Strong culture can destroy a business
I keep hearing people say they’re proud of their “strong culture”. However, strong cultures can either support or destroy business performance. A strong culture just means behaviours are consistent.
It does not mean that the culture is effective.
It does not mean it is helpful for your strategy.
It does not mean that this is something to aim for in itself.
Strong cultures can be constructive or destructive. Let me describe 2 different examples, then you can decide for yourself.
First let’s look at McKinsey. I can easily describe their culture as I used to work for the firm in the Atlanta office. Although many years ago, I still have strong links and the culture has not changed. It is easy to describe because the culture is so consistent. Every office in the world recruits similar people. They are all highly motivated and achievement-oriented. People who don’t fit this profile simply aren’t hired, or don’t last long. The firm is successful, and the culture helps deliver their success. A constructive culture aligned with their client-focused strategy. Top marks.
Now let’s look at a large bureacratic organization I know, where the behaviours of their staff are also highly consistent. Their strong culture is extremely risk averse with low levels of innovation. People get ahead by pointing out the flaws in everyone else’s work, and making themselves look good at the expense of others. ("Oppositional" style if you are familiar with Human Synergistics definitions). This drives a ruthless, competitive environment. Sadly this is a root cause of their business under-performance and bad press.
Which business would you rather work in? Both have strong cultures.
So this leads me to 3 tips below.
3 tips on strong culture
Research on strategy execution, culture and transformation
Participate in research and get confidential insight into your own capabilities including culture - complete the diagnostic in 5 minutes . You'll receive the full research insights when available. Please forward this to your work colleagues who may also want to participate in the transformation capabilities research .
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Quote of the week
"Culture is as important as strategy for business success.” Bain study published in HBR back in 2008 - 91% of 1200 global executives agreed with this.
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Discussion of habits of transformation leaders
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PS Not sure how to get your strategy unstuck, projects powering, and transformation turbocharged? I can help you.
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About Lisa Carlin
Lisa specialises in accelerating strategic projects.? She has pioneered a Human-Centered Strategy approach which she has?used to?deliver and guide executives through over 50 transformation programs.?Her early career was with McKinsey and Accenture. In 1999, she started her own business (now part of FutureBuilders), working with prestigious global organizations and B2B Tech.? Lisa is Founder of the Turbocharge Hub, which provides frameworks, tools and training to business leaders who want to be future-ready and fast-track implementation of change initiatives.?
Project, Programme & Portfolio Management | Strategy Execution Design & Planning | Enterprise Architecture | Financial & Risk Modelling
7 个月Great article. I would only say that in my experience ... whilst a certain 'culture' can dominate, its rare that it is monolithic ...ie you do get varying sub cultures in different operating at various strengths and influences in different divisions and units, dependent on the org design and extent of autonomy enjoyed by such SBU's...that is I would say culture is more like a bell curve...? Further, whilst culture is often espoused and expressed by organisations as desired values and behavious, it is rarerly definitively qualified through objective research on its people, and even less so the delta between the actual and desired culture as objective targets . Here we are talking about values based segmentation models, as used in consumer research etc. Perhaps this is venturing into the realms of social re-engineering...
I help companies resuscitate dead leads and sell using AI ?????????????? #copywriting #emailmarketing #coldemail #content #databasereactivation
7 个月Interesting perspective on workplace culture! Looking forward to reading your tips for healthy cultures.
Today I also emailed these tips to over 7,000 business leaders who have subscribed to Turbocharge Weekly. I got this wonderful anonymous feedback - thank you to whoever you are, glad it resonated! ?? ___ "Loved?it. Currently working in an organisation with a strong culture which is misaligned with the direction of a new executive team.?It's like watching a ship crash onto the rocks. The existing culture is not inherently bad, but?it?could use some nudging in a few areas. The new direction isn't inherently bad either,?it?just hasn't accounted for what is already present in the environment.?It's like watching two people talking at each other without ever really hearing the other."