Culture is a Strategy – the fine art of cultural design
The world of entrepreneurs, start-ups, and fast-paced tech companies might benefit from slowing down to think before the company is built about the desired future culture of their organisation and how to design a culture from day one that sets the stage for greatness.
Amid the flurry of product design, capital raising, launch strategy and generally just existing, few leaders take the time to build the foundations of a great culture. Yet a great culture is the platform for super strategy. Organisations are people, and people can be messy, and brilliant, and downright ugly.
As we all know.
Here are some of the many things a great culture has the capacity to do.
*Avoid the massive black hole of conflict, backstabbing, gossipy people (Yes, please, let’s avoid that. This type of shenanigans costs about 30% of your productivity.)
*Create team members who take responsibility without being asked (or told ). Consider the time and energy savings of this.
*A far lesser requirement for any form of management. People only need managers when they are unmotivated. This also means a smaller team
*A flow of coherence, alignment, agility all within a space of healthy chaos
*Dynamism, creativity, and resilience
*More focus, higher commitment
*The ability to drill deep and yet hold high to a vision, simultaneously
Implementing cultural design prior to launch requires skill. You must be very clear what type of culture you are seeking, and you must know how to translate what you want into a structure. Like a fine wine, cultural design cannot be rushed. It must be deeply thought, deeply felt and comprehensively deigned.
Imagine how much future trouble you will save if you do this?
Need help? Call me. This is my playground.
(If you already have a culture and it is more akin to a black swamp, our work will be harder and longer. But worth it. The hum from people united under a vision doing great work is one that, once experienced, can never be traded. If you have a pretty good culture and want it to go exponential, then let’s talk.)
