Standards

Welcome to instalment 5 of the ‘Countdown to Christmas’ blog series “What separates good/bad strategy and culture’. Today’s blog will explore Good vs Bad culture in relation to standards.

Good culture has real non-negotiable standards and believes in the mantra “the standards you walk past are the standards you create”.

Bad culture either does not have agreed standards or the standards are ‘just words’ with no practical meaning.??Enron was a famous example of a theoretical set of standards that weren’t real.?At the time of their collapse their Values were Integrity, Communication, Respect and Excellence.??How ironic.

To bring the idea of good culture to life let me present the Mafia as a case study. ?

Say what?

As nuts as this sounds, I think you can make an argument for the Mafia as having an effective culture.?Let me explain.?

Here are the values of the Cosa Nostra (Sicilian Mafia):

1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife is about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

These values aren’t words on a wall.?They are clear, specific and deliberately targeting a certain skillset/mindset, ie not trying to cater to everyone.?They are also absolutely real.?People are held accountable, sometimes with their lives.

Most law-abiding people with a moral compass will take issue with the Mafia but if we make an objective assessment of their ability to align a team around a common set of behaviours, one could argue their culture is highly effective.

If you want to know whether your culture is good or bad, start with the simple questions:

How clear are your standards? Are your people being held accountable to them?