Organizations are viewing culture completely wrong.
This week's newsletter was inspired by my conversation with Jay Doran on his show, The Culture Matters Podcast. We had a thoughtful conversation about culture, strategy, growth, and much more.
If you enjoy this email and want to listen to the full episode, it's embedded on the media page of my site.
Thanks to Jay for having me on the show.
I’ve been in enough boardrooms over the last few months to hear a phrase like this uttered a handful of times:
“We have a culture of _______ and we don’t want that to change!”
You can fill in the blank with some of the usual suspects…
“Entrepreneurship”
“Personal responsibility”
“Candor”
Look, I’m not suggesting any of those are bad things.
What’s more interesting is how a statement like that suggests that a culture shouldn’t change. Just because it was once (or still is) a certain way means it should always be that way.
Phrases like that have contributed to my belief that many organizations are viewing culture completely wrong.
I’m not saying the culture we built at Baker Tilly was perfect, but I've received quite a few positive notes about the culture we built and there’s a reason our team members voted me #1 in Employee Satisfaction and CEO Approval Rating among the Top 20 US Advisory CPA Firms.
Today, I’ll share my beliefs on why culture matters, what great culture is and is not, and how to go about building a culture that leads to an organization that values its people AND achieves meaningful results.
What is culture?
Before we talk about what culture is, let’s talk about what it isn’t because so many organizations seem confused…
Culture is not built from:
Core values pasted on a website or printed on a wall decal
Office happy hours
Ping-pong tables, meditation rooms, or other office perks
Staff birthday celebrations
Benefits like PTO or pet insurance
Founding principles that were decided 50+ years ago
Culture isn’t necessarily something you decide.
You can’t list core values on your website and then refer back to them whenever they conveniently support your way of thinking and call that "culture".
Culture is a living, breathing organism.
It’s constantly moving, shifting, and changing based on inputs and actions that are taken (or not taken).
Culture is a reflection of the leadership and people who make up the organization and how they interact with one another.
To say that you don’t want your culture to change is fundamentally going against what makes up a great culture in the first place!
Cultures should be changing and adapting constantly.
How do you build a great culture?
If culture is more of a result than a decision, what can you, as a leader, do to build a great culture?
Start by defining, documenting, and distributing a clear strategy.
The strongest workplace cultures are built from having a team of people working together toward a common, meaningful goal.
It’s about alignment and people embracing “we” over “me”.
Sure, things like empathy, kindness, and candor are all great, but aren’t those table stakes?
Shouldn’t that be a part of any great team or organization? I’ve always thought so…
Culture is built when there’s a clear strategy and people understand the importance of their role in achieving it. Everyone is rowing together in the same direction.
Now, there’s another important component to this: your ability, as a leader, to communicate a strategy and align people toward the cause.
Along with an inspiring strategy, people need to believe in YOU as their leader to help them get there.
There are 3 primary ways leaders can positively influence great culture:
Communicate effectively - Be clear on the strategy and WHY it’s important.
Be inclusive - People want inclusion, not transparency (by being inclusive, you are being transparent). Bring people into the decision-making process so they feel decisions are made WITH them, not FOR them.
Be approachable - I always thought, “I’m just Alan, who happens to be the CEO”. I was accessible to people and made a point to connect and relate to people on a basic human level.
Like anything else, great culture is a result of intentionality.
Start by defining a strategy and take a close look at the role you play as the leader toward setting the tone.
If it seems like a lot of work—it is and isn’t.
Yes, it takes intentional effort to do these things effectively AND if you want to transform your organization and achieve meaningful results, you should be doing them anyway!
Here’s why culture is so important…
Why Having a Great Culture Matters
I’ll often hear sayings like “we are a people-first culture” or “people before numbers” and I don’t agree with them. I think it's a load of BS.
If you’re saying people come first, does that mean something else comes second?
Like the results of the organization? I don’t think that’s going to fly...
It's not people vs. numbers or culture vs. results. These things aren't an EITHER/OR, they are a BOTH/AND.
Great cultures and meaningful numbers (results) go hand in hand.
The business results we accomplished at Baker Tilly during my time as CEO (like growing from $475m to $1.5B) would not have been possible without a great culture.
When I became CEO, my predecessor and partners had a wonderful run. In many ways, the firm still operated like a first-generation firm even though it was founded in 1931.
In order to continue to scale, I believed we needed to BREAK THE MOLD™. We had to be willing to think differently to transform the organization and reach the next level of growth and success.
None of that would have been possible without a great culture.
Any organization that wants to transform and build the next generation of success requires a tightly bound group of people aligned to a common goal.
Where to Go From Here
Ok, so what can you do this week to make progress toward building a great culture?
I’d suggest taking a look at two things:
1) Do you have a well-defined, documented, and distributed strategy?
When I say “All roads lead to/from strategy”, I mean it. All of ‘em!
Strategy is the thing that produces a great culture and a great culture built around a great strategy is likely to lead to great results.
Strategy is the foundation. Everyone in the organization is there to execute the strategy.
If yours is not well-defined or isn’t compelling enough, you’re compromising your ability to build a great culture and achieve meaningful results.
Revisit this article on how to build strategies that lead to success.
2) Are there areas where you and/or your leadership team are resisting changes to your culture?
If you’re thinking or hearing phrases like, “We don’t want our culture to change!”, that is a red flag.
Why don’t you want the culture to change?
What are you afraid is going to happen if it does?
Is it possible that the culture changing could lead to positive results?
Take a long, hard look in the mirror and evaluate what’s behind your desire for the culture to remain the same.
Great cultures change and evolve constantly, so why shouldn’t yours?
As always, if you’d like to discuss your organization’s unique situation or roadblocks over a phone call, I’m always open.
Book time on my calendar here.
With intention,
Alan D Whitman
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