Culture and Strategy for Business Resilience

Peter Drucker said that “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast”.  While I agree that a Strategy without a strong Culture is just a bunch of good ideas.  A positive Culture without a Strategy is just a great place to hang out.

The two are intimately intwined in great companies.

Here is an example of what I’m talking about:

In 2018 I started working with a progressive company that wanted to create a culture of respect and inclusion.  They were in the financial services industry that relies on long term employees to build strong relationships with clients, so a strong, positive culture that retains employees is critical.  From that they wanted to create a framework for sales and strategic execution.

They were a sales organization but hadn’t focused much on sales management.  They also had annual strategy meetings but didn’t always execute their plans.

Over the next two years we introduced them to several concepts that allowed for much better internal and external communication and a higher level of personal responsibility than had existed before.

One quarter after their 2019 Strategy meeting the CEO said they had accomplished more in that quarter than they had in the previous two years.  The team was flourishing and sales were ahead of plan.

Then COVID hit.  I met with the Senior Leadership Team and said, “We have to pivot on the strategy” and asked the following question; “How do you want to be remembered when this is over.”

What do you want people saying about what you did during COVID? Consider the following groups:

• Employees
• Clients
• Suppliers
• The Community at Large

They began to list the outcomes they wanted to achieve.  Then they went to work to create specific strategies to produce those outcomes.

Over the next 2 weeks they moved all staff to their homes, purchased the necessary technology to allow them to work comfortably and serve their clients as though they were still in the office.

The company started a COVID facts newsletter that they shared with both clients and employees.  They arranged for counselors to assist employees with difficult issues during the transition. And they continued to support the community causes in the same way they always had.  In addition, they highlighted the good work being done in the community by essential workers.

Fast forward to the end of 2021 and the company’s retention was excellent on both employees and customers.  They had grown their revenue during COVID while most companies in their industry had retracted.

The combination of an intentional culture with an intelligent strategy and great execution had them not just survive but thrive during the pandemic.

So, culture and strategy, in my opinion, are like the front and back of the hand. You need both to be whole and successful.

The path to leadership awaits. Are you ready to take the first step?

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