For 20 years, I have been sharing the following quote in trainings, consultations, and executive coaching sessions: “In productive companies, the culture is the strategy. Unlike other companies, productive companies know the difference between tactics and strategy. The difference is the foundation that allows them to stay focused and build remarkable companies. They have institutionalized their strategy.” - Jason Jennings, Less is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity as a Competitive Tool in Business, Penguin Putnam, 2002.
Let’s unpack these sentences. First, they have consciously institutionalized their culture. As we know, a culture is the sum of behavioral norms that are agreed upon, mostly by people in positions of power. Culture also is the stories we tell ourselves about “who we are?”, and “what we believe?”. As to stories, these happen at the local level more than the corporate level.
Second, on any given day and in any given company, 80% of the staff report to a front line supervisor and 80% of the staff work side by side with a small group of co-workers. For these particular staff, their front line supervisor and their co-workers, not you as a senior leader, are their world. For them, these relationships are “the company culture.”
Third, we know there are four levels of culture:
- interpersonal culture - peer to peer.
- operational culture - employee to supervisor.
- strategic culture - supervisor with senior team.
- organizational culture - the company as a whole.
When we grasp the important of what Jason Jennings wrote, then we, as leaders, need to improve the interpersonal culture and the operational culture. In summary, culture is the way people think and act. It reflects the sum of their experiences and beliefs that they have had to date.
This week, answer this question: what does a healthy culture look like where you work? Then, share and discuss your answer with your team.
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