Cultures At Work | Articles

How Do You Measure Culture? - Vol. 10

Without a doubt, this is the most common question I am asked by representatives of organisations who do not have a strong understanding of company culture and performance. Asking this question reveals that people are new to the culture conversation, or do not really understand what culture is and what it does. My standard reply is “you can’t measure culture”.

The One Reason Organisations Exist

Peter Drucker, the world famous management Guru once said. “Organisations exist to get and keep customers.” I love the simplicity of Drucker’s observation and yet I find that many organisations seem to spend large parts of their working day engaged in activities, meetings and planning that often have little or nothing to do with ‘getting and keeping customers.’

Does Your Culture Support Book Reading?

There is an old business adage that if your thinking inside your company is not transforming and developing as fast as the world or market place around you, your business is in trouble. One of the ways I like to stimulate, develop and adapt my thinking is through reading books.

How To Define Culture

I’m regularly asked to define culture and more specifically to define what defines a High Performance Culture. Both questions require a fairly long and wordy answer as culture is complex. However most of the people who ask me to define culture are working inside busy complex organisations

Not Another Definition Of Culture!

The most common question I get asked in workshops, interviews or in Q & A sessions at conferences is; “What is culture?” or “How do you define culture?”

Is Your Culture Too Complex?

A client on my Thought Leadership Development Program introduced me to a quote by Ajay Royan, cofounder and investor in Mithril Capital Management in the U.S. The quote was “We hit our complexity budget before we reach our ability to operate at our peak” Now I’m not a investor or venture capitalist but the quote triggered me to think that a similar concept would apply to culture.

These May Be 70 Years Old But They Can Help Your Culture

This week I’ve been working in London and eventually found some time to visit the only tourist site of interest to me, Churchill’s underground war strategy bunker. Long story short…. it was fascinating, but what really piqued my interest were some of Winston’s quotes.

Do You Really Love Your Customers?

I was waiting at a business’s service counter recently and noticed, on the wall behind the counter, there was a sign proclaiming the company’s commitment to their customers. Specifically it mentioned how the company ‘Loved’ and ‘Cared’ for its customers. The reality of the service I experienced suggested differently. Many organisations talk about loving and really caring for their customers. But of course organisations can’t love or care for customers,

Four Keys For A High Performance Culture

Four Keys For A High Performance Culture Developing a high performance culture can be a daunting challenge for organisations given they have so many other pressing demands on time, attention and communication simply to keep the business running.

Is Your Culture Aligned With Your Business Strategy?

Is Your Culture Aligned With Your Business Strategy? High Performance Culture, Leading Culture, Market Positioning, Strategy & CultureBy dougalSeptember 8, 2017 Too many organisations invest time, money and energy working on or measuring their company culture based on criteria set by external consultants and academics. They overlook the most crucial performance issue of any organisations culture, the degree to which the culture currently aligns to inspire a performance capable of delivering the business strategy.

Rituals & High Performance

Is your business paying attention to rituals in the workplace culture? A Harvard Business Review website blog by Heidi Grant Halvorson, associate director for the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia University Business School, says: ‘Rituals in the workplace can reinforce the behaviours we want, create focus and a sense of belonging, and make change stick.’…

Culture, Naivety & Ignorance.

There are two dominant reasons why organisations’ cultures fail to optimise and lift themselves above the line of mediocrity. The two reasons are Naivety and Ignorance.

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