In my work advising and coaching CEOs, culture comes up often in discussion. Certainly, it makes sense that outstanding leaders are always looking for insights about how to create, sustain, and further elevate their high performing cultures. The wrench that’s been thrown into the mix is what we might simply describe as “everything happening right now,” and thus, the question of culture has never been more important.
How are these leaders approaching this? Here are a few themes
They don’t boil the ocean. It’s no accident that great companies have great cultures. Leaders have long understood that culture can be a powerful competitive differentiator on nearly every level, from attracting and retaining great talent, to shaping the values and behaviors that inform everything from hiring to customer service. Because culture touches so many different aspects of corporate life, it’s easy to boil the ocean when considering what requires change and take on too much at once. Good leaders resist this temptation, knowing that even in the face of COVID, strong views from different stakeholder groups, and the ongoing pressures to keep business moving forward, less is more. Instead, they ask a simple, but powerful question: “Out of everything we could do, what is the one thing we must do?”
They consider the degree to which their current culture is an asset. Would you say your current culture is an asset? While many organizations say yes, a question to consider is how value translates to employees at this moment in time. Consider the case of one financial services company, led by a CEO who had long-championed a “whatever it takes,” attitude to inspire employees to deliver in an above-and-beyond way to customers. For years, the approach served as an important value for the company, but in the COVID era, the CEO and leadership team found themselves on the receiving end of feedback from thousands of employees who described a “never enough” workplace culture. They widely shared concerns about burnout, round-the-clock meetings, and mental health stress while trying to juggle heavy workloads, kids at home, and the like.
To his credit, the CEO did not let the feedback fester. Rather, he quickly addressed concerns at a virtual town hall, sharing how “the culture that got us here won’t always get us there,” and committed to a process of understanding and making changes where needed to ensure the company culture would continue to provide value and resonate.
They leverage data to pinpoint what is needed now. Let’s revisit the earlier question of determining the degree to which culture is an asset for your organization. A logical follow up question might be: How so? That can be a difficult question to answer, because it requires data and insights on how culture is understood, experienced, and demonstrated by a wide set of stakeholders in a company, and traditional models or instruments (i.e., engagement surveys) may not fully address those areas. It’s why there’s an appetite by CEOs and senior leadership to seek alternative input, leverage data and capture real-time perspectives to pinpoint what’s working, what isn’t, and what will be required to advance cultural transformation and accelerate progress, without guesswork. Equally important, they want to understand what to reaffirm and preserve from their current culture going forward. Of course, data is only part of the story, but it’s a critical first step in building the case for change.
As companies look to drive growth, to scale, to reach new milestones, they will need their leaders to model and embrace the cultural attributes that will matter most to lead them into the future. The good news is that even with so much uncertainty, strengthening culture is something that companies can do at any time, in big ways and small, and the payoff can be immediate. Most of all, taking steps to support and strengthen company culture sends a positive, and powerful message to employees that says, “We hear you, we are here, and together we have a bright future ahead.” It’s a message we all need to hear, now more than ever.