality. Taught, lectured in twenty-two countries.
4 年Culture and Art are Related: Art, Culture and Spirituality, Swami Atmaramananda etc. 1.?????Art must be in touch with nature- and wherever that touch is gone, Art degenerates—yet it (Art) must be above nature…Art is—representing the beautiful. There must be art in everything. 2.?????The mainspring of the strength of every race lies in spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism gains ground. 3.??????It is the culture which withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge…There must come culture into the blood…It is spiritual culture and ethical culture alone that can change wrong racial tendencies for the better…The finer the organism, the higher the culture. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Swami Vivekananda “No limit may be set to art, neither is there any craftsman that is fully master of his craft.” ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The Instruction of Ptahotep, Egypt The Arts:???????????????????????????????? ????1-- Sanskrit: a part of the whole, to join.?Silpa, shilp, crafts, namely creativity, dexterity and techniques in both, mind and hands “beyond explanation and therefore a subject of wonder”. In India, and not only in India, from Vedic times on there has never been made a sharp distinction between the crafts and so-called “high art”. The artisan had equal status as the official artist. ????????? ?2-- Arabic: sina’a, Al Sa’ni- God, the Creator, Allah. Fann: ? (a). Art (b). The making?and doing of anything well and correctly. Knowledge?(wisdom) and technical science.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??3-- Greek: perfect of its kind., complete, to arrange.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??4-- Hebrew- oman- artist, emona- to believe, neman- to believe in God.????????????? ?5—Latin: ars, artis: skill, handicraft, trade, occupation; artus: joint, armus: shoulder, arma: weapons.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????6-- Korea, China- beauty, skill, technology.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 7-- Bahasa: ilmu, originally Arabic- elm, sacred knowledge.?????????????????????????????? ?8-- Persian- honar- technology. ?“If one’s moral character is not high, one’s art will also lack style.”? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Wen Chenming??