Encouraging Greatness

Why Doesn’t Anyone Care About Culture?

I have now been with the company that I work for close to two years, I feel like I’m starting to truly get a feel for the business as a whole and the people within the organization. It has been an interesting last couple of months at work. The company I work for probably has a story like many others out there. Our company isn’t going bankrupt, but is struggling in a bad economy; this is due in part because we are influenced by a number of factors outside our control. Still, we have a group of people that want nothing but the best for everyone involved in the company yet we still just can’t seem to get over the hump.

To solve that, we are going through some interesting exercises as we have grown and we are trying to figure out who we want to be. We have been fortunate recently to be going through some branding exercises and one of the key points made is how many strong brands in the marketplace are built on aligned passionate cultures. That really struck a chord with me because it is something I strongly believe in. Ever since I first read Built To Last by Jim Collins and his concept of “Cult-Like Cultures” I started seeing this play out in every company I’ve worked for. I believe that companies that find success are those that have a passionate culture in which there is a shared vision on what that company should be.  What it should be to its customers, how it relates to its employees and how it views their position in the world.

The interesting part I think comes next though, because you can get a group of people in a room and they agree to the mission and vision statements, the core company values and believe they are on the same page. After that work is done comes the execution, now do you really walk what you talk? Too often I see people that want their cake while eating it faster than a group of 3 year olds at a birthday party. At the end of the day, you need to have that shared vision and have the strength of a leader to stick to the plan. I want to hear more people say:

"Yes, that is a great idea and there is probably tremendous value in it, but it has to wait until we get the other things done that we said are really important."

Yet all too frequently in organizations we hear:

"Yes, that is important, I know we are doing other things but we need to get creative and find a way to do both."

Think about your own situation, have you found that your company is more successful when they are all on the same page and executing well? Or is it better to just throw a lot of things out there and see what sticks? As a leader, my challenge to you is to work at creating a culture where what is stated to be the most important is valued as the most important every single day, regardless of how many new shiny objects cross your path. 

Fighting Mediocrity

How many times have you ever been frustrated with the people you work with because "they just don't get it"? You know what needs to be done but forces seem to act against you from actually accomplishing that which will make your company more successful. I've dealt with this often in my career, it is very clear to me what needs to be improved in order to help our business. Here is where it gets really frustrating, everyone agrees with me that is what we need to do. So why can't we improve things?

Seth Godin had a great post about the forces of mediocrity that described the dynamic in organizations where great ideas are met with endless resistance of all types. One part is encouraging to me that helps put the business world into perspective for me:

If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it's unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.

It really isn't easy, no matter what your job or industry you work in. Competition always gets smarter and everything moves faster than before. I suppose that is why they call it work, there is effort involved to make the changes needed in your work place.

So the next time you get frustrated with the state of mediocrity in your organization, don't complain and throw up your hands in defeat. Find another angle. Call a meeting with your biggest detractors and understand what their issues are. Overcome them, prove why their issues aren't real or what the reward is to taking a risk. That is what I'm going to do.