Over the first 20 years of my career, I've been a part of some amazing cultures and some, let's just say, not-so-much. During this time, I've learned how important culture is and how it can make or break the success of an organization. Below are six of the most important lessons I've learned about culture.
Lesson #1: Culture Matters More Than Results
My first "real" job taught me that how you achieve results is more important than the results you achieve. Shortly after leaving my company, I realized my mistake and reached out to the owners asking if they would take me back. I was confident they would say yes as I was a successful seller for their company.
I'll never forget the lunch meeting we had to discuss my possible return. It was a good conversation and I felt everything was moving towards an offer when I was thrown a curve ball. I was told that since I left, the team dynamics improved and the culture inside the company was much better.
Ouch...didn't see that coming.
I was viewed as an instigator of conflict inside our company and culture, specifically around a relationship I had on the team. Once I left, that influence diminished or disappeared. If I was to return to the company, I had to promise that I would be a positive culture influencer rather than a negative one.
My results were good...but the owners of the company understood what I didn't at the time: a healthy culture breeds a healthy bottom line. If I poisoned the culture, regardless of how much revenue I generated, the health of the company was at risk.
"A healthy culture breeds a healthy bottom line."
I will always be grateful for the direct feedback I was given as well as the opportunity to apply that feedback as a part of the team when they welcomed me back.
Lesson #2: Culture Lives or Dies With Leadership
I have experienced strong, authentic leadership bringing culture to life and inspiring people to deliver exceptional results. I've also experienced the void of leadership, where the culture was diminished or ignored and the bottom line suffered.
Here's what I know: Talented, successful people and teams typically don't lose their ability to be successful. They can, however, lose their way when the conditions that made success possible are no longer in play.
If you have a great team that has "lost its way", take stock of the current conditions the team is operating in and determine what has changed. If your core culture hasn't changed, then you have a leadership problem, not a team problem. If your core culture has changed, then you have some heavy lifting to do, either moving your team to align with the new culture, or building a new team that does.
Lesson #3: Every Culture is Unique
I used to believe there was only one right way to do business. And of course, I thought the right way was the way I liked to do business. After a few significant experiences in my career, and with the help of some great mentors, I learned that there are a lot of ways to be successful. I also learned I am not a fit for all of them.
One very powerful example in my career was my time in broadcast television. I had been a highly-valued member of the team for a number of years. I was an "up and coming" talent that was groomed for, and ultimately placed in, management and senior leadership. While my path had its challenges, the companies and I were great culture matches and together we saw much success.
Then our station was purchased and we welcomed a new owner. And this time, I wasn't a culture match. The new company had a different belief in what success looked like, especially when it came to how to achieve results. Almost overnight, I went from being viewed as a whiz-kid who was on his way to the corner office to being the class dunce who couldn't do anything right and office was moved into a storage closet.
In the end, I learned that culture has a very real impact on how people perform. When I was a culture match, my performance shined. When I was a culture clash, my effort and performance suffered. I fought the good fight for a couple of years, but in the end, I made a move and it was the best thing for all parties.
"Understand what makes your culture unique and then fill your organization with people who are great culture matches."
Understand what makes your culture unique and then fill your organization with people who are great culture matches. Do this well and you'll have the best chance to maximize your potential and achieve success.
Lesson #4: You Can't Fake Culture
Culture is quite the buzzword these days. Today's workforce demands great culture and organizations are working hard to show their culture is second to none. But the truth is, you don't tell your employees you have a great culture. Your employees tell you.
"You don't tell your employees you have a great culture. Your employees tell you."
A bunch of words on a wall or a pithy saying at the bottom of an email signature doesn't create great cultures. If the actions of the organization don't match the words it speaks, then your culture, and your bottom will suffer.
Bottom line is this...be authentic when it comes to culture. Don't say what you think employees and customers want to hear. Say who you really are. It's much easier for your actions to match your words when the words you speak are true.
Lesson #5: Culture Clarity and Accountability is Hard
Culture is the secret sauce that differentiates one organization from another. And success is determined in large part by the health of that culture. The importance of clearly communicating and consistently delivering your culture increases as your company grows. So does the difficulty in achieving clarity and accountability.
The solution is simple, but not easy. You have to slow down so you can go fast.
"You have to slow down so you can go fast."
Slowing down means taking the time to discover and declare what I call your Culture Print. Your Culture Print is made up of three key 'markers': Purpose, Principles, and Pay-off. This is hard, yet critical work to ensure the success of your organization.
Once you're able to clearly communicate your culture, next is developing the practices that will ensure your organization, especially your Culture Keepers (those who lead and influence employees), consistently deliver the culture every day.
Spend your time today getting this right so you can spend your time tomorrow growing your organization rather than fixing your organization.
Lesson #6: Clear and Consistent Culture is Unstoppable
Lightning in a bottle. That's what we call it when we look at at a time where everything clicked, the best of everyone rose to the top, and tremendous success was achieved. But that phrase, "lightning in a bottle", makes it sound like those moments happened due to extremely good fortune and a case of being in the right place at the right time.
But if you look closer...take the time to really see what was happening in those moments, I bet you'll find that what you were actually experiencing was the result of a clear and consistent culture. Clarity and consistency of culture engages, empowers, and equips your organization in a way that makes success practically inevitable. The key is finding a way to create this experience on purpose and sustain for an extended period of time.
The best organizations do this well; Zappos, Barry-Wehmiller, and Lululemon just to name a few. How do they do it? They understand their unique Culture Print, they articulate it clearly, and they put practices in place to ensure it's lived at all levels of the organization every day.
Don't leave success to chance, hoping you catch "lightning in a bottle". Instead, do what the best do and make success inevitable by unlocking the full potential of your organization through a clear and consistent culture.
By Dan Shurtz, Founder of The Culture Print
