Culture is Observational not Aspirational
When a recent client named Louise told me enthusiastically about her employer, I asked her to describe the culture. She said that the three founders lived their values out loud. They don’t have posters on the wall or flowery language on the website. There isn’t a handbook on the shelf with values. The company values are witnessed by all employees almost every day. What I heard is how culture is observational, not aspirational.
Louise said the company’s culture is based on three values – no jerks, employees first, and being genuinely transparent.
Here is how Louise describes the culture she observes:
- JERK FREE: The owners can be seen getting rid of jerks who don’t get along. They don’t just say stuff – they do stuff to live the value. Firing a top sales guy who was obnoxious to other employees was unacceptable.
- EMPLOYEES FIRST: They genuinely care for their employees’ well-being to ensure they can serve their customers well. The company goes out of its way to check in with employees to see how they are feeling – not only how their work is progressing.
- TRULY TRANSPARENT: When they say they are transparent, they show us their P&L each month. They don’t say things; they guide and lead by example. They don’t hide bad news – they share the good, the bad and the in-between each month.
Observing a Culture
As businesses grow, the owners hire direct reports who must live and lead with their values. So, three people now have ten people working under them. If the second-level leaders have observed the culture firsthand – no platitudes and posters, then the culture gets transmitted through behavior. The best mantra for building culture: observational not aspirational.
Creating a company culture is no different from marketing a brand. You can’t say things you do – you must live it in front of your employees or tribe.
Want To Build A Great Company Culture?
Culture eats strategy for breakfast is a famous saying from Peter Drucker. No matter how great your products and services are, you are doomed without employees believing in and understanding the culture you are establishing. Companies often do a terrible job of defining their culture with slides, posters, and complicated communications. One hundred-page PowerPoint decks aren’t the way to communicate values. Twelve key values on slide won’t cut it.
Culture resides in witness behavior, not well-scripted words on a motivational sign.
Culture isn’t what you say it is but what your employees observe about what you do. A company may have a no-jerks rule if they don’t fire the top sales guy who brings in the most revenue when he is obnoxious to others; then the message communicated is – we don’t mean what we say.
It is that simple.
If you have posters that your culture respects differences and diversity, but all the leaders are white men – perhaps your culture isn’t living up to your words. Employees have learned an easy lesson – watch behavior, not words.
When you hear the BS “we are a family, “yet they treat people like dirt – employees get the message.
Pick Three Values for a Great Company Culture
It isn’t easy to have more than three core values or pillars for a culture, but never more than five.
The founder or leadership team may agree on them – but if they aren’t enforced, practiced, and witnessed by employees, the culture that becomes established is that you don’t honor what you say.
If one of your three value pillars is the importance of taking measured risks to help improve, then the moment someone gets publicly chewed out for trying something different – that pillar slowly crumbles. However, employees react differently if you use failure as an example of a measured risk you want to celebrate and encourage.
What goes on in an employee’s mind is – they must mean it, and it is okay to experiment and try new stuff.
Brownie Culture – It’s A Wrap!
When my wife and I owned our wholesale bakery business, Rachel’s Brownies, one of the cultural pillars of our business was adherence to perfection. We believe in excellence and a dedication to perfection. We wanted every brownie to be a fantastic experience, and consistency was a critical aspect of our culture.
When our employees watched my wife rewrap the hundreds of brownies I wrapped, they got the point. We didn’t have to tell them to do it right – they witnessed my wife fixing my poor packaging job.
I was an okay brownie wrapper- but not to my wife’s standard of excellence.
And her name was on each brownie. We lived our pillars – and everyone got the message by seeing me, as President of the business, being corrected for not being able to do what we asked everyone else to do. That’s how we built our culture – by demonstrating our values.
Thinking About Culture
As a growing business, how the founders and leadership team behave and adhere to your stated pillars means that your more senior leaders will do the same. If founders or leadership ignore what they have put on the posters in the breakroom – they forget to build a culture based on those ideals.
Employees are intelligent and observant. When you claim you treat everyone like family but blow up at someone who made a mistake, you quickly lose trust.
Want to build a great culture? Identify three core values that matter to you. Give specific examples of what that means. Then live those values every day. I agree with Professor Drucker that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Make your culture observational, not aspirational.
And a lousy culture is the quickest path to failure, uninspired employees, and indigestion.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
