Breakfast

why culture eats strategy for breakfast oo often, companies have a strategic from the same six components: attitude, employee engagement, turnover, plan but do not have a culture plan. beliefs, values, behaviors, relationships communication, recognition, Any company without a culture plan and environment. When strategy and rewards and cultural readiness. If to “operationalize” their strategy is culture collide, culture will always win. acted upon, this may be the best putting success at risk. The strategy becomes “shelfware.” The money ever spent. culture lives on. You see, as good as your strategy may 3. Create and communicate meaning. be, it is your culture that executes upon Here are six tips to align culture with A financial goal alone simply will that strategy and creates a competitive strategy: not cut it in 2016. Companies that advantage. These days, there is no tie their vision to meaning for their such thing as a sustainable competitive 1. Complete a voice-of-the-employee employees are more successful. advantage in terms of a strategy or survey. On an annual basis, you One of the greatest visions of all should be measuring employee time was JFK’s “We choose to go toTproduct. Competition can copy your engagement. The survey should the moon! We will put a man on the strategy and your products, but no one effectively measure engagement moon by the end of this decade!” can copy your culture. Just ask those in areas of the basics (what do I When a NASA janitor was once who compete with Southwest Airlines get?), backing (do I have support?), asked what his job was, he replied or Zappos. Your culture is your brand. belonging (do I belong?) and by saying, “I am helping to put a Building a great culture doesn’t come becoming (are there opportunities man on the moon.” Meaning is a from the HR department. It comes from for me to learn and develop?). powerful thing. how the leaders live inside the business. 2. Complete a deep review of your 4. Develop the proper learning While I have never been a musician, culture. Engage an unbiased progressions to ensure I am told all music is made from the outside firm to do a cultural capability. As your company same 12 notes. All cultures are made assessment. Looking at everything begins to transform itself to align including, but not limited with the strategy, ensure your to, hiring and training elicits and reinforces the onboarding desired skill. The ability to change processes, requires an ability to learn. Create an environment of continuous Competition learning and become a learning can copy your organization.strategy and your products, but 5. Align recognition and rewards to no one can copy drive behavior. If you are trying your culture. to improve customer retention and loyalty, then reward your employees for doing so. If you are trying to improve shared services performance, then develop a shared services scorecard and reward for improvement. 6. Communicate and recognize performance often. Quarterly town halls, monthly conference calls, newsletters, CEO updates sharing where the company is from a financial perspective and recognizing performance are keys to success. As the late Sy Syms, a New York clothier used to say, “An educated consumer is our best customer.” The same principle applies here. An educated employee is the84 J U N E /J U LY 2016P SDA .ORG

why culture eats strategy for breakfastAll cultures are made from the same sixcomponents: attitude, beliefs, values,behaviors, relationships and environment.When strategy and culture collide, culturewill always win. best employee. Let them see how culture, and even fewer know how Does your company have the company is performing from a important it is to the bottom line. Trust a culture plan? ■ revenue and profit perspective on a me; your culture has an unbelievable weekly or monthly basis. Recognize impact on the bottom line. Mike Jacoutot is the founder and managing top performance. Remember: partner of Butler Street, a team of process- Recognized behavior gets repeated. Just consider this: Every interaction driven, knowledge-sharing executives who Unrecognized behavior goes away. your employees have with a customer help companies achieve lasting results in is a moment of truth in which the the two most challenging areas: client andUnfortunately, most business leaders customer may form an opinion of your talent development. He can be contacted viadon’t take the time to learn exactly company and, thus, your brand. butlerstreetllc.com.what makes up an organization'sGot a Folder Headache?Take two aspirin...and call us! • Experienced Sta • Competitive Prices • Promises Kept J U N E /J U LY 2016P SDA .ORG 85