Culture Eats Strategy…

A few days ago I met with a group of Christian leaders/entrepreneurs.  I was asked the question, “what blind spots have you observed with the leaders you work with?”

My answer:

1. Lack of focus due to lack of strategy.
2. Lack of knowledge of the finances and what activities brings value to the business and the customers.
3. Lack of paying attention to the company culture and/or not realizing your company’s culture begins with YOU.
4. Lack of trusting God (through prayer) to help you run the business.

My statement about culture really struck a chord with the group.  Twentieth century management guru, Peter Drucker once said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast every day of the week.”  A business can have an unbelievably strong strategic plan but if the culture stinks, the plan will most likely not be executed.

Culture is how you do business.  It is how you treat your customers, your employees, your community.  It is a spirit that binds everyone in the organization.  Every company has a culture.  It exists by design or default.

A company’s culture, if effective, will make correct decisions in the absence of leadership.  Our number one core value at HealthCare Pharmacy was; “We care about those we serve,” which  led to our three ‘actionable’ values:

1. We treat others better than we expect to be treated.
2. We fulfill the needs of our clients and teammates to the best of our abilities.
3. We exhibit honesty and excellence in all we do.

I used to review our values with our teammates at least every other month in order to make sure they were alive and guiding our decision making processes throughout the entire organization.  In essence our values assisted us in making thousands and thousands of correct decisions when it came to dealing with our customers and each other–whether I was present or not.

If you are a leader and would like to design a specific type of culture for your organization, take some time to note your key personal values. Those values will most likely be the values you will want to guide the behavior of your business.

My personal values come from the book of Micah 6:8, “Do right, give mercy, be humble.”  (My translation).

When you read my personal values, you can see how they align with our business values.

Oh, and one other thing…culture eats strategy for breakfast on the home front also.

For more on culture see this article in Forbes Magazine.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com

James 2:14, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”