An organisations culture is as important to many of us as a salary or a job title. It’s not easy to define, it’s not something you can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch but it exists and is a key component of any company’s make-up.
Why? Because, in the words of Peter Drucker “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
That is quite a statement and one that many may struggle to spout round the board table. But I believe Drucker was right – culture is crucial to what we are and what we achieve. But why do I hold that view and how can that be demonstrated?
Let’s start by exploring what types of organisational culture there are? Well, back in 2018 Jesse Lyn Stoner of the Seaport institute, published an article that defines four key types: Bureaucratic, Community, Competitive and Entrepreneurial.
Now, to some extent these may appear self-explanatory, but they really do benefit from some guidance. So, I have included a link to Jesse’s original post (and very good I think it is, so thank you Jesse) along with a bit more of her definitions at the end of this article.
But before skipping down to read it (and missing the good stuff in-between), perhaps just pause a moment and ask yourself two questions:
- What culture do I believe would get the best out of me?
- What culture do I believe I operate in at present?
Just as each individual’s personality is unique, so is each organisation’s culture. Rarely does an organisation’s culture lie entirely under one definition. Think Venn diagrams (if you can bring yourself to recall school maths); your own organisation may fall in the middle of two, three or even all four of these types.
But underpinning these cultures – and perhaps shaping which one is dominant in your own organisation – is perhaps a sense of purpose? What is it your organisation wants to be? Does it want to be the biggest? The most liked? The most ‘successful’ (however that is defined)? The most innovative? The most efficient?
You may all have your own thoughts on what that goal is. But I’d like to share a purpose that runs throughout our own business, Jobtrain: simply to ‘Be better’.
This is a philosophy that we seek to promote at all levels within Jobtrain. It’s not infallible – but it does work at both an organisational as well as at a personal level. So, what does it mean? I believe it taps into some of the organisational culture types outlined above: it has a strong alignment with ‘Competitive’ (winning, doing things best, a meritocracy).
It also sits well with ‘Entrepreneurial’ (doing things differently; encouraging individual initiative) and promotes that sense of team and family that typifies a ‘Community’ culture.
But it is far more than that. For me – and for the Jobtrain business – this is about all of us just being better. My eldest son, who is now about to gain a PhD in molecular medicine, started his first job at a local supermarket when he was in Sixth form. The message/advice I gave him when he started? ‘Just try and be better’. Whatever you are asked to do: sweep the floor, or stack shelves, or tidy stock rooms – just try to do it better than anyone else can. And if you can’t, then just do it better each day.
That is key to the growth of companies. They are not organic in their own right. They don’t have their own minds and capabilities – they comprise a collection of people. And organisations get better because the people within them get better. Whatever job they do.
At Jobtrain, we have a message painted onto the wall when people arrive at our offices, it says:
“Don’t just be good, be brilliant”.
The essence of that message is not a trite saying but more a reflection of our philosophy. Don’t settle for ordinary – nobody really wants to be just ordinary do they? Instead be extraordinary – be brilliant!
Perhaps easy to say but your leadership needs to embrace that as well.
That is not about pure metrics – “you answered 35 calls yesterday, do 40 today”. That is just measurement at a one-dimensional level. Does a sales person really have to do more than 100% of target to be seen as ‘better’?
You may think the answer to the above is a resounding ‘yes’! Not to me. Adopting this mindset means we have learnt nothing from management science over past decades. Charles Handy[2] (esteemed writer on many Organisational issues[3]) once referred to the KITA, (Kick In The Ass) school of management, summarising that whilst it can produce movement it never improves motivation.
And that is the thing about ‘Be better’ – the drive comes from within the individual and not from external targets and imposed expectations. The job of the leadership therefore, in my view, is to tap into that inner drive. To allow people the opportunity to be their better self. To do things better – and to capture them doing it. What is more demoralising than having someone constantly point out every mistake that you make, whilst never acknowledging your successes?
So that person handling calls – they may only do 35, but if every person leaves satisfied, or has bought into your organisation, is that not better than the employee hitting a target of 40 but not being focused on the quality of what they are offering?
If a sales person fails to hit their target on an odd occassion, does that now make them bad at sales? Can one deal turn them from zero to hero? Does it really boil down to the unpredictable outcome of one sale changing your view of that person’s sales abilities? Or does this demonstrate the resilience you really need in sales; that they can articulate our proposition with passion and belief or that they can develop relationships that mean they are trusted as a source by those whom they are trying to do business with?
That is why I am a strong advocate of using measurement, of understanding data, but I am not a great fan of simply relying on metrics in the workplace. They can be a very blunt tool and nowhere near sophisticated enough for most progressive organisational cultures. They may provide insight but as Handy[4] states bundling measurements up into a great file and smacking someone over the head with it (metaphorically!) will never produce sustainable results. It may get a short-term reaction, but the bruises will remain and the trust will wither.
So, my plea here is threefold:
- Don’t dismiss culture as something ‘airy fairy’ and not relevant to performance. It is at the very heart of it
- Don’t just measure, believing that will improve things. Encouraging people to learn, to improve, to be better is surely what all good leaders should do isn’t it?
- Embrace feedback – listen to it, consider it carefully and give it to others generously.
Ken Blanchard[5] (author of The One Minute Manager[6]) stated that “feedback is the breakfast of champions”.
I agree 100% with Ken – but only if that feedback is designed to help people Be Better!
[1] https://seapointcenter.com/types-of-organizational-culture/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Minute_Manager
[3] https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/leadership-management/management-perspective-and-practice/content-section-3.5.2
[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/work/handy/handybiography.shtml
[5] https://www.kenblanchard.com/About-Us/Meet-the-Team/Ken-Blanchard
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Minute_Manager
