Build a Corporate Culture That Works

Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since 2017 | Week 355 |  June 28-July 4, 2024 |  Archive

Build a Corporate Culture That Works

By Erin Meyer | Harvard Business Review Magazine | July–August 2024 Issue

Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen

There has been a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their corporate culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that guides employee behavior. Which raises the question: If culture eats strategy for breakfast, how should you be cooking it?  Based on his 20 years of experience in research and consultancy the author offers six simple guidelines to help managers who are confronting the challenges of culture building.

1. Build Your Culture Based on Real-World Dilemmas.  One of the biggest mistakes companies make when articulating their desired organizational culture is to focus on abstract absolute positives (integrity, respect, trust, and so on).  When you articulate your culture using absolute positives, it makes a statement, but it’s unlikely to drive the day-to-day decision-making (and therefore the behavior) of your workforce. The trick to making a desired culture come alive is to debate and articulate it using dilemmas. If you identify the tough dilemmas your employees routinely face and clearly state how they should be resolved then your desired culture will take root and influence the behavior of the team.
2. Move Your Culture from Abstraction to Action.  If you are building your culture from scratch, debate it using dilemmas from the beginning. But if you already have a stated culture consisting of abstract principles in place, “dilemma-test” them to determine whether they are actionable enough to be useful in real decision-making situations.
3. Paint Your Culture in Full Color.  Once you have identified a clear set of values and dilemma-tested them, articulate your desired culture using concrete, colorful images to get the values to stick. Research on the picture superiority effect (PSE) shows that images lodge themselves in our memories in a way abstract words don’t. One way to put color into your organizational culture is to articulate it in an edgy, counterintuitive way. Be provocative, and your employees will remember. 
4. Hire the Right People, and They Will Build the Right Culture.  If you hire people whose personalities don’t align with your culture, no matter what else you get right, you are unlikely to get the desired behavior. When defining company culture, first tackle whom you will hire.  Next, look at whom you will fire. 
5. Make Sure that Culture Drives Strategy.  Many companies define their culture by focusing on employee attitudes.  Attitude is critical, and you should address it. But what’s most important is to identify your strategic objective—whether it is to reduce costs, minimize business complexity, or scale up through mergers—and use dilemmas to ensure that your employees understand what decisions they should be making to move the business in the right direction.  
6. Don’t Be a Purist.  Of course, there will be times when the culture you’ve articulated should not (or cannot) be followed. When you debate your organizational culture, also identify dilemmas in which your stated values do not apply. Be bold and push the culture to the limit, but also define which situations are over the limit.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. There has been a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their corporate culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that guides employee behavior. Which raises the question: If culture eats strategy for breakfast, how should you be cooking it?  
2. Six simple guidelines to help managers who are confronting the challenges of culture building are:  Build Your Culture Based on Real-World Dilemmas.  Move Your Culture from Abstraction to Action.  Paint Your Culture in Full Color.  Hire the Right People, and They Will Build the Right Culture. Make Sure that Culture Drives Strategy. And Don’t be Purist.
3. While your culture should drive decision-making throughout the organization, consider it a North Star, not a straitjacket. As you identify which dilemmas will drive decision-making throughout the company, also consider the situations in which your culture as articulated would not apply. Clarify those limits explicitly.

Full Article

(Copyright lies with the publisher)

Topics:  Culture, Leadership, Innovation, Decision-making, Transparency, Privacy, Teams, Organizational Performance, Strategy