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S7 E9 Strategy and Culture Alignment for Business Sustainability. Did my Strategy eat my Culture? Diagnose your pain points with Lisa Askwith
INTRODUCTION Strategy and Culture Alignment for Business Sustainability Part 1 (EP 9)- Did my Strategy eat my Culture?- Diagnose your pain points
So often we see the needs behind developing a positive culture that empowers people through engagement forgotten in the rush to do business and make money. Now don’t get me wrong, you definitely need to make money in the business otherwise you fail yourself and your people, but there comes a point in every business's lifecycle where the culture is critical for either long term success, improvement, or revenue generation. Typically once a business is up and running and the original founders are moving into defined roles and more employees come on board the culture really starts to solidify……..for better or worse!
Similarly in an established business, culture needs constant monitoring and engagement to keep it at a high and beneficial level……..culture whilst self-sustaining for a period of time needs exceptional leaders, and a sound long term plan to stay valuable and positive……just as a good business strategy needs constant reviews and discussion to be successful, a culture is the same. This is a key point that many business leaders miss………and hence great cultures often only last for short periods of time, as they are often sacrificed to the focus on strategy.
When I say sacrificed, I am not saying it is a deliberate shift of focus, more often than not it is an unconscious one, as the leadership team have become used to working in a great culture and don’t realise that it needs constant attention to keep it that way. When this happens people start to revert to type, and the highly driven leaders start to focus on metrics, and forget to put a similar level of focus and time into maintaining and further developing a great culture that can drive the business forward. This is when I start to see the phrase of Culture eats strategy for breakfast flip around and become strategy eats, and often steamrolls culture and leaves the business in a mess
To help diagnose the pain points in your business, review;
Disengaged staff, High staff turn over, Silo thinking and mentality, Increased sick leave, Lack of accountability, Blame culture, Bullying, Nepotism High performing staff are leaving rather than taking a promotion Long serving staff only in one part of the business No innovation Leadership has been the same for over 10 years Staff not accessing learning and development Deadlines constantly being missed or push further out No feedback from the floor- ever
2 Key tools
Use Culture Surveys and 360 degree leadership feedback to diagnose where you are now. The results from these 2 key tools will allow you to really understand the pain points, as well as identify those that may not be talked about in the open. Then you can start to understand the scope of the problem, and have the opportunity to be able to turn it around and allow your culture to once again flourish backed by a strong and supportive strategy.
5 key metrics for culture and strategy integration
There are several key metrics you need to ensure that are part of your strategy and culture continue to be aligned. Start with the basics of attrition and length of stay and then build from there to include loss past training, average length of workers across business units and compare this all to the competition. You need an industry benchmark to really help you understand where you can change effectively. .These numbers must be part of your regular leadership meetings to ensure they embed in
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By IBGR onAir Talent Lisa Askwith
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INTRODUCTION Strategy and Culture Alignment for Business Sustainability Part 1 (EP 9)- Did my Strategy eat my Culture?- Diagnose your pain points
So often we see the needs behind developing a positive culture that empowers people through engagement forgotten in the rush to do business and make money. Now don’t get me wrong, you definitely need to make money in the business otherwise you fail yourself and your people, but there comes a point in every business's lifecycle where the culture is critical for either long term success, improvement, or revenue generation. Typically once a business is up and running and the original founders are moving into defined roles and more employees come on board the culture really starts to solidify……..for better or worse!
Similarly in an established business, culture needs constant monitoring and engagement to keep it at a high and beneficial level……..culture whilst self-sustaining for a period of time needs exceptional leaders, and a sound long term plan to stay valuable and positive……just as a good business strategy needs constant reviews and discussion to be successful, a culture is the same. This is a key point that many business leaders miss………and hence great cultures often only last for short periods of time, as they are often sacrificed to the focus on strategy.
When I say sacrificed, I am not saying it is a deliberate shift of focus, more often than not it is an unconscious one, as the leadership team have become used to working in a great culture and don’t realise that it needs constant attention to keep it that way. When this happens people start to revert to type, and the highly driven leaders start to focus on metrics, and forget to put a similar level of focus and time into maintaining and further developing a great culture that can drive the business forward. This is when I start to see the phrase of Culture eats strategy for breakfast flip around and become strategy eats, and often steamrolls culture and leaves the business in a mess
To help diagnose the pain points in your business, review;
Disengaged staff, High staff turn over, Silo thinking and mentality, Increased sick leave, Lack of accountability, Blame culture, Bullying, Nepotism High performing staff are leaving rather than taking a promotion Long serving staff only in one part of the business No innovation Leadership has been the same for over 10 years Staff not accessing learning and development Deadlines constantly being missed or push further out No feedback from the floor- ever
2 Key tools
Use Culture Surveys and 360 degree leadership feedback to diagnose where you are now. The results from these 2 key tools will allow you to really understand the pain points, as well as identify those that may not be talked about in the open. Then you can start to understand the scope of the problem, and have the opportunity to be able to turn it around and allow your culture to once again flourish backed by a strong and supportive strategy.
5 key metrics for culture and strategy integration
There are several key metrics you need to ensure that are part of your strategy and culture continue to be aligned. Start with the basics of attrition and length of stay and then build from there to include loss past training, average length of workers across business units and compare this all to the competition. You need an industry benchmark to really help you understand where you can change effectively. .These numbers must be part of your regular leadership meetings to ensure they embed in