Culture eats strategy for breakfast! Catalysts for cultural change. Deloitte

It doesn't matter how amazing your plans for bringing a new product to market are if, in the end, culture distorts execution. Organizational is in fact the way work is done in your company. Good leaders never neglect the culture of the organization and devote as much time to it as to development strategies.

What mistakes should you avoid if you want to build a project aimed at achieving the desired results?

1. Focus on those who resist.

One of the biggest pitfalls is for leaders to focus on those who resist change. The logic of their reasoning is as follows: “If I win them over to my side and gain support, then everyone else will follow.” Unfortunately, this only further alienates those who would like to help and facilitate your efforts to implement a new, effective, high-performance culture.

2. Underestimate the “big goal.”

Every person wants to be part of something greater than themselves - it's part of human nature. This “big goal” awakens our “best self” and inspires us to achieve. Leaders who ignore this are essentially rejecting the natural essence of humanity and will not achieve great results in building culture in the organization.

3. Spend time in meetings.

The presence, direct participation and availability of the leader has a great influence on the team. Creates an atmosphere of trust and involvement. If you're always busy in meetings, you're deliberately missing a major opportunity in creating a healthy climate in your organization. No matter where you are or what you do, the culture within an organization will evolve and change, but the question is, is it in the direction you want?

4. Don't share information.

Sometimes you need to listen to a message seven times in order to accurately grasp the conveyed meaning. When you share information, you should not expect that everyone will understand everything the first time. Make sure everyone understands exactly what is expected of them. Clarity is the key to a positive culture.

5. Close-mindedness or “bunker mentality.”

When you change something in one part, it is worth anticipating and understanding how this change will affect other areas of the organization. A closed mind is the enemy of efficiency. This approach limits ideas and weakens organizational performance. Your company is a single organism, and even a small change in one part has an impact on the entire system.

6. Spread negativity.

Even if you didn't like a decision or strategy your organization made, as a leader you set the tone. Be careful about how you express your opinions and the mood you create. Spreading negativity, even unintentionally, creates an unhealthy oppositional culture that ultimately hinders results.

7. Think only in the short term.

Concentrating only on current profits is a kind of business trap. Although, of course, this is one of the important metrics, but do not forget that only in a short period. This kind of thinking turns a global task into a routine, and focuses our behavior on performing exclusively current tasks, losing attention to long-term perspectives, strategies and solutions. Good leaders know how to find the right balance between short-term and long-term planning and thinking.

8. Promotion of pronounced individualism.

There is no individual employee who is worth an entire team. When you pick favorites and give them unlimited freedom, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to hear new ideas coming from the rest of the team. There is strength in unity. Promote a culture of teamwork rather than flamboyant individualism.

9. Downplaying the importance of relationships.

Our brain is designed this way, we think about relationships. This is a kind of primitive instinct, a need, if you like, to communicate with others of your own kind. And it would be stupid not to take advantage of this property when building a culture of communication between team members and within the organization. Bring people together, facilitate communication within the organization and create a culture of togetherness.

10. Ignore social needs.

Errors 8 and 9 tap into biology - our need to do important work that has purpose and meaning on an equal basis with others. Therefore, summing up the denominator, when building a culture, it is important to take into account a person’s need for society. A good leader encourages behavior that helps maintain and strengthen friendships. It is a culture that encourages communication and personal growth. Employees don't want to just show up and leave the office on a schedule; they want experiences that are meaningful and meaningful.

In conclusion.

Culture in an organization will arise in any case, whether you want it or not. The question is: do you want a “default” culture or do you want to build an organizational culture that will pursue the core goals and objectives of the organization? In my opinion the answer is obvious.

Based on an interview with Sean Murphy

(Executive Director, WorkIQ)

As Charles Handy famously defines company culture, "it's the way we do business around here." Edgar Schein claimed that The company's culture is established by the founders, and the business, even when filled with thousands of employees, remains an extension of the personalities of its founders. Kathleen Eisenhardt attributed the stubborn repetition of the typical growth strategy by different generations of managers to “path dependence.” In the management community (environment), this phenomenon is called organizational inertia and resistance to change is associated with it. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” as the great Peter Drucker is said to have once said. These words mean that companies are able to successfully implement only those long-term plans that are aligned with their organizational culture. Anything that contradicts it will not work... The gurus spoke very clearly, and it would seem there is nothing to add: culture deprives a business of the opportunity to implement optimal (from the point of view of prevailing external conditions) strategies. And that's bad.

