More recently, organisations have started to realise that their culture will directly impact their ability to achieve their business goals. However not many manage to do it successfully. And many still retain the out-dated view that it takes years to change their culture.

If this were true, there would be no relevance for startups: if you’re aiming to be disruptive, you need a culture NOW that will allow creativity to flourish, smart risks to be taken, decisions to be made at speed, and ‘fast fails’ to be encouraged and rapidly learned from. Bare in mind though, that if your competitors wake up to the realisation that it doesn’t take years to change a culture, they should be responding quickly to the disruption you’re bringing to them. Otherwise, you’re going to run them over faster than they can say “Blockbuster Video.”

And by the way, if it takes years to change a culture, this would be seriously bad news for the organisations that are hurtling towards a cliff edge and need to rapidly turn around performance. It would also be really bad news for organisations that have great growth ambitions and need to evolve rapidly in order to beat off the competition.

So, what is culture? Essentially, it’s the unwritten rules for how we behave in a particular organisation. I realise that sounds incredibly simplistic. But whilst the definition is short, it’s vital. The fact that these rules are unwritten, makes it difficult to readily grasp what they are. And the fact that they’re ‘rules’ tells us that people do abide by them – probably unconsciously. So what? Why does behaviour matter? Because those behaviours dictate how decisions are made, whether continuous performance improvement is even possible, whether unifying dots can be joined across the organisation, whether you can attract and retain talent, whether you’re able to move at pace and whether you’re able to focus on what’s important to your customers. All of which tells us we’re grappling with something that will have a life of its own unless we’re willing and able to get a good double-handed grip on what’s going on.

Let’s be very clear about why culture is absolutely critical: the only reason to focus on your culture is to determine whether it’s going to help you to achieve your goals or get in your way. For example, if your organisation is bureaucratic, siloed, and hierarchical, it’s likely that you don’t move at speed, you’re missing opportunities, you’re wasting money and duplicating effort. Your culture will drive organisation performance… upwards or downwards.

That’s why you’ve heard the expression “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It doesn’t matter how good your strategy is. No matter how leading-edge, how professionally programme managed, and how market-shifting it might be, it won’t happen if your culture gets in the way of everyone performing in the way you need them to. Because it’s the people that have to deliver the strategy. I know that’s obvious. But this rather important fact can get ignored in the first flush of a love affair with a new product launch, strategy or expansion plan.

The approach to ensuring your get the culture you need is simple in theory. Somewhat harder in practice because you’re dealing with human beings in all their varieties.

Define your culture imperatives

These are the essentials of how everyone needs to perform, every minute of every day. E.g. “Drive – we move at speed”; “Fast fails – we try ideas quickly, learn from them, move on”; “Horizon scanning – continuously looking at what’s coming towards and being ready to respond.”

Ensure you have inspirational leaders

Ensure that your leaders have the will and skill to operate in line with your culture imperatives. If yes, make sure you keep them. If no, decide whether you have the time to develop them… if you do have time, develop them now; and if you can’t change the people, change the people.

Apply positive and negative consequences

If you’re absolutely clear that these are the culture imperatives that are going to help you to deliver your goals, then measure people’s performance against them. If they’re meeting or exceeding them, make sure they feel recognised and rewarded. If they’re not meeting them, you might have to say goodbye.

Creating the right culture requires focussed, on-going attention. You won’t get the culture you need by putting posters on the walls displaying your Values. It’s not about gimmicks and merch. You need a clear methodology and rigorous effort.

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