Why Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch at a StartUp

Silvester de Keijzer

Culture is like a brand. It is misunderstood and often discounted as a touchy-feely component of business that belongs to HR. It’s one of the most important drivers that has to be set or adjusted to push long-term, sustainable success. Culture is a balanced blend of human psychology; attitudes, actions, and beliefs that combined create pleasure or pain, serious momentum or miserable stagnation. A strong culture flourishes with a clear set of values and norms that actively guide the way a company operates. If there’s any doubt about the value of investing time in culture, there are significant benefits that come from a vibrant and alive culture. Focus: Aligns the entire company towards achieving its vision, mission, and goals.

• Motivation: Builds higher employee motivation and loyalty.
• Connection: Builds team cohesiveness among the company’s various departments and divisions.
• Cohesion: Builds consistency and encourages coordination and control within the company.
• Spirit: Shapes employee behaviour at work, enabling the organization to be more efficient and alive.

Mission accomplished

Think about the Marines: the few, the proud. They have a connected community that is second to none, and it comes from the early indoctrination of every member of the Corps and the clear communication of their purpose and value system. It is completely clear that they are privileged to be joining an elite community that is committed to improvising, adapting, and overcoming in the face of any adversity. The culture is so strong that it glues the community together and engenders a sense of pride that makes them unparalleled. The culture is what each Marine relies on in battle and in preparation. It is an amazing example of a living culture that drives pride and performance. It is important to step back and ask whether the purpose of your organization is clear and whether you have a compelling value system that is easy to understand. Mobilizing and energizing a culture is predicated on the organization clearly understanding the vision, mission, values, and goals. It’s leadership’s responsibility to involve the entire organization, informing and inspiring them to live out the purpose the organization in the construct of the values.

Culture fuels brand

A vibrant culture provides a cooperative and collaborative environment for a brand to thrive in. Your brand is the single most important asset to differentiate you consistently over time, and it needs to be nurtured, evolved, and invigorated by the people entrusted to keep it true and alive. Without a functional and relevant culture, the money invested in research and development, product differentiation, marketing, and human resources is never maximized and often wasted because it’s not fuelled by a sustaining and functional culture.

Uncommon sense for a courageous and vibrant culture

It’s easy to look at companies like Zappos, Google, Virgin, Apple and admire them for their passionate, engaged, and active cultures that are on display for the world to see. Building a strong culture takes hard work and true commitment and, while not something you can tick off in boxes, here are some very basic building blocks to consider:

Dynamic and engaged leadership

A vibrant culture is organic and evolving. It is fuelled and inspired by leadership that is actively involved and informed about the realities of the business. They genuinely care about the company’s role in the world and are passionately engaged. They are great communicators and motivators who set out a clearly communicated vision, mission, values, and goals and create an environment for them to come alive.

Living values

It’s one thing to have beliefs and values spelled out in a frame in the conference room. It’s another thing to have genuine and memorable beliefs that are directional, alive and modelled throughout the organization daily. It’s important that departments and individuals are motivated and measured against the way they model the values. And, if you want a values-driven culture, hire people using the values as a filter. If you want your company to embody the culture, empower people and ensure every department understands what’s expected.

Responsibility and accountability

Strong cultures empower their people, they recognize their talents, and give them a very clear role with responsibilities they’re accountable for. It’s amazing how basic this is, but how absent the principle is in many businesses.

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