Those words on the wall

Well hey there, happy Friday to all you awesome people out there reading the latest edition of my Culture Junky LinkedIn Exclusive series. I hope you’re having a great day so far as we close in on the Holiday weekend. If you’re reading this before checking out for the week, I applaud you for hitting it hard and closing out the week strong by putting some time into your organizational culture.

It’s that kind of example, and that kind of attitude and mindset that stands out to your team members. I’m not talking about working long late-night hours on Christmas Eve or anything like that, I’m talking about not cutting corners by taking the day off while your team members finish things up.?

You see, so many people think that Organizational Culture is just some sort of magic quote or phrase that gets painted on the wall somewhere in your office, or it’s some sort of pledge that gets engrained into a nice piece of mahogany that hangs in your lobby. Or another one I hear all too often is the title of ‘family’ being slapped onto a company’s culture.

All that is well and good, but without actionable strategy and a way to back all that up with positive experiences for those in your organization, it’s simply misleading. I saw a great quote about this a couple weeks ago, are you ready for this one?

"The way to build a great culture is not in words written on the wall, but in actions taken.”

That’s a great one. I practically want it put on a t-shirt or something so people can remember it.

When you take actions that prove to those on your team that your organizational culture is more than just a nice slogan, or more than just that ‘family’ title, that’s when you really start to see the results.?

Because as I always say, having good intentions and being intentional are NOT the same thing. You can have all the good intentions in the world, but without an actionable strategy to back up those good intentions, they’re simply not enough.