Culture — the real advantage, the real challenge

There is energy around. This tension is suffocating. It feels kind of comfy. It smells of toxicity. They aim and it gets done. They say and forget. I feel a stranger. I feel at home. These are some phrases that vocalize employee experiences. These are phrases that are loaded. These are words that have an overtone.

These are statements that ring bells. Above all, the frequency of their utterance in an organization depicts the way things happen. Culture of the organization is the bedrock without which the company becomes vulnerable to any internal or external tremor.

We dread a fragile culture and we rave about a resilient one. A company without the appropriate culture can have cutting edge technology, pick of talent, a fabulous five star corporate office but can still crumble into history.

As James Heskett says, culture “can account for 20-30% of the differential in corporate performance when compared with ‘culturally unremarkable’ competitors.” That is huge. A 20% advantage translated into revenues can amount to many millions. In fact, another article “Creating high performance culture” states that improving corporate culture increases productivity by 46% and revenue by 32%.

When the benefits are so high, why is the corporate world maintaining a low focus on this aspect of critical care? The key challenge is that culture is invisible like oxygen. However, like oxygen it is equally important for corporate survival and growth. As culture is not tangible, the focus is on building grand offices, new talent, more cash balances than the nebulous vision and values that are mostly reserved for grandiose speeches.

Building or changing the culture requires a top leadership focus on:

1- A compelling vision- For many companies vision is a tick box. More for the website than for real sight. Simple test. Ask a majority of the workforce what the vision of the company is they will start searching it on google. Far from compelling your mind and heart, the vision has hardly registered outside the frame on the wall. Organizations need to not just have a vision, they need to form it, sell it, connect it and co-create it with all stakeholders. That means that there has to be a communication strategy that helps the vision to be told and sold at every level.

The example of the three stonecutters whose output varies despite having the same job description of breaking big stones is a case in point. When asked what they were doing, the first one with the least output replied, “I am cutting stones”. The second with better output said he is breaking the biggest stones as he is the best stone cutter in town. The one with the best output simply said, “I am building a mosque”. That is the power of a clear and compelling vision. It can move mountains and get extraordinary results.

Takeaway — Develop a telling, selling, compelling vision and communication plan.

2- Values that live and walk the talk— Culture is based on the value system in a company. Whatever is valued is followed. Whatever is followed by the top echelons or the majority becomes the governing value. In many cases the core values that the company professes are just considered lip service. This contradiction in saying and doing creates distrust and division.

Examples are the popular corporate value “empower”. Many offices adorn their desks with this value. However, the stories of the behavior of the man behind the desk are anything but of empowerment. There will be shaking of head in disgust being expressed on his micromanagement or control freak nature. “Equality” is a super hit value in corporate world. As soon as you enter the offices, you see the VIP parking areas, the express elevators and the exclusive lunch facilities, etc. This talk the talk rather than walk the talk becomes a butt of humour and mockery, which finally results in sarcasm and disengagement.

Takeaway— Choose values that are not just sermons but practical. Make the performance rewards contingent upon value adherence.

3- Structure and systems that enable the walk on the cultural path— Any cultural change is a strategy change. Any strategy change not followed by structure and systems change will not work. If we want to grow and are not creating decentralized geographical units in the structure, the power distribution will not happen. Similarly, if a system of equal facilities is not designed, such as medical facilities for all employees CEO to bottom being same (as done by a local telecom giant) the value of equality will be violated again and again.

Takeaway— Review your structure and systems if the strategy is facing bottlenecks.

4- Symbols that indicate and reinforce the behaviour— Culture is invisible. It is denoted by symbols and styles. The number of CCTV cameras in the office may be interpreted a symbol of trust/distrust of the management on the employees. What time the managers enter the office symbolizes the value of punctuality and discipline in the organization. Location and the type of office the CEO has will symbolize the approachability and leadership style being practiced. Open-door policy has to be symbolized by how much the CEO sits outside his office with workers and how he adopts the consultative style in making decisions. This will determine whether the open door is really opened or closed even when it is open.

Takeaway— Do a symbols perception audit. Find out if they are denoting trust or vice versa etc., and make relevant changes.

5- Stories that weave the cultural narrative— Every organization is a tale of that company. Every department is a chapter in the book. Every action of a leader is a story that tells itself. They all form the cultural narrative that becomes the way of living for employees and an image for its external stakeholders. This may be known as grapevine or gossip or politics, etc. The talk about people, by people, of people when they are not around. This talk is what goes around and what goes out. The great stories about how simple the top guy is- there will be a story about it told forever if it is truly inspiring. In some companies it is how the CEO sat on the floor to have food on the factory lines. In other companies it may be the opposite. How a CEO refuses or barely shakes hands with workers. The story goes viral on how he treats people on lines as untouchables.

Takeaway— Use internal mystery shoppers to hear about what story is making rounds and create course corrections required.

You can copy almost everything else in this world of artificial intelligence. What you cannot copy is the value system and the thought process that binds and knits the organisation into a unique whole— that only a carefully crafted and lived culture can do.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024