What Is Company Culture?

The famous father of modern day management theory Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Every organization has a culture; a way in which it operates. And that culture will determine the future success the organization will experience. In fact, your culture will make or break any strategy you could put into place. Culture is more important than any other factor at play.

Culture is a powerful force that sways the ultimate outcome of any endeavor. An organization with a great strategy, but a bad culture, will eventually fail. But an organization that has an average strategy, yet a great culture, will eventually win. The strategy is secondary to the primary culture.

An organization with a great strategy, but a bad culture, will eventually fail. But an organization that has an average strategy, yet a great culture, will eventually win.

So what is culture?
Definition: Strategy is WHAT we do. Culture is HOW we do it.

How we do what we do is as important as what we do. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t talk about how they do things, they only focus on what needs to be done. The problem with ignoring the how is that everyone has a different opinion that affects how they work. If you aren’t intentional about how to do what your organizations does it will create unhealthy tension over time.

You see, culture is either fixed or forged. You either inherit it and it becomes a fixed result that is out of your control or you forge it through intentional effort within your control. Organizations that allow the culture to form itself end up with massive problems with employee retention, resentment, toxic work environments, unproductive busyness, frustrations, and a host of other problems. Great leaders literally spend time forging the culture through hard work and hard conversations. And it takes a commitment to vulnerability and humility to talk about the unwritten rules that form behind the scenes of an organization. We all know those unspoken expectations the people you work with have that wasn’t just about what you did but how you did it. Sadly, you usually only know you failed these unspoken expectations when you’ve done something that sets someone off and creates a problem.

So how can you create a healthy culture that propels you and your team forward? That’s what we are going to talk about over the next month through a series of posts I am going to release. Get ready to lean into culture and understand how to forge a great atmosphere that will expedite your success. You may not have the authority to change the culture of your entire organization, depending on your position and influence, but you can start with where you are and change things that you’re in control of.