The Culture Trap: Ten pitfalls and how to avoid them
Culture, is often one of the trickiest aspects of leadership to navigate.
Most likely, because itâs perceived to be so tricky, itâs often overlooked, discarded, or worse still, treated like the icing on the cake, not the cake itself!
It often falls into the category of; âtoo hardâ, or âneeds too much timeâ, so never (if rarely) gets the priority it quite rightly deserves.
Definition of culture;Â The ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.
In other words culture in organisations, is âhow do things get done around hereâ.
If I was a fly on the wall in your office, what would I notice about how things got done?  Who or what makes decisions? How psychologically safe and free do people feel to try new things, give feedback to others, speak truth to power? What do your leaders spend most of their time doing? Is there a good balance of talking and listening? Are decisions made consultatively or top down? What are the things which are given priority; people, profit, planet, partying?Â
Weâve all heard the famous saying âculture eats strategy for breakfastâ. In other words, you could have the best strategy in the world,  but if your people (their behaviours, values, beliefs, attitudes) arenât behind your strategy, the best strategy in the world alone will not help you succeed.
I read recently in the book Love as a Business Strategy (Anwar, Danna, Ma, Pitre), that âbehaviours eat culture for lunchâ.Â
Iâve seen this a lot in my work. Organisations go to the effort to define their vision, values, ways of working (typically created in isolation from the wider business), then scratch their head as to why people are not embracing it. Behaviours are what bring cultures to life and they take time, care and persistence.
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Itâs easy to get drawn to the lure of a quick fix, but Iâd do that at your own peril. Your people will sniff out a sticky plaster approach at ten paces and you wonât see good employee retention as a result.Â
10 pitfalls and how to avoid them
I love all things culture, and Iâm always up for a natter about workplace culture. If you think your business might be ready to review itâs culture and ways of working, why not treat me to a brew and pick my brains about where to start? Email jennifer@wearefrankly.co.uk
If youâre ready to start your culture journey and want to take a temperature check of your current culture, ready our blog, Ten Questions to improve your workplaceÂ
And if youâre ready to get up and at em with enhancing your culture, then ready our Guide Your roadmap to outstanding workplace culture
I support Leaders to get clarity through positive 121 Coaching. Accredited Professional Executive Coach
1yLove this Jennifer Potter
Content strategist â business awards writer â copywriter â MD
1yLove the idea that Princess Leia is coming for you if you get culture wrong - brilliant image! (And now people need to read the article to see what Iâm referring to ð) Absolutely agree with everything. So many high-profile examples of things going catastrophically wrong because of unhealthy cultures. Itâs the thing you canât avoid and needs conscious management, or it will sort itself out and you might not like the results.