Talking Point: How culture drives performance and effective strategic change
Think culture’s something ‘fluffy’ when it comes to the business world? Think again. ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ is a well-known quote for good reason – because it’s true.
So it’s no surprise that our consultant Joanna Booysen (whose specialisms include people and culture) describes herself as a ‘massive believer’ in the phrase that influences much of leadership thinking today.
It’s also a view that has helped shape Telos Partners’ integrated approach to supporting our clients, as our experience has shown that the most successful organisational change is achieved when culture and strategy work together – hand in glove.
‘You can't really do one without the other,’ Joanna agrees.
‘Culture work on its own, without strategy, leads to no real change. And the same is true the other way around.’
Making culture an enabler for success
Joanna speaks from experience. In her 25-plus year career, she has supported countless leaders to deliver meaningful change by harnessing the potential of culture.
This has strengthened her belief that the quality of working relationships across an organisation will either support performance or get in the way.
So, with culture, it’s not about eye-catching posters on walls or bold statements about purpose and values, but the quality of relationships people build?
‘You have to have some shared language and things like purpose, mission, values and behaviours do play an important role in building that,’ Joanna explains. ‘But if you're relying on that, it's only going to get you so far.’
To implement sustainable strategic change, leaders must understand how their culture is impacting all the other dimensions of their business. This will ensure culture is an enabler, not a barrier, to success.
Why culture provides clarity not constraint
'People make this this massive assumption that when you do cultural interventions, it's all about lovely conversations and everyone feels good...'
To this end, Joanna challenges the view of culture as something ‘fluffy’ with no relation to the bottom line.
‘Culture isn’t a ‘nice to have’: it is fundamental,’ she asserts.
‘People make this massive assumption that when you do cultural interventions, it's all about lovely conversations and everyone feels good. But when culture really plays into the commercial advantage of an organisation, people are making really tough decisions.
‘They're having really hard conversations because they have the confidence [to say] that this is how we do things around here.’
She cites the example of a client whose leaders Telos Partners has supported for more than 10 years.
‘They are daily talking about how they need to make some hard strategic decisions. But they are backing it up so it’s aligned culturally – they're building that trust with their board,’ she explains.
‘That's an example of where, because they're clear on their cultural expectations, it provides clarity, not constraint.’
Watch Joanna share more insights in her podcast conversation here.
How a healthy culture supports talent retention
So when it comes to culture, what kinds of challenge are clients looking to resolve today?
‘Clients who get it or are trying to get it – this power of culture – will know that they need to harness it for performance in some way,’ she explains.
‘They will have a strategy but it's not landing or they're about to define a new strategy and don't want to be competing with the culture.
‘Sometimes clients come to us with a challenge around talent because if your culture is healthy people will want to work with you.
‘If your culture isn’t healthy you won't get the best talent. They will leave or they just won’t arrive.’
Understanding the competitive advantage of culture
'[Our] really mature clients will have experienced a positive cultural intervention before. They know there's a competitive advantage and will lead with that'
Other clients are responding to symptoms or risks, both strategic and operational, she says.
‘For example, if you're a big organisation with remote teams, how do you influence their decisions or the tone in which they're interacting with stakeholders?’
Psychological safety is another challenge for many organisations right now.
‘We also have clients who are going through acquisitions or mergers,' Joanna adds. 'They're wary of losing their culture. They want to ensure their identity comes out on top or, better still, they're trying to work out how they get the best of both.
‘And then the really mature clients will have experienced a positive cultural intervention before. They know there’s a competitive advantage and will lead with that.’
Why culture is a journey, not a task
So how does Joanna see organisations getting their cultural interventions right?
It boils down to asking two questions, she says: ‘What’s your intent?’ and ‘What’s your desired outcome or destination?’
‘Because if your intent is driven by seeing your competitors are doing something so you need to catch up, that’s limiting,' she says. 'Or if it’s because you need to tick a box because the regulators said you must improve in that area, that’s limiting.
‘With culture strategy, you're trying to take the very best bits of your organisation and amplify them to ensure the market wants to choose you.
‘So culture isn’t a task, it’s a journey. And in those moments when things go wrong, you can use your culture to steer yourself back on course.’
Why leaders need to lead on culture
'When it goes wrong is when leaders delegate or even abdicate from it – thinking culture is 'an HR thing' and we'll do it in that space'
And what about the desired outcome?
‘There’s a fixation on the output – whether it’s the definition or a desire to get to the ‘perfect’ culture,’ Joanna explains.
‘But I'd like to think a theme that runs through this is pragmatism: you’ve got to discover what you have and make the most of it, rather than try to fit yourself into a certain box.
‘It's got to be authentic to who you are.
‘So if your destination is about building resilience and growing against headwinds, it's understanding what you’re going to input get to that better place,’ she says.
This includes the change management that’s needed and, critically, the leader’s role.
‘When it goes wrong is when leaders delegate culture or even abdicate from it – thinking culture is ‘an HR thing’ and we'll do it in that space,' Joanna confirms.
How culture energises success
'Ultimately, beyond the mechanics of culture strategy, what you're looking for is energy. Whether you call it fuel or momentum, you're looking for energy'
‘But where it works is when you see leaders compromising their power, their time, their money or the money of the business: when they’re spending money on this, they’re changing the way they make decisions.
'They’re showing they’re empowering others – they're letting go of some control.
‘That might be slowing down a transformation because they know how important it is to get everybody on the same page. It’s the leader’s input versus thinking this is going to turn into the desired culture that we wrote up in a workshop.
‘And the next level is that, while leaders are accountable, there's this mix of ownership spreading across the organisation.
‘So there’s a real conviction from leadership to make the culture part of their competitive advantage and to ensure everyone has the shared clarity and conviction to make that real.
‘Because ultimately, beyond the mechanics of culture strategy, what you're looking for is energy. Whether you call it fuel or momentum, you're looking for energy. How can we energise the strategy? How can we energise this upgrade of infrastructure or scale of people or product portfolio?’
Being able to tap into the energy Joanna describes certainly sounds like a very good place to be.
Next steps for senior leaders
Want to know how Telos Partners can help you make your culture a key competitive strength?
Visit our website page and get in touch to arrange a no obligation meeting with Joanna and our team here.
To hear more insights on culture, watch Joanna explore its role in performance in her podcast conversation here.