But, just for fun, you can argue with this. Stanislaw Lem, in the annotation to Wilhelm Klopper’s treatise “Culture as an Error” (both Klopper and the treatise are Lem’s fiction) writes: “Culture is an instrument of adaptation of a new type, for it ... serves to ensure that everything that is accidental in our conditions, shone in an aura of supreme and complete necessity. And this means that culture - through the religions, laws, covenants and prohibitions it created - acts in such a way as to turn dissatisfaction into an ideal, disadvantages into advantages, disadvantages into advantages, wretchedness into perfection.” That is, translating Klopper-Lem's thought into a management context, culture for a company is an immune system that ensures survival in a hostile environment. Culture, destroying harmful plans, destroying poisonous ideas of change, does not allow business to embark on suicidal “optimal for the prevailing external conditions” adventures... In other words, it is very good that corporate culture eats strategies for breakfast.

Eternal questions that managers and business owners ask: how to achieve more at lower costs; how to make people produce better results; how to involve and motivate them; how to improve company performance. The standard method that everyone resorts to to increase profits is to reduce costs.

However, there is an alternative and unexpected option. This is to develop a corporate culture. Every company has it, but it is not always given due attention. But in vain! By improving your corporate culture, you can improve the results of the company as a whole!

South African sage

Steph du Plessis is a South African-based international expert on creating effective company culture and employee engagement. He helps companies improve their bottom line. Steph is one of 31 speakers in the world who have received Certified Speaking Professional Global accreditation from the Global Speakers Federation. Author of a methodology for improving company results using the Unwritten Ground Rules tool.

Linking culture and performance

I have been working with companies around the world for 20 years, improving their corporate culture, thereby increasing productivity. My team surveyed employees at different levels and across different companies about how they thought improving corporate culture impacted company performance. The results were pleasantly surprising:

91% of senior managers think company productivity will increase by 20% if culture is improved as much as possible;
58% of middle managers believe that company productivity will increase by 50% or more if the culture is improved as much as possible;
25% of average employees say results will improve by 80% if company culture is improved.

Survey results demonstrate a strong connection between corporate culture and company performance. How then can this very culture be improved?

What is more important: the company’s values or the personal values of the employees?

In the understanding of most managers, the essence of corporate culture is expressed in the company’s values. But often the values are known only to those who came up with them, plus a couple of top managers - patriots of the company.

I recently asked one of the top executives to list the values of his company. In response, he picked up his phone and entered the company's website into his browser's search bar to see what their stated values were. But, logically, the daily work of the company should be based on these values.

In most cases, the values are simply written on posters, brochures and on the website - but no one remembers them. And if employees are aware of the values that exist in their company, they smile and lower their eyes when it comes to them. And the reason is simple: they are far from the personal interests of your employees. Bridge over the river Employee interests – There are no company values, but at the same time you call your colleagues to action and motivate them precisely with the company’s values – the result is dissonance.

Official rules VS unwritten rules

There are two types of rules in the company. The first is the procedures, principles and policies that are written down in the official documents of the company, i.e. these are rules on paper. And there is a second type of rules: unwritten rules - people’s perception of how “here” everything is done. These are some tips for beginners on how to behave in a company. Let's try to figure out what rules really affect the performance of your people.

When a new employee comes to the company, he draws attention to the following situation: “It’s normal for us to be late for meetings here.” Why? Because this newcomer comes to the first meeting, and it starts later than scheduled. And after that, the person understands that there is no need to rush to the next meeting.

When a new employee comes to the workplace, he is interested in several questions. For example, did he get a corporate email? This way he can conclude how well the IT department works in the company. Next, does the team know about the arrival of a new employee? And it immediately becomes clear how efficiently the HR department works. And also, what is said in the presence of the boss, and what in his absence? All these things teach the new employee how to behave in the company.

This new employee will also undergo formal training where he will be taught the company's policies and procedures. In other words, he will be taught how the company would like him to behave, while the unwritten rules will show him how to behave in order to “fit in” with the team.

It is the unwritten rules that influence the culture in the company, but for some reason they are kept silent about them.

5-Step Model for Implementing Unwritten Rules

If you want to improve a company's results, you need to change the culture in the company, and this can be done by changing the unwritten rules. To do this you need to take five steps.

