THAT FAMOUS SEVEN-LETTER WORD ...

There’s something about “culture” that everyone wants to own today.

Gigantic corporations are tasking their leaders and managers to figure out how to create genuine, authentic, and entrepreneurial innards, environments that will attract millennials who prefer to work in fast and nimble start-ups.

Ad publications claim, though a handful of case histories, that marketers should own the culture fit bit and make sure that brands reflect company values.  And vice versa. 

Even recruiter Egon Zehnder adds its two cents by revealing its 100-person survey results:  Ninety-five percent believe perceived culture affects the brand.  Sixty percent say culture supports the brand – and   20 percent say it’s an underminer.  Ergo, CMOs need to embrace that word.

Yet culture needs to be owned by the right individual(s).

The creation of culture – and its values – clearly belongs in the province of the leader.  It’s s/he who reflects the organization, shapes (or re-creates) its values, and acts to show the way.  It’s not marketing speak.  Nor solely developed by the CHRO.  And, for sure, not locked up in a wordy company manual.

Culture needs to live, to breathe, and to, if needs be, adjust to current realities.  Companies do, during crises or turnovers, rethink values … and re-cast them, with smart planning, to inspire, motivate, and transition to the new way.  After all, if culture is the way we work around here, why shouldn’t (eventually) everyone own it?

DOWN ON THE FARM

General Motors and silos continue to be linked in the media.

And in our minds.

According to new GM CEO Mary Barra in her Congressional testimonies, the auto company’s managers operated in isolation, failing to connect and act on evidence that’s now been linked to fatal accidents.  That, in the words of Harvard guru Ranjay Gulati, smacks of protectionist behavior, decision-making conflicts, and just general inside-out perspectives.

Sound like any business you know?

Regardless:  In the mid-Aughts, after studying a number of different companies (e.g., GE Healthcare, Jones Lang LaSalle, Cisco, Starbucks), Gulati proffered his four-C solution to silo-busting:

  • Coordination to share customer information and labor
  • Cooperation, along with metrics, that will dethrone the current power structure
  • Capability development, when customer-centric generalists also see a clear career pathway and
  • Connection, or strategic alliances with other companies.

Later in the decade (or in this one), he holds up IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative as an example of a sword that demolishes silos, saying that values and concomitant images, symbols, and stories, will support the beginnings of a new culture.

Ahem. 

There’s one ‘c’ he’s forgotten:  Communications.  A discipline that, better than any others inside companies, can explain, educate, and elucidate employees on ‘what customers want.’  A function that, almost automatically, delivers awareness and drives actions on behalf of the corporation.  A mindset that will, either alone or in tandem with L&D/HR, establish parameters and ways in which an outside-in perspective reigns.

Ee-i-ee-i-oh, Mr. MacDonald.

POPULAR PHRASES WE’D LIKE TO CHANGE #1

 

Everybody’s got ‘em:  those words or series of words that are puzzling at best, annoying at worst.

Our first nomination?  “Best practices.” We can count on our fingers, toes, and the hairs on our heads how many times companies request best practices.  It doesn’t matter that the particular requestor hails from one of the leaders in its field.  Nor that its executives have been publicly touted for running a great business. Or that its employees consider it the best place to work in the world.  The “ask” for best practices still happens.

Maybe it’s attributable to just plain human curiosity. After all, how common is this statement of interest? “I’d like to find out what makes XYZ great in, say, its efficient, cost-effective supply chain operations.”   

It’s when that query goes one step further – “and maybe we can apply those lessons learned” – that our caveats begin. 

After all, those lessons are, in a word, templates. Easy ways to capitalize on the knowledge and hard work of others with just a bit of spit and polish. Plus lessons learned are ways to “stand upon the shoulders of giants” (thanks, Mr. Newton), comparing your company to the Fortunate 50 or 100 or 500 or 1000. “Hey, I’m using this process that Starbucks or Amazon or GE (or fill in the blank) has perfected.”

No question, best practices can be applied … if corporate culture, goals, customers, and how your company gets stuff done are all factored in.  Then you’ve bettered those practices, to be more congruent with your needs.  [And expect the ultimate compliment, with others asking you to share!]

One final thought:  While some are applying best practices, others are changing the game, often dramatically, to fit their needs. Where does that leave this popular phrase?