Culture Matters
To change anything within a business at scale we need to engage the head and the heart of all the players in the business.
Culture matters, it is the invisible hand that shapes behaviour, guides decision-making, and ultimately drives success.
How do we cultivate a culture that not only supports but also propels the organization forward?
The world of sport provides a powerful framework that creates foundations for success. Not all sports teams win all of the time, yet they stick to the vision and belief that with the right mindset, skills development, strong leadership and taking risks they will succeed.
The gap I have noticed over the last ten years in business is that organisations are not focusing as much on the skills development of their staff, there is a nod to training of managers/leaders online. little follow up or mentorships because we are all too busy or not prepared to spend the money.
Good sports teams with great cultures and belief in themselves attract and keep talent. They know how to nurture the talent so they too become great leaders.
In business we get too busy and jump on that constant roundabout that does not stop spinning so don’t have time to stop and reflect; what does my staff and the business need to be a great place to work, where everyone is excited and buys into the vision and direction of the organisation.
MGI research produced a paper in 2023 titled:
Performance through People: Transforming Human capital into Competitive Advantage.
I will leave you to read the paper at your leisure but in essence what it is proposing is that the organisations that are focused on people and performance, which they call P&P Winners, are more likely to create and remain in profit than other cultural type of organisations.
What do they do differently?
I have taken an extract from the report:
P+P Winners are not only consistent through the normal ups and downs of business cycles; they are also more resilient in times of crisis. When the pandemic struck, they were more likely to weather the crisis and avoid taking major hits. Only 54 percent of P+P Winners saw a reduction of more than 0.5 percentage point in return on invested capital from 2019 to 2020, compared to 65 percent of Performance-Driven Companies. In fact, 36 percent of P+P Winners saw an increase of more than 0.5 percentage point (versus 29 percent of Performance-Driven Companies). More P+P Winners found growth opportunities in the crisis years as well. From 2019 to 2021, they grew revenue twice as fast as Performance-Driven Companies..
P+P Winners are also talent magnets, with attrition rates almost five percentage points lower than those of Performance-Driven Companies. Their employees report higher job satisfaction and are 1.3 times more likely to move into higher lifetime earnings brackets than employees of Performance-Driven Companies. People-Focused Companies have similarly high levels of employee satisfaction and even lower attrition than P+P Winners, although not with the same stellar financial performance.
How do P+P Winners manage to succeed on both fronts? While investing in people is important, our research shows that another ingredient is needed to bring out their best and channel their efforts into results: organizational capital—that is, the management practices, systems, and culture within each company. This concept encompasses everything from training programs to workflows, department and team structures, employee communications, norms, culture, and leadership. When these elements are effective, they can turn a collection of talented individuals into a cohesive team.
In conclusion, no matter what size of organisation you are, the right culture, vision and strategy to include all staff will translate into success.
We need to physically and mentally support our staff and managers through effective face to face training and mentorship to produce great leadership for the future.
Can you afford not to?