The importance of culture

Culture can be a significant competitive advantage and it is not easily replicable. However, most organisations are not investing in culture at the level that will set them apart from their competitors. To build the case for investing in cultural improvement requires a thorough understanding of the cost of the current culture. The business case is strong in the areas of speed, accountability, rigour, collaboration and attractiveness to customers and employees, and it is in these areas that the link between culture and performance is most easily demonstrated. Carolyn Taylor’s (author of ‘Walking the talk’) definition of culture is the result of messages that are received about what is really valued - so, culture management is about message management. People align their behaviour to these messages in order to fit in. Changing a culture requires a systematic and planned change to these messages, whose sources are behaviours, symbols and systems - so that the desired culture can be created and sustained.

Some tips for changing the culture….

1. Culture is about messages received about what is important - change the messages and you change the culture.

2. Find out what people believe is really valued - not what it says in your values statement.

3. Build the business case for culture change specific to your organisation.

4. Problems with speed, rigour, accountability, silos and insensitivity to customers or employees are particularly suitable to a cultural solution.

5. Focus you efforts - pick one element of a great culture and use it to pull the rest along.

6. Build off your existing natural cultural strengths.

7. Spend most of your investment on changing mindsets - when these change, the rest will follow.

8. Don’t embark on this process unless you are confident you can get some of the top team to change how they think.

Playing to your strengths

Utilising our strengths in whatever we do is critical to achieving the results you desire - and it positively impacts our base level of happiness, as we are applying our unique strengths to our day-to-day situations. A very valuable exercise is to find out what your signature strengths are. Martin Seligman is the founder of Positive Psychology, a new branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions. His research has demonstrated that it is possible to be happier — to feel more satisfied, to be more engaged with life, find more meaning, have higher hopes, and probably even laugh and smile more, regardless of one’s circumstances.

Log into his website www.authentichappiness.com and register to complete the VIA Signature Strengths Questionaire. Once you find out what your top strengths are, think of ways of how you can build them into your day-to-day activities. This will have an impact on both the results you get, and the level of engagement and happiness you experience.

Bringing your purpose to life

It’s important to stop and reflect on your purpose and how you can bring it more to life. Whether it’s to be a better parent, or a more inspiring leader, or to play your role in your organisation living its purpose – the key is to think about what you can do differently to bring it even more to life every day.

I always loved the story of a housekeeper at the New York Ritz-Carlton living the company purpose ‘enlivening the senses’ - rather than simply cleaning up a room. As I heard it told….

A customer wrote to the Ritz-Carlton expressing his astonishment at the behaviour of the housekeeper during a stay in New York with his wife and daughter. After a day sight-seeing in the city, they returned to their room, only for the daughter to complain that her teddy bear was missing. After a quick search, they found it hidden in the towel cupboard, with a foil-wrapped chocolate clasped in its paws. The next day, the bear had disappeared again; the daughter found it under the bed with another chocolate in its paws. At the end of each day, for the duration of their stay, the daughter couldn’t wait to get back to the room to play ‘find the teddy’ with a housekeeping maid she never actually met. The customer wrote “it was the best part of her stay, and I’ll always remember that holiday fondly for one thing - the look on my daughter’s face of sheer delight every time we got back to our room.”

What can you do (even if it’s the smallest things) to help bring your personal, professional and/or organisation’s purpose more to life?