Please allow me to be a bit braggadocious for a second and then I will make my point.
I know lots and lots of executives and I am guilty of boasting about having a rolodex ( that's an old fashioned word for LinkedIn ) full of Chief Executives & Presidents business cards.
This deep connectivity into The Corner Offices around many industries has provided some great insight into different company cultures AND allows me to make the statement that one of the main differences in companies that succeed and companies that fail can many times be traced back to Company Culture.
With this in mind, there isn't a day that goes by, that I am not thinking about constantly improving culture. It is a Kaizen Process to be certain, although I am not convinced that developing culture resides solely in the "C Suite ".
I am actually of the opinion that company culture has ZIPPO, NOTHING, NADA to do with some mission statement or corporate hyperbole, but rather that CULTURE is how the employees feel, think and act when executives or leaders aren't around.
True company culture can be felt by a new employee arriving for an interview. It can be understood internally with no words being spoken and it can touch that inner part of us all, that wants to belong to something that makes a difference.
True
company culture can be felt by a new employee arriving for an
interview. It can be understood internally with no words being spoken
True company culture can be embraced without knowing about an org chart, pandering to some shallow ego of an executive, or digesting a core values pamphlet. When its real - you will know it. Your people will know it, and others will flock to your company to be a part of it.
I was at an off site round table discussion recently and the CEO of a billion dollar automotive company was telling me of his deeply held belief that "Culture Eats Strategy " . I sat amazed at how absolutely in tune with his companies culture he was and how that left unchecked and untended, your companies culture can and will actually devour any strategy you have planned.
I am convinced that as we spend countless hours in meetings trying to impact strategic change into broken portions of our companies that we would all be better served to focus a little more on our culture, and less on our egos and org charts.
P.S. As part of our continuing effort to improve our culture, we participated in yet another mud run this past weekend. The photos you see, well my friend, That's our CULTURE. Here's hoping your culture is thriving and that your staff cant wait to come to work each day.
#howsYOURculture?