Step 1: Visualize Values

Clarify to employees the key cultural attributes needed for the company's future success (or reaffirm the company's values). For example, if one of your company's values is transparency, then clarify what key cultural attributes are implied by this. For example, transparency in a company means:

“We share information here.”

“We are telling the truth here.”

“Here we are not afraid to ask a question if something is not clear.”

Step 2. Inventory the state of the culture

Assess the current state of the culture by identifying unwritten rules in relation to existing company values, and implement improvements based on this assessment. Conduct the so-called “Inventory of Unwritten Rules.” To do this, ask employees to continue the suggestions:

“Here, when someone says that he will do something...”

“Here, when someone needs help...”

“Here, when something goes wrong...”

“Here, when there’s tension...”

“Here, when a client complains...”

Step 3: Train your staff

Educate as many people as possible, especially managers, about the concept of unwritten rules, as people may be unknowingly influenced by negative unwritten rules. Teaching people this concept will enable them to make informed choices about appropriate behavior.

Step 4: Start the process

Encourage people to create and prioritize inspiring, positive unwritten rules that relate to the company's values and by which they characterize the company of the future.

To create positive unwritten rules, you need to:

ensure the company's long-term success in the future;
making the company a great place to work.

When creating positive unwritten rules, think about your current culture: what you don't like about it, and do the opposite.

The rules must be drawn up so that all employees without exception understand them. They should not sound like the official company values, which look nice, but are not clear to everyone.

Step 5: Implement your rules

Identify unwritten rules and implement a strategy to reinforce inspiring, positive unwritten rules.

The concept of unwritten rules trains employees to follow them unknowingly. Over time, this helps each employee become more responsible for the company's culture.

The material was prepared by Marina Kulenko, Marketing and Business Development Manager at KA Group, based on the results of Steph du Plessis’ speech

- Where do you think the direction of corporate culture development is heading today?

The corporate system is a system of formal and informal rules, customs, traditions, and styles of behavior. The bearers of corporate culture are company employees, and first of all, owners and managers.

Today, I think, all employers are most interested in ensuring that all elements of the corporate culture are aimed at increasing efficiency and increasing profits. For example, so that it is customary for the company to respond quickly and politely to the client and promptly resolve his questions; so that, given the complexity of bureaucratic systems, employees propose ideas to simplify processes. Just think about it: according to some Western studies, ordinary specialists spend an average of 67% (!) of their time on bureaucracy, managers - 15%, in Russia this percentage may be even higher...

- In Korea, rivers flow in factory workshops, parrots fly, flowers grow... How can all this affect personnel, motivation, and work results?

The Hawthorne experiment of the early 20th century is widely known, which showed that ABOUT The socio-psychological climate and attitude towards the employee have a greater influence on the productivity of employees than many technical aspects of the production process, such as, for example, room lighting.

Improving working conditions is perceived as increased attention and care for employees, and therefore has a positive effect on their motivation and work results. Let me give you an example. The ChTPZ group includes one of the most beautiful and at the same time highly productive workshops in the world - the workshop for the production of large-diameter pipes - “Vysota 239”. The workshop has been repeatedly recognized as a masterpiece in the field of industrial architecture. And we see that from the moment the workshop was launched, there is always a queue of people willing to fill each of its vacancies.

- What negative habits of our employees are most likely to interfere with the formation of a corporate culture? Previously there was drunkenness...

Nothing can interfere with the formation of a corporate culture. It cannot not exist; it, like air, is always there. Another question - which Is the corporate culture accepted? Does it help or hinder the company's goals? If a company is tolerant of drunkenness and absenteeism, this influences the behavior of employees. They may reason: “Okay, I’ll have one drink before my shift, maybe it’ll be okay!” The result is accidents, absenteeism, and lost working time. If the company takes a tough approach to this issue, then the employer’s formed attitude will influence the choice of behavior of the employee, who, in a moment of weakness, will think about the risk of losing his job and make a different decision. For example, in our company, with an uncompromising approach to this issue, the number of people detained while intoxicated decreased by 17 times over the year!

In my opinion, the most important thing today is the speed of reaction to changes: changes in the market, systems, processes, personnel management methods. And I can define today’s most negative habit as conservatism, closedness, unwillingness to change and admit that the world has changed, and we either change with it or slowly perish.

