There’s a lot of talk right now about how, where, and when people should be able to work. Employees and employers often find themselves with conflicting opinions. It’s clear the game of work has changed.
We’re seeing business leaders developing new work cultures at a company, industry, economic and global level. And every experience is different. The old ways are being questioned and discredited.
Culture is at the heart of your organisation’s competitive advantage
If companies are to survive, they MUST consciously rethink their culture and how it’s brought to life across many levels. It’s become a matter of competitive advantage.
Those who get it right will increasingly have a competitive advantage over those who don’t.
To “wait and see” is not an option – this really IS a race.
When turbulence hits, particularly where change is prolonged, disruption seeps into many aspects of work and personal life. Often this puts pressure on the daily operations and, in doing so, highlights weaknesses or cracks in the organisation’s underlying cultural foundations.
In a recent panel discussion we hosted with three CEOs, the unanimous message was that there are no ready-made models or answers from the past. Organisations and their people need to think with the future in mind. They need to design models that align with their core purpose and values, and evolve using a “try and adjust” mindset which takes into account key experiences and learnings during the process.
Where can leaders start to (re) build or reset their culture?
There are four key questions for leaders and managers to think about. These questions will help them focus their gaze on what really matters.
Our Ecosystem Framework, helps to explore different perspectives to identify strengths, source underlying weaknesses, guide decisions and navigate the most fitting actions.
During periods of uncertainty, having such a framework is critical. It helps prevent business leaders from falling back into short-term, tactical decision-making.
The goal is to look at how the organisation can do things in a better way to add more value now and in the future, for all players in the ecosystem.
Is your company culture in good shape?
When reassessing your organisation’s culture, consider these 4 key questions: why, how, who and what?
1. Why?
In times of upheaval – be it economic, health, political – it pays to go back to your “why”.
Every organisation, whether large or small, public or private, has a WHY. Some may call it a purpose or a vision. For others it is “their story”.
Whatever you call it, it’s the core reason the organisation exists. It addresses the question ‘Why are we here together and why does it really matter?’
The “why” forms the purpose that brings people together, inspires leaders to take bold steps, and connects the pieces to guide and grow the business.
A well-defined “why” gives you a good anchor – a starting point – for navigating the new future. Like a tree that survives fires, floods, wind storms, and erosion, it’s the foundations – the roots – which provide the anchor for the rest of the tree to survive, regenerate, adapt and thrive.
When leaders examine their purpose, they ask questions like:
- Is our mission and direction clear?
- How does it inspire me and my team to lead others and design direction every day?
- Are we digging deep enough into our core purpose and values to be open to what’s needed here?
- Are we aligned as a leadership team and as a business to our core purpose and values? Are we using them as a guide to take action?
2. How?
Once a leadership team revisits its organisation’s purpose, it’s important to make it centre-stage. To keep telling the stories, reminding people within the organisation about the “why”.
This is especially important as work and people become more distributed, the ways people collaborate changes, and what matters to people is re-evaluated.
The how is about “the way things get done around here”. Which habits, mindsets, behaviours and thinking are valued and rewarded? Which attitudes and performance levels are tolerated or go unnoticed? How are people heard and enabled to do great work?
Right now, many organisations are having to spend a lot of time in this quadrant. They’re identifying and systematically working through the “hows” that are both desirable and necessary to achieve sustainable outcomes. These are the issues that will help move towards the future vision both for themselves and for their teams.
Culture focused leaders can ask:
- Do I and my team have the will, the mindset and the skill to adapt the way we lead for this new way of work? Where do we need to build capability?
- Do I trust myself to delegate the right outcomes and do I trust my people to come up with answers through “testing and learning”?
- Have we got the right thinking and skills to operate into the future? Are we able to connect the pieces and skills in different ways to reach the desired outcomes?
- Who have emerged as leaders and what skills have they demonstrated? How can we support these leaders by empowering them and expanding their reach?
3. Who?
An organisation will only achieve its purpose when it interacts fully with its most important stakeholders. When it delivers the value that matters to them most.
The ability to survive, adapt and grow depends on it.
When an organisation no longer delivers value, stakeholders will start to drop off, lose interest, disengage, and look elsewhere.
During periods of significant change, such as in the current climate, organisations that do well consider each of their stakeholder groups as they develop new operating models. This includes employees, customers, suppliers, partners, and the wider community.
When considering the value provided to each of its stakeholders, leaders consider:
- What are the value drivers for each group and how have their needs changed?
- How can we better engage and work with staff to keep delivering value?
- Are there better ways we can service customers, collaborate with partners and solve problems? Where it’s not working, what interventions are going to make the difference?
- How does flexibility for employees fit with our values? How do we organise a flexible workplace, maintain our productivity, engagement and ensure employee well-being?
4. What?
The organisation’s “what” is the nuts and bolts of the operation. The mechanics that support how work gets done.
It’s often these systems, processes, structures and measures that undermine the best-laid plans, slowing down the organisation’s ability to adapt and align to changing circumstances.
As new systems are introduced or old ones are tweaked, it’s wise to closely monitor how the systems or frameworks are working for all parties. This includes systems like collaboration tools, project-based teams or KPIs.
- Are they delivering the target behaviours and outcomes imagined?
- Are there unintended consequences or behaviours that need to be ironed out?
- Do users have the skills and context to make the best use of the systems.
This is not a time for “set and forget” or for finite solutions.
To keep their “how” on track, leaders and managers can ask:
- Do we have the mechanisms to support the organisation’s agility and the guidance to reach for great outcomes? How do we effectively monitor and steer back towards our purpose should we go “off track”?
- How can we sync our organisational goals with employee choice and empowerment to achieve healthy work life and performance habits?
- How can we enable our teams to make effective, timely decisions in a distributed environment?
Getting your organisational culture right gives you a competitive advantage
Of course, where, when and how work is done are all important drivers for employees, as are financial rewards. But, when it comes down to it, the most successful organisations are purpose driven. They intentionally model value-based behaviours, value all stakeholders and create adaptive mechanisms to enable work that matters.
By getting culture right, your organisation will have a head start in the race to be an employer and brand of choice for the sustainable future.
