Corporate culture is a waste of time
But not if you do this 1 thing
→ I used to think discussing culture was
→ Enough to make it real
→ Boy, was I wrong.
→ In my early days as a leader, I’d talk
→ Endlessly about culture
→ But nothing changed.
I learned the hard way that…
Discussing shared culture doesn’t wish it into existence.
So how do you make it happen?
Let’s think about the basics…
A strong company culture is a set of:
1. Shared beliefs
2. Held Values
3. Behaviors
Helping to amplify everyone’s work.
And connecting them to your mission.
But here’s that 1 thing that makes it REAL…
Simply documenting your values and beliefs won’t help one bit.
↳ Unless you also describe the behaviors that express those values.
Without naming the behaviors you can’t:
→ Manage
→ Train
→ Hire
→ The behaviors make your culture actionable.
→ And without this, you don’t have a culture.
→ You have an empty document.
Here’s an example of how we fixed that at Blueleaf:
↳ High-level value: Ownership
Behavior (1 of 6):
↳ “You execute others plans and ideas with the same enthusiasm as if they were your own”
Without the behavior, you’ve got no clear idea about what “Ownership” means
One last thing…
Culture starts at the top.
So as a leader, you need to be the shining example of these behaviors.
Otherwise don’t expect your employees to follow them.
How do you make sure culture isn’t a waste of time?
