Welcome to Culturization
As purpose driven leaders, we start each day with the best of intentions.
But even the best, most intentional of us, can quickly get consumed by the business and begin hyper focusing on objectives…quickly losing sight of our personal Core Values - the very source and ‘Why?’ many of us took the risk to start a business in the first place.
This is completely natural. The human machine is built uniquely for progress and success. It keenly focuses on what's the most important thing.
The subtle, downward spiral of what is immediately in front of us at that time emerges as the most important. And nothing screams importance like the scarcity of a P&L staring you down.
Entrepreneurs have a bias towards action and are wired for growth. It's necessary initially for business survival but can quickly become an unhealthy fixation - growth for growth's sake.
This also is one of the reasons Culture gets quickly forgotten about during growth. Culture is not something you can readily see. It won't be found on a spreadsheet. And an MBA program didn't likely equip you to measure Culture as a critical business component.
It is also extremely hard to define for most leaders and organizations. It's not generated by fancy kitchens with hipster coffee or even the local microbrew. Nor is it found at the ping-pong table in the break room or the swag given out at company all-hands.
Culture can simply be defined by:
How your internal team members feel working within your organization
How your external stakeholders experience your organization
Your business decision making lens
The impact you're making in the world
So while it's true, you might not be able to measure the ROI of these through traditional business means, you can quantify each of these three categories through an Organizational Culture Survey. This will tell you if your Vision, Mission and Values are being lived, shared and experienced throughout the organization, to your external stakeholders, and are resulting in impacting the world for good.
And the symptoms of either a healthy or unhealthy culture are showing up on your balance sheet.
Start with the branding - what do people say about your organization and the potential of going to work there?
What about the hiring process? Are you focused only on skills intelligence or Culture fit?
Are your Vision, Mission and Values integrated into performance evaluations?
What about your people leaders? Are they modeling the Culture and organizational values?
Finally, and perhaps the easiest to measure, what about retention rates? Do your top performers have clarity on their next step? Are you keeping and promoting Culture builders?
If you're like most leaders and organizations, you've likely been focusing on business objectives versus culture…but it's not too late to reinject these back into the lifeblood of your organization.
Reach out to us if you'd be interested in learning how or if you’d like to conduct an Organizational Culture Survey as a performance benchmark.