Where humans are, culture is. That is the long and short of it. If you have humans together, they will create and maintain a culture. The question for you in business is: Does this culture help or hinder my business? Is it supporting the goals and objectives? Or does it get in the way of creating value for the customer and efficiency?
Culture is often the first variable to be ignored when looking to grow or improve business. We look to numbers, KPIs, and revenue streams to tell us what needs to change. Don’t get me wrong – these things are really important! But if you don’t have a culture that will support change, anything you choose to do will be short lived.
For ease of discussion, let’s define this word. Here’s some definitions I like:
- Behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes characteristic of a group of people
- A self-correcting system of language (from Tribal Leadership)
Another tidbit to note: the word “culture” actually comes from the same Latin root as “cultivate,” which means “to grow.” This is a good connection to make because it helps us be aware that culture can be grown and directed with purpose and intention, just like plants!
The point of defining this for ourselves is to understand that we have and interact with culture wherever we go. It is powerful, and it can make or break the effective efforts of a business. When you have a group of people working towards the same goal, you can accomplish incredible things. Even impossible things. When you have a group of people fighting for their own self-interest at every turn, your enterprise will be sluggish and unavailable.
So then, back to the crux of our discussion. Why do we care? We care because we often need other people involved. When you look at the incredible giftings, talents, and skills of the people working for you or around you, why would you let any of that go to waste? The good news is that most people want to work towards something worthwhile. The working world has changed, and purpose has come to the forefront. People want to know why they are working so hard, and the answer can’t be “a paycheck.” Nor can it be, “so the company makes money.” People want to feel that they are contributing in a valuable way, and the culture of a company has everything to do with meeting this basic need.
So if our first question is What is Culture? and our second is Why does it matter? our third must be: How do I make the culture of my company work FOR and not against? In business (and life!) we want to strategically position all our resources to be working for us and not against us wherever possible. The answer to this question is, as Simon Sinek put it, to start with WHY. However, you can’t just throw out a WHY you are yourself unwilling to live by, and this is where many organizations struggle. We identify a great, resounding, wonderful WHY that we don’t ourselves care to live by and uphold with our actions. Most of the time, this is not because we are horrible hypocrites and liars. It’s because we may not have thought through what the real identity and purpose of the company actually is. More on that to come.
Activity: Set the timer for 2 minutes. Write down adjectives that describe your CURRENT business culture. Reset the timer. Write down adjectives that describe the IDEAL business culture of your company. How might you start to shift one of those more difficult adjectives to look like the ideal state you identified? Who might join you in this effort? What are the desired results?