In my 20+ years of experience, I have been privileged to work in family-owned, professional and multi-national companies. In none of these organizations did the prevailing corporate culture evolve in a planned fashion.
It shouldn’t be that way. Culture is too important to be left to chance. It’s an important ingredient to your organization’s success. Let’s start with a definition. Ed Schien defines culture as “the residue of success, the accumulated wisdom of what does work and does not work”, and this can make or break a company. Compare the two Kodak siblings: Eastman Chemical is thriving today because its leaders adhered to the company’s culture of innovation and efficiency. Eastman Kodak, on the other hand, a giant in its heyday, is now a fraction of itself. Kodak remained stuck in the past, having abandoned the culture of innovation that made it successful.
How does an organization create and sustain a successful culture? Start with the organization’s vision and values. If you ask your leadership team what made them successful in the past, or what will help to sustain success in the future, you’ll notice a pattern. Phrases like “customer focus”, “operational excellence”, “continuous improvement” and “integrity” may emerge. I call these the organization’s core values – ingredients to the corporate culture, i.e. the secret sauce. For Apple it’s innovation. In 1997 when Steve Jobs returned to Apple he proclaimed “At Apple, we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better!” For SCG it’s about adherence to fairness, a belief in the value of the individual, a dedication to excellence and concern for social responsibility.
Next task is to contextualize these values into behaviors for your employees to follow. If customer focus is a core value of yours, translate it to actions for your Sales, Finance and even IT departments. In doing so, you make it relevant to the daily lives of your employees, and take it beyond the usual mumbo jumbo you see meaninglessly posted on walls.
Now, ensure that all leaders become culture ambassadors. Your leaders must walk the talk. Without their cooperation this entire exercise in company culture will fail. Steve Jobs understood how important it was for leaders to lead the company’s culture, saying “If we changed our core values and start letting it slide, I can’t do that, I’d rather quit.”
Companies in the top half of corporate culture scores have 2.5x greater EBITDA and +5x greater sales growth than those in the bottom half*
Then communicate your values. The most effective method is storytelling. In the same way that we tell stories to our children, your managers must tell the stories to employees. Stories quickly enter the psyche of employees and it won’t be long before you see behavioral changes in them that reflect your organization’s culture.
A great culture is a thing to be protected. Hire the right people. Only those who fit with your culture should be hired, even if they lack some of the required skills. Why? Because it’s cheaper to train hard skills than to change an employee’s mindset. Soon you will outperform the competition. So next time you draft your business strategy don’t forget the secret sauce: corporate culture.
Suvit Chansrichawla, next-generation HR consultant under the brand Serendipity&Co., partner of the Curve Group in Thailand.
*Denison Organizational Culture Survey
