Your Ego And Agenda Or The Culture?

You've probably heard the saying about culture beating strategy every time. But what does a strong culture look like in practice? We know what good strategy looks like - good products that are advertised, delivered, priced and supported well. We also know what a good culture and a bad culture looks like. Everyone can tell you if the company they work for has a good culture or one that could be improved. But usually people struggle in figuring out how to improve the culture.

To improve your culture you have to get past the biggest obstacle, the fact that you are dealing with people. The issue is that a company is made up of human beings. Humans have tendencies to have to protect themselves. Humans also have elements like emotions, ego and agendas. When individuals can't put their own personal ego and agenda aside the culture suffers. Trust isn't there. Open conversations don't happen because people are worried about protecting themselves. Or those that do open up find themselves with a target on their back. Pretty soon your organization spends more time and energy focused on the internal struggles rather than focusing where they should, on the competition and the marketplace.

Why culture generally beats strategy is because most companies haven't figured out how to get past the human issues they have. The only way you can do that, is together. That starts with the leadership. Good leaders put their ego and agenda aside, work to do what is best for the organization and every person in it. But it also has to be carried out by every person in the organization. How can you put your ego and agenda aside, putting your energy into something that will actually matter?