Culture Trumps Everything.
You’ve likely heard me say that before.
So why am I repeating myself?
Because I want you to hear me loud and clear:
If you don’t have a healthy, vibrant, culture, it doesn’t matter what strategy or systems, or staff you employ…nothing will work.
When things aren’t going great, we tend to want to begin to tinker with our strategy, systems or staff, when the real problem may be…
…Our Style: The Culture in which all these things operate!
If our culture is not right, nothing else will be right.
So what is culture? Well, that is the challenge.
- Culture is difficult to pinpoint and diagnose.
- But culture is easy to feel.
- Culture is the combination of what we believe and how we behave.
Culture is what people FEEL when they walk in the door. Culture is the atmosphere. It’s the the environment. Culture is how everyone acts and responds. Culture is the presence of the IT Factor or lack thereof.
That’s why this week I’m helping you take advantage of this quarantined time by giving you the tools to work on the Culture so your organization can reemerge from the COVID-19 Crisis stronger.
Today, I’m giving you a case-study of a healthy versus an unhealthy culture.
Case Study:
Chic-Fil-A
vs
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
They actually both serve great chicken. However, when you walk into a KFC you will be the only person in the store and there isn’t much enthusiasm in the air! On the flip side, pull into the parking lot of Chic-Fil-A. There are hardly any parking spots. Cars are lined around the building for the Drive-Thru. The store is full of people, and laughter is everywhere. The difference? Culture. And the Bottom Line!
Here’s the scariest part about culture: Culture happens by design or by default.
We don’t have to do anything to create culture. Culture is being created every day, because it is created by our beliefs and behaviors. The question is: Are we believing rightly and behaving rightly? We’re creating a culture. The question is what kind of culture are we creating?
So how do we begin to design our culture?
1. We must be the culture we want to build.
2. We must get clear in our values.
3. We must hold ourselves and others accountable to what we say we believe.
With all of this in mind, what is the culture of YOUR organization?
Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10.
What do YOU think needs to change to see that number go up?