- If shareholders do not set a goal and do not allocate a budget for the development of corporate culture, then can the HR department independently master this process?

Even if shareholders allocate a huge budget for the development of corporate culture, and only the HR department is engaged in this, then the task cannot be completed. All costs will be far-fetched; Perhaps staff satisfaction will improve, that's all. There will be no real change in corporate culture.

Corporate culture is formed by company leaders and managers through their daily behavior. A simple example. The company wants to change its corporate culture, make it more innovative, is revising its market strategy, declaring to its staff that initiative and new ideas are welcomed and encouraged, and reflects this in its values. And, for example, a middle manager holds a meeting of his team, at which a new employee stands up and proposes to change some process towards improvement, proposes a new idea. To which he receives the boss’s answer: “Mind your own business,” or “This is how it happened historically,” or “Many people tried before you - nothing worked!” etc. How will the employee change his behavior? Most likely, he will never offer anything again, at least to this boss. What conclusions will the employee draw? “The company has double standards,” he will think, “you shouldn’t believe everything they declare!” As Peter Drucker said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and this is a real-life example of that exact statement.

- Let’s take a “neglected” version of corporate culture (the takeover of a plant), when a corporate culture spontaneously developed that does not allow for effective work. Is it possible and how can I put it in order?

First of all, 80% of managers need to be replaced. It is absolutely useless to try to instill new rules and systems with the same management. Corporate culture is in people's heads, and if ineffective work is in their heads, then it is easier to change a person than to try to change his ideas and behavior. You need to retain loyal professionals who are ready to change.

Next, it is important to clearly establish new rules and be consistent in their implementation: reward (in various public ways of non-material motivation) employees whose behavior corresponds to the new vision, and reprimand those who continue to act in previous traditions.

Of course, everything depends on the leader and the team that he manages to form. Today, the problem of leadership is number one; it occupies the minds of all businessmen in the world. A company's weak leadership potential is a serious obstacle to changing corporate culture and improving company performance. And I think this is a serious task for Russian companies - developing leadership potential at all levels of business management.

- How might the behavior of managers differ from that of subordinates? (A king should not carry out laws made for his subordinates?)

This approach is a recipe for failure. If a manager demands that his subordinates not be late for meetings, but he himself is constantly late, he is showing them extreme disrespect, which negatively affects employee engagement. What kind of inspiring leadership is there with such a leader? And today it’s no secret how engagement affects a company’s performance and profitability, as well as the fact that engaged employees are 43% more productive than their unengaged colleagues and even 86% more creative (according to statistics from the University of California, Berkeley).

A leader is a role model of behavior. His subordinates will behave in the same way with their subordinates. After all, employees - they are like children - do not listen to what they are told, but watch and repeat. Accordingly, we need to answer the questions: what do we want to cascade? What behavior model do we consider effective?

- Expats in Russia in PrK - previously they were in shock. Today?

In the companies I know, the number of expats has decreased. It is very difficult to apply your knowledge in another culture, and often in an aggressive environment, because in Russia we very often believe that we ourselves know everything and there is no need to teach us. We do not want to pay attention to the difference in efficiency and productivity, attributing the success of foreign companies to outsourcing and expensive equipment.

If we talk about expats not from the point of view of their shock, but from the point of view of benefits for Russian business, then I believe that they are capable of bringing benefits, but only in conditions very similar to their previous places of work: where a strategy has been adopted and clear smart goals have been established , evaluation criteria, feedback is provided regularly.

- The magazine "Personnel Management" talked with the leaders of a number of super-successful companies (1-2 thousand employees), where the goal was realized - a minimum of communications (only scripts) - precisely for the sake of preventing rumors and opposition. Is this an exception to the rule or a trend?

The human need to connect is almost as important as our need to drink, eat or breathe. No scripts will make people stop communicating and discussing news, much less replace live communication.

In the ChelPipe Group we often hold meetings with staff, and we have a well-organized system of communications and cascading information about the company’s development, plans, achievements and market challenges. According to the results of the engagement survey, satisfaction with the “Senior Management” factor increased by 10 points over the year - partly due to the presence of these very communications.

- What mistakes do companies still make in the area of corporate culture?

