Every organisation with more than 3 people in it has a culture…and studies show that, once the business model has been shown to work, the culture is the most important factor in its success – or otherwise.
The last few years have shown us that all companies need to have a culture of being able to manage change successfully. All leaders and managers in organisations need to learn how to master, land and deliver sustainable change in order 1) to survive, and 2) to remain competitive and relevant in their given fields.
They also know that the positive foundation that a brilliant company culture can bring can be the most powerful tool for successfully navigating the dangerous waters of any sustainable business transformation.
In too many companies, however, culture can become an afterthought and take a back seat to initiatives with a more direct impact on the P&L. After the economy took a nosedive in 2008, and now during the pandemic, many of the companies that are fighting to survive haven’t been focusing on the solid and long-term foundational elements that make companies great – like culture, purpose/mission, vision, values and standards of behaviour. They are focusing instead on the short-term: paying the salaries and trying to re-build customer trust and loyalty and shareholder value.
Great leaders – and those of us who have made all these mistakes in the past – know that culture has a direct impact on efficiency, team spirit and profitability. When the company culture has purpose, vision, values and standards of behaviour at its core – and are lived, eaten and breathed by everyone, the highest financial returns are realised.
Creating, building protecting and improving that culture is specialist work. It must be by design and it must be supported by a provider with an impeccable track record of achievement in this field.
When you can firstly identify – and then secondly root out – the elements of the culture that are not working to your advantage, and work diligently to improve them, you’ll be able to produce some ground-breaking performance improvements and build a terrific workplace.
There are always tell-tale signs that you need to upgrade your company culture – download them here.
Improving the culture isn’t a “nice to do”, soft skill, management strategy. It lies at the heart of hard-driving business improvement and it is imperative for driving great financial results consistently.
While it does have to start at the top, improving a company culture has to involve every single member of the team. Buy-in is crucial. The good news is that nobody wants to work in an environment where the culture is poisonous or toxic – or where it just sucks.
If you’re serious about driving significant and sustainable business improvement, you need to talk to us at Sewells, the UK’s leading culture change specialists now! Simply click here to arrange an appointment.
