Culture Myths

In my experience, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about culture.

Myth 1

The first myth is that one can change a culture. Countless large organizations have embarked upon the task of changing their culture. I have yet to read of any successes from this effort.

On the flip side of the coin, the technology company, Cisco Systems, enabled each of the companies it acquired to operate as they were previously thus preserving the culture that made that company such an attractive acquisition in the first place. In other words, the leaders at Cisco realize that a winning culture is one to retain, not change.

Myth 2

Another myth is that large organizations can possess a culture. I find it fascinating that more often than not, it’s large, not smaller, organizations that develop an interest in culture. To me, that indicates that the interest in developing, or changing, culture is created by operating challenges that result from a lack of, or lost, culture.

That’s not to deny that some large organizations become legendary for their culture Apple, Hewlett-Packard and GE all, for a time, demonstrated an effective culture. Sustaining that culture in large organizations is obviously more difficult given the number of people employed in these organizations.

We all know how difficult it can be to get two people to agree much less 10,000 or more individuals, especially when they are often competing for the organization’s scarce resources.

Myth 3

Culture isn’t essential until a company grows to a certain size. Nothing can be further from the truth. Companies should begin developing their culture from day one. Here’s how I recommend that culture develop in all organizations.

Creating culture

Start up businesses are notorious for taking any business they can get in the first year or so of business. That’s understandable for a couple of reasons:

• They need the money to keep body and soul together in the first year or two.
• They often misjudge who their ideal customer is and what their customers value.

As they gain experience in dealing with a variety of customers, they should develop a psychographic a profile of their ideal customer…a profile based on values, behaviors and characteristics to guide them in their marketing so that they’re attracting customers who share their values and repel those who don’t.

Here’s an example of an ideal customer profile.

My clients and I enjoy our greatest success when they possess these qualities:

• Forward thinking – they put things in place today for a result a decade or more away.
• Maximizers – they enjoy stimulating personal and group excellence in their employees.
• Results-oriented – they like to outperform their competitors.
• Action-oriented – if they hear or see something that makes sense, they’re off and running with it.

Once a business owner has a profile of their ideal customer, they should begin accepting business only from their ideal customers…those who possess at least 3 of the 4 values, behaviors and characteristics in their profile. The reasons for this are:

• It’s in values alignment that you find your greatest success with minimal effort.
• Customers who share your values willingly pay higher prices to get what you offer.
• Your profile lays the foundation for culture creation in other aspects of your business.

Elaborating on the third point, when you employ your profile when hiring virtual assistants, subcontractors and other vendors in your business, you are now aligning values among your customers, your vendors and yourself. This is the foundation of culture.

Continue to use this profile with as you hire employees and you’ve extended your culture, the one based on your values, throughout your organization…customers, employees, vendors and yourself.

It’s these shared values that create a culture that makes doing business fun and profitable…and enables you to dramatically increase the value of your business.

One final point: growth beyond a certain size tends to destroy culture. In the Cisco Systems study I read, the maximum company size indicated was 350 employees. It’s a size that makes culture more sustainable.

Cisco found that instead of creating more departments within a growing company, they were better off creating, or acquiring, organizations, for each new direction, each with a culture of its own. When the number of employees was about to grow beyond 350 employees, they’d create a new entity to continue forward.

While I have no personal knowledge to support the Cisco study, it makes a lot of sense to me. As mentioned earlier, it seems unlikely that we can get thousands of people, or more, to share the same values. It’s even less likely that they’re going to be unified in their efforts when they’re competing with other departments (or lines of business) for the company’s resources.

Cultural influences

In my experience, there are three types of culture:

• Autocratic
• Paternalistic
• Engagement

These cultures are typically dictated by the business owner’s leadership style. Let’s examine the implications of each.

Autocratic

Business owners who place greater trust in their own abilities than those of others, typically prefer to issue instructions and have them followed. They tend to work well with people, vendors and employees, who prefer to take direction rather than rely on their own devices.

Paternalistic

Paternalists feel a moral responsibility to provide employment to people who aren’t necessarily top tier. Consequently, they don’t expect a lot of their employees and are more tolerant of poor performance whether by employees or vendors.

Engagement

These business owners prefer to engage their employees in identifying new opportunities, streamlining processes and solving problems. Engagement leaders tend to attract creative types who enjoy autonomy in their work, recognition for their accomplishments and the ability to learn and grow personally and professionally.

It’s easy to see how different the cultures in each of these organizations are and what impact that has on their choice of customers, vendors and employees.

Takeaways

Cultures:

• Are almost impossible to change…especially in large organizations.
• Should be created, consciously, very early in the business’s development.
• Are heavily influenced by the business owner’s leadership style.
• Transcend all relationships: customer, vendor and employee.
• Work best in smaller companies…350 employees or less.

Culture determines the level of success your organization achieves. If you don’t consciously align yourself with customers, vendors and employees who share your values, you’ll end up with a patchwork quilt that serves no one well. You’ll also experience greater headaches and fewer successes than the owners of companies with a consciously-created culture.

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If you’d like the leaders in your organization to learn how to enhance your culture, contact me to learn more about these resources:

Resources

Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal program helps you identify and nurture emerging leaders who elevate all around them to higher levels of performance and greater job enjoyment.

Financial Awareness & Strategy program where employees learn to identify opportunities to improve financial results and prioritize these opportunities on the basis of which produces the greatest impact with the least effort. Greater financial awareness = Better decisions.