How to Build Culture & Retain It

Strategy and culture are two of the most critical levers at the hands of senior executives in their never-ending effort to sustain organizational vitality and effectiveness. Leadership and strategy formulation work hand in hand, and most leaders grasp the principles. Culture and leadership are intrinsically intertwined, for better or worse. Unfortunately, in our experience, executives striving to develop high-performing companies are far more frequently befuddled by culture. They may put out thorough, careful plans for strategy and execution, but their plans fall apart due to confusion about the culture's strengths and dynamics. Culture, as someone once remarked, eats strategy for breakfast.

Our research reveals that culture can be controlled. The first and most crucial action leaders can take to maximize its value while minimizing its hazards is understanding how it operates thoroughly. We discovered eight types that identify culture and may be quantified by combining data from more than 100 of the most regularly used social and behavioral models. Leaders may use this approach to model the influence of culture on their firm and analyze its alignment with strategy. We also discuss how culture may help them achieve transformation and establish companies that flourish even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Defining Culture

Culture is an organization's unspoken social order. It has a comprehensive and long-lasting impact on attitudes and actions. Culture, when correctly linked, may channel enormous quantities of energy toward a common goal. Culture may adapt and evolve independently in response to shifting possibilities and needs.

There are several formal definitions of organizational culture and numerous models and ways to evaluate it. Specifics are sparsely agreed upon among these definitions, models, and methodologies. However, we have identified four generally acknowledged features through synthesizing actual work by Edgar Schein, Shalom Schwartz, Geert Hofstede, and others.

Shared: The collective experience of expected behaviors, attitudes, and assumptions is referred to as culture. It cannot exist only inside one person or be the sum of individual attributes. Culture is most typically experienced through a group's norms and expectations, as well as its unwritten regulations.

1. Pervasive: Collective behaviors, physical settings, communal rituals, visual symbols, myths, and legends are all manifestations of it. Unseen parts of culture include attitudes, motives, hidden assumptions, and action logic.
2. Enduring: Culture is a self-perpetuating social structure that becomes more resistant to change and outside influences. It emerges due to significant events in a group's collective existence and learning. Its durability is explained in part by Benjamin Schneider's attraction-selection-attrition paradigm.
3. Implicit: People are predisposed to identify and respond to culture automatically, despite its subconscious nature. E.O. Wilson and Shalom Schwartz have demonstrated how evolutionary processes produced human ability. Culture functions as a type of silent language; it is universal and may have enormous effects on us.

Eight Distinct Culture Styles

1. People Interactions: People are predisposed to automatically identify and respond to culture, despite its subconscious nature. E.O. Wilson and Shalom Schwartz have demonstrated how evolutionary processes produced human ability. Culture functions as a type of silent language; it is universal and may have enormous effects on us.
2. Response to change:?Some cultures value stability, while others value adaptation and openness to change. Researchers at Spencer Stuart have identified eight leadership types related to corporate cultures and individual leaders. Over the last two decades, Spencer Stuart researchers have investigated and polished this collection of styles at both levels.

• Caring?is centered on relationships and mutual trust. Loyalty unites employees, and leaders stress authenticity, collaboration, and beneficial connections.
• Idealism& charity are examples of purpose. Employees are brought together by focusing on sustainability and global communities; leaders highlight shared ideas and promote a higher standard of living.
• Exploration, expansiveness, and inventiveness are characteristics of?learning. Curiosity unites employees, and leaders stress innovation, expertise, and adventure.
• Fun and excitement are two ways to convey?enjoyment.?Employees are brought together by playfulness and excitement, and leaders value spontaneity and a sense of humor.
• Results?are defined by accomplishment and victory. A desire for capacity and success connects employees; leaders place a premium on goal achievement.
• Strength, decisiveness, and assertiveness define?authority. Firm control unites employees; leaders promote confidence and power.
• Planning, care, and readiness describe?safety. Employees are unified in their desire to feel safe and prepared for change; leaders emphasize being realistic and planning.
• Respect, structure, and agreed standards are essential to?order. Cooperation brings employees together; leaders emphasize shared procedures and time-honored customs.

The strengths and shortcomings of eight unique styles can be used to establish a corporate culture. Organizations frequently coexist with techniques neighboring the framework, such as safety and order. Those positioned across from each other, such as safety and learning, take more energy to maintain concurrently.

Evolvere’s? research and practical experience have led us to five conclusions about the impact of culture on business success:?

(1) A strong culture produces excellent organizational outcomes linked with strategy and leadership.

(2) Choosing or nurturing future leaders necessitates a forward-thinking strategy and culture.

(3) In a merger, creating a new culture based on complementary characteristics may accelerate integration and provide value over time.

(4) Learning becomes more critical in a dynamic, uncertain environment where organizations must be more agile.

(5) When a strong culture is mismatched with strategy, it may be a disadvantage.

Four Levers for Evolving a Culture

Unlike establishing and implementing a business plan, modifying a company's culture is inextricably linked to its employees' emotional and social dynamics. We discovered that four specific approaches led to successful cultural change:

1. Articulate the aspiration:?The high-level ideals that underlie organizational endeavors are suggested by an aspirational culture. Accurate and current company difficulties and possibilities may be used to frame change. Due to the ambiguity of culture, referring to actual concerns might help individuals better appreciate the need for changing things.
2. Select and develop leaders who associate with the target culture:?Leaders play a crucial role in catalyzing change by promoting it at all levels and establishing a safe environment. Candidates for employment should be evaluated based on their alignment with the goal. Incumbent leaders that are resistant to change can be engaged and re-energized.
3. Use organizational discussions about culture to underscore the importance of change: Collaboration may aid in shifting an organization's standard norms, beliefs, and implicit understandings. Employees will begin to behave differently when they become aware that their executives are discussing new business objectives. Conversations between senior management and frontline personnel are encouraged by social media platforms.
4. Reinforce the desired change through organizational design: When a company's structures, systems, and processes are aligned and support the aspirational culture and strategy, it is much simpler to implement new cultural styles and behaviors. As the firm expands and new employees are hired, training techniques help promote the desired culture. The degree of centralization and number of hierarchical levels in an organization can be modified to reward aspirational behavior.

Putting It All Together

The culture was the most challenging obstacle to change at a typical manufacturer. The president revamped the executive team to focus on strong business line executives. Leaders were perceived to be top-down, hierarchical, and occasionally political, which hindered risk-taking. They both agreed that they needed more freedom and risk-taking. One hundred middle managers were assigned to teams tackling significant business issues.?

Teams started quickly boosting company performance and culture. After only one year, employee engagement increased by a whopping ten points. Net Promoter Scores have achieved an all-time high, indicating that clients receive new and innovative solutions well.

CONCLUSION

Leaders must first understand the culture that exists in their business. After that, they must identify an aspirational goal culture and grasp the fundamental change methods. Leading with culture is perhaps one of the few sources of long-term competitive advantage available to businesses today. Culture transformation has the potential to increase organizational performance.