The biggest mistake is double standards. There is no need to declare something that you are not ready to support. For example, today we can tell the staff that we are open and our appointments are transparent, and tomorrow we can appoint a relative who does not meet the professional and personal competencies to the position. The opacity of payment systems, amounts of bonuses, dismissals, appointments and privileges, the system for selecting participants in a corporate holiday, the size and equipment of offices, the behavior of the manager - all this affects the conclusions of employees about the real values of the company and its priorities.

- What event related to the development of corporate culture do you remember from personal experience, why and why?

When we in the ChTPZ group first conducted an engagement survey, some managers told us: “Why do we need this? We make the pipes, and you manage the staff!”

A year later, the same managers in different situations told us: “No, we won’t do this, it will affect the engagement of our staff!” We will have to communicate and explain a lot with them.” Or yes! We are ready to make these changes; they will help us increase staff engagement.” The very awareness of responsibility for the attitude of our employees has changed, the understanding of the importance of human resources in achieving the company’s goals, and this, in my opinion, is the most important change reflecting our development of corporate culture.

Svetlana Kuzminykh, HR Director of the Pipe Division of the ChelPipe Group

Interviewed by Alena Yurova

What is the difference between companies that use the same technologies, create similar products and employ similar specialists? The interiors of the offices, the breadth or, conversely, the compactness of the proposed social package? In fact, as a rule, the main difference lies in the corporate culture.

Imagine: the head of a department, returning from a planning meeting, emotionally cursed in the presence of employees. The team leader, in the presence of a newbie, puts a carton of milk from the refrigerator into a bag - the company won’t even notice this, but they won’t have to go into the store. The CEO approved bonuses for the company's decade of operation: both the janitor and the chief accountant received the same amount as the first hired employees. These examples perfectly demonstrate how different companies treat employees, what company property is, and what a manager values—loyalty or performance.

Corporate culture is the norms and patterns of behavior that determine the activities of all company employees and the relationships between them. More briefly, this set of unspoken rules can be described with the phrase: “It’s customary for them.”

Often these rules are not spelled out in corporate documents, but after just a month of work, a new employee somehow “reads” the unspoken norms and begins to act using them. What else are the features of culture?

Corporate culture eats strategy for breakfast

No matter what ambitious plans a company sets for itself, no matter how global its goals, all projects will remain just beautiful presentations if they do not take into account the peculiarities of corporate culture. Hence the famous expression “Corporate culture eats strategy for breakfast,” which is attributed to the famous management theorist Peter Drucker: if the strategy contradicts the established traditions of the company, corporate culture will defeat it.

The leader and his immediate circle participate in the formation of culture and its transmission.

And the frequent request to the HR director: “Create the right corporate culture for us,” is absolutely wrong in its formulation. A simple example: if the general director arrives at the office at 11–12 o’clock, then no orders or explanations will force the team to be in the office at 9:00.

Changing culture starts with actions, not slogans

Moreover, simply “policies”, “regulations” and adaptation materials are perceived negatively if there is a difference between what is written and what happens in reality. You can, of course, write the company’s values on the walls, make newsletters and letters about encouraged behavior, but this will only work in one case - when the top officials live and work as they declare. Says Irina, head of corporate sales at a telecommunications company: “When our director walked around the office, he could easily pick up a dropped sticker or straighten a baseboard. And the idea that the office is our home somehow penetrated the minds of our colleagues.”

Parties and corporate events are not culture

Former Netflix HR director Patty McCord once said that you can endlessly throw parties and give employees T-shirts, but if the company isn't doing well, people will quietly complain at the parties and use the T-shirts to wash their cars.

The language of values is universal

Find people with a similar cultural code, instead of retraining and re-educating. Employees with a request for a “vertical of power” will not be able to work in cross-functional teams where they need to take responsibility, negotiate and make decisions together. And candidates with a request for development and independence will simply “suffocate” in companies with a narrow area of responsibility and management’s unpreparedness for initiatives from below.

Culture should evolve along with business. Otherwise, it will become a bottleneck for growth. The main sign of an effective corporate culture is the achievement of company goals, fast communication within and controlled employee turnover.

If you want to dive a little deeper into this topic, we recommend starting with these books:

"The Leader and the Tribe" by Dave Logan, Haley Fisher-Wright and John King.
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.
“Corporate Culture and Values,” McKinsey Writing Team.
“Corporate Life Cycle Management”, Itzhak Kalderon Adizes.
"Unlocking the Organizations of the Future" by Frédéric Laloux.