After Vision – In Support of Culture!

The Way You Do Anything, is the Way You Do Everything!  

When I first heard the term ‘culture’ I could only imagine what you might find in a petri dish. Fast forward 30 years and it’s the very concept that drives all I do in business and the backbone to my executive business coaching and my life.  I consider the concept that ‘How you do anything is how you do everything!”

Interesting that once a firm mission and/or vision, objectives and goals are determined in an organization, often culture is not smartly addressed.  If culture is not adequately addressed, an organization willhave something growing within the very ‘petri dish’ of their world, and it won’t necessarily be the set of values or ‘culture’ most desired.

How long does it take to improve or destroy a desired culture?  I couldn’t help but look up how quickly things evolve in a petri dish:

How long does it take to grow bacteria in a petri dish?

The ideal temperature for growing bacteria is between 70 and 98 degrees F (20-37 degrees C). If necessary, you can place the Petri dishes in a cooler location, but the bacteria will grow a lot more slowly. Leave the bacteria to develop for 4-6 days, as this will give the cultures enough time to grow.

How then to create an atmosphere within your organization for a positive culture to grow?  With any Executive I coach, we first discuss or determine their short, succinct and memorable vision statement to guide the company forward, (think Nike, ‘Just Do It’).  We next review their objectives which expand on how vision will be achieved. Third comes the development of key goals for the organization and the culture in which this will happen.

Below are 5 steps I recommend if you are new at defining culture or if you’re looking to rectify an undesirable organizational atmosphere with agreed upon vision, mission, objectives, goals, values, behaviors, standards, systems and procedures. Assuming your vision, objectives and key goals are intact, below are steps for guiding the important development of the environment that will help your business thrive.

1. Start with a third-party confidential interview with your team to get their perception on what they consider is working well or not within your organization.
2. Have your third-party Advisor/Coach share findings with Owner or CEO (no names given), to learn how their team perceives the cohesiveness of purpose and culture within the organization.
3. Have Advisor/Coach meet with your team to review your organization’s vision, mission, objectives and key goals to then reinforce the strategy and action plan for the new year (next quarter). Create or reinforce a S.W.O.T. analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) for the organization to togetheras a team create a culture (values) where everyone contributes ideas on how to achieve the overall vision of the organization through culture guidelines.
4. Have a third party advisor/coach meet with your team to review their understanding of of your organization’s vision, mission, objectives and key goals, looking for synchrony and/or disunity or less than total ‘buy in’. Owner/CEO finalizes culture and assigns team members to be the ‘keepers’ of different values determined within the culture.  Share positive actions and results of each culture point at monthly meetings, keeping behavior modifying parameters to success front and center with your team.
5. Train managers on how to use KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) with each team member and how they apply to vision, mission, objectives and culture statements/values determined for the organization. Reinforce a culture of accountability and find people doing things right!

This simple structure, with third-party guidance between the Owner/CEO and team creates a collaborative and empowering structure to build on, establishing the Owner/CEO as the steward for positive best practices within the organization.  Similarly, it reinforces the value of the team as valuable contributors to the vision, mission and culture they will be responsible for growing.

Sharing these collaboratively determined guidelines within your organization creates best practices that will strongly motivate your team while creating an atmosphere of inclusion and fun, making your ROI that much more probable.  The way you do anything, is the way you do everything!  Make 2019 your best year in business yet!

BB Webb, Your Culture Coach