Culture as strategy

Hello. I'm Al Mele, and an executive coach. I'll be discussing how a consciously cultivated organizational culture can positively impact your corporate strategy.

Most people who have been in the corporate world for more than just a little while have probably seen a wide spectrum of organizational cultures, from those that encourage teamwork, collaboration and learning, to those in which everyone kept their head down and tried not to be noticed. In my experience, while the culture was hugely influential on a team's ability to be successful, it was rarely consciously cultivated. Instead, it was shaped by the observed behaviors of the leaders in the organization regardless of whether those matched any purpose statement, motto or slogan that may have been handed out on that year's company holiday card. Raise your hand if you have a mouse pad or mug lying around somewhere with "respect", "integrity" or "collaboration" written on it somewhere. Organizations that consciously shape a culture that complements their strategy create alignment between behaviors, decision-making and strategic objectives. This alignment drives not only performance but adaptability and long-term success. Culture can be a soft topic for some, difficult to discuss because of a lack of shared meaning and is used to vaguely explain a positive or negative morale in an organization. We'll use Edgar Schein's definition: "The shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that shape behavior within an organization.

Consciously cultivating a culture is a necessary step to successfully executing any corporate strategy. Since strategy is also often used in vague ways, here's what I mean by strategy and where it fits with tactics. At the top, you have objectives. What are we trying to achieve? These will be clear, specific goals. These are supported by desired outcomes. What impact will success have? Why does this matter to the organization, the customers, the market and so on? Below that, you have a strategy. These are the guiding principles and key priorities that shape our choices and focus to achieve those objectives. What are we going to prioritize? Where will we focus? How will we differentiate ourselves? Then come the tactics, the specific actions that we'll take to execute the strategy and achieve success. Strategy isn't something that sits in isolation. It's meaningful only in the context of some clearly defined goal intended to produce a desired outcome.