05 Sep Culture and Strategy Should Eat Breakfast Together
Peter Drucker famously quipped that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. But maybe culture and strategy should just be friends and eat breakfast together.
Culture
Culture can’t be faked, because it is defined by how people actually behave. Insincere statements made by leaders about culture can be spotted from a mile away. In one of Enron’s annual reports, it listed its core values as communication, respect, integrity, and excellence. But, clearly, writing a paragraph in an annual report isn’t enough. The values that leaders want for their company must be clearly demonstrated in their attitude and behavior every step of the way.
Strategy
- Vision: The vision should tell everyone where the company wants to go.
- Objectives: Key areas in which efforts are focused in order to get to where the company wants to go.
- Initiatives: Specific projects or tasks that employees will work on to support the objectives. Initiatives align the work that employees do everyday with the important things that drive success.
- Internal controls: Ways to ensure that the initiatives are being carried out. Internal controls should underpin the objectives, laying a solid foundation for success.
- Measures: Data that lets everyone know the effect that the initiatives are having in moving the company towards the vision.
How Culture and Strategy Work Together
Great leaders recognize the importance of balancing culture and strategy. They focus on building a culture where employees know the strategy, which leads to better business results, which in turn results in a better culture. It’s a never ending cycle. Everybody wins.
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