“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – this quote from American management guru Peter Drucker tells us what many works, studies, and business experts have said. Strategy is important for a company’s long-term, sustainable development, but culture is paramount. It is a fundamental part of success and therefore its most important measure.
Much has been written about organizational culture, there are many definitions, and yet the question is often asked - what is organizational culture anyway?
There are many forms of organizational culture, but what unites them all is that this concept includes the company's values, norms, and forms of behavior that reflect the organization's everyday life and environment, determine how decisions are made, feedback is shared, what form of communication is acceptable, how mistakes and conflicts are reacted to, how people employed in this company feel, how involved they are, whether they identify with the company or not, etc.
"Organizational culture is a set of values and rituals that act as the "glue" in the process of integration between members of an organization" - Richard Perrin.
Just like every person, every company is a separate individual, with its own character, rules, and specific forms of behavior that differentiate it from other organizations. Today, when the market is saturated with countless interesting businesses, organizational culture is often the factor that becomes a prerequisite for the long-term viability, progress, and success of a business.
As speaker and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of VaynerX, says: “Corporate culture is the backbone of every successful company.”
And yet, where do we find organizational culture in a company?
Organizational culture exists in organizations in both formal and informal forms. We can see formally defined culture in the company's mission, vision, code of conduct, and guidelines, but this is not enough to create a strong and effective organizational culture. For this, it is necessary to introduce informal rules that ideally coincide with formal rules (vision and values). Such rules are manifested within the company on a daily basis, for example, in forms of communication. It is crucial that both parts of the organizational culture are known to everyone employed in the company and that each member of the team acts according to these rules. This especially applies to the management team, it is the company's director, manager, founder (if he is personally involved in management) who should live by these norms.
It is important for the managing director, the founder (the scale of the company does not matter) to have a good understanding of the essence of organizational culture and the fact that it is he who sets the standard. (Of course, the employee factor is taken into account and rules are not introduced only vertically.) First of all, it is the manager who is the defender and implementer of these rules, corporate norms and values. Ultimately, he is the only one who has the opportunity, with his own management style, which should ideally be based on the company's values, to create culture and become a source of inspiration for the rest. He brings the informal side of culture and norms to the employee by his own example. This is the foundation for creating a strong culture in the company.
Zappos, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Adobe – this is a small list of companies that have understood the above well and are investing appropriate resources to establish a high standard of corporate culture.
The creation and development of a company involves the development of a team, employees, and their support. Corporate culture should serve precisely this purpose: to find a way to create a single whole within this unity (team) , where values are reinforced in behavior and the employee's happiness index is high. In such a case, he connects his own values with the company's values, perceives himself as an important member of the team and takes on more responsibility, is innovative, and ultimately, labor efficiency is high. In the case of a strong corporate culture, employee turnover, which is a pain point for many companies today, is not an acute problem. Culture strengthens the company's reputation as an employer, and attracting new qualified personnel becomes easy.
We must constantly remember:
"The most important thing in organizational culture is communication between people" - Fabrizio Perini
Just as each person's personality is determined by their character and behavior, in the case of a company, corporate culture determines the company's identity, creates a certain sense of security, and, as I already mentioned, significantly contributes to increasing employee motivation and the company's long-term success.
If we think about the factors of a company's success once again, first of all we should probably name the idea (creative, innovative), we can also mention special technology and certainly capital, which will allow us to implement this idea and grow the business. Today, when access to financial resources and the purchase of even special technology or equipment with these resources is relatively simplified, organizational culture is even more important, which you cannot buy with any capital.
What would you say, do you have an organizational culture, how strong is it?
If you haven't thought about it, or you think you're too small a company for that, remember that this is a long process, and having a "culture without culture" is a crime against your own company. To establish a company as a brand, just a slogan, logo, good product or service is not enough; for this, internal processes must be in place, employees must be happy, proud, and ambassadors of your brand with the customer. Without a strong corporate culture, this is impossible to achieve.
"The best brand ambassadors for a company are its employees" – Richard Branson
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - Peter Drucker.
You can think about all this again over breakfast… 😊
I'll leave you with a few questions, if you'd like, start thinking about them:
• Why do we exist (as a company)?
• What do we serve, what do we believe, what are we like?
• What are our core values?
• What do we want to achieve, what is our main goal?
