People talk a lot about culture and it’s becoming widely accepted that a strong company culture is critical to success. But why?
Businesses with performance-enhancing cultures on average experience four times more growth than those without.
With the right culture you’ll build a highly motivated and engaged team of people all aligned to a clear business vision and strategy. This gives you competitive advantage and leads to sustained, long-term growth.
Here are two examples that brilliantly illustrate the importance of culture – one organisation that got it right and one that has got it very wrong:
Women’s GB Hockey Team
The Women’s GB Hockey Team provided some of the most memorable and inspirational moments of last years’ Olympics in Rio. Nine million people watched their final against the Netherlands who were firm favourites to win the title. But, against the odds, GB won. So, how did they do it?
The catalyst for cultural change
GB had finished 11th out of 12 teams at the 2014 World Cup in Holland. At the Commonwealth Games just 4 weeks later, they also lost the gold medal to Australia despite having been in the lead right up until 11 seconds before the final whistle. They knew they’d underperformed in both competitions and were devastated.
This was the catalyst they needed for change. How they operated, their typical behaviours and their approach to their mission needed an overhaul. There was a clear need for change, and a drive from the players to make that change.
First steps - they got clear on their purpose and values
The drive to change the culture came from the players. They owned it and they drew support from specialists to help them define and build the culture they needed to succeed.
Their first step was to look at themselves individually and collectively and get really clear on their purpose and values as a team. Their mantra is simple: ‘Create history, be the difference and inspire the future’.
The culture was built on the beliefs that: they are winners; they are one team; and they are alive to the opportunities to improve themselves and inspire others. They created a sense of purpose that is bigger than any one individual.
Interestingly, their purpose was not to win gold. It was something bigger than that – it was a mission and purpose for women’s sport and for hockey in the UK. Winning the Olympics was merely a vehicle for the purpose to be fulfilled, but they knew it would require more than just winning gold. This was all about being role models, standard bearers of excellence, and an example of what could be achieved with great team work.
They defined some common behaviours in line with their values
From their mission, purpose and mantra, they agreed on some core behaviours that they would all sign up to. Everyone had an input to these – nothing was agreed without a consensus and buy-in from all. From there, they had numerous discussions about how these core behaviours translated in reality - how they’d think, react, communicate and behave in different situations e.g. on a rainy day on the training pitch; in the pressurised cauldron of competition; and away from the pitch when they were on their own. Every choice and decision made - from each of them - was consistent with the core behaviours. Put simply, they changed their daily habits. And they owned the process.
When it came to the Rio Olympic Games, they had a very clear set of behaviours that they’d been practicing. They made group decisions - for example, to come off social media for the duration of the Olympics. They wanted to focus their efforts internally and found that social media could be destructive – the things they read either destroying them or inflating them too much.
They believe wholeheartedly in being ‘one team’. So at Rio they walked onto the field as one team, and they jogged off as one team. They were united in everything. That meant everyone contributing in meetings which created a sense of ownership. And it wasn’t just the players – the coaches and support staff all played important roles as part of that team. There were no superstars and everyone knew their individual roles for the greater good of the team.
Continual review and investment in the culture
The foundation of a clear sense of purpose and values that led to a change in simple behaviours altered everything for them. As they move forwards, they know their culture will need to continue to evolve which they’re committed to working on. Key to this process has been the retention of a number of experienced players from last years’ world cup squad, ensuring the values and behaviours that drove their performance at Rio are taken forward.
2. Uber
Uber’s currently valued at nearly $70 billion and has grown rapidly since the company started in 2009. Despite this, they’ve recently experienced the most challenging few weeks of their existence which has called into question the leadership of the company and the fundamental way they do business.
Jeff Jones, the company President, departed after only six months in the role due to ‘a clash of beliefs and leadership style’. Even more worrying for Uber are the constant outpourings on social media by its employees – things that have brought to light issues related to the seemingly toxic workplace culture. There are stories of sexual harassment, discrimination, and a hostile, competitive and divisive culture which has led to huge employee turnover, particularly of women.
So what happened?
No clarity of purpose other than making money
There’s no clarity of purpose, or big picture view on why Uber exists other than to make money. Everything they do has therefore become focused on driving revenue whatever the cost to the business in human terms.
Their values encourage competition and are driving the wrong behaviours
Uber believes in a meritocracy which allows the best to rise to the top. Their core values are centred around a culture of individual success where people are incentivised to push for the best result whatever the impact on others. This has led to the creation of an aggressive workplace culture where poor behaviour (displayed by some of its most senior people) has until now, been largely overlooked.
By driving behaviours that seek individual success, Uber has overlooked the development of other values and behaviours that are key to building successful teams – collaboration, teamwork, and building a workforce that’s connected to each other and a higher sense of purpose.
Leaders role modelling poor behaviours
Culture requires on going investment and leaders are a key to the process. Everyone in the business will look to the leaders to be role models, and their values and behaviours are key in creating workplace culture. The toxic, divisive behaviours displayed by some of Uber’s leaders have been allowed to continue so they’ve now become embedded in the culture which is going to be difficult to overturn.
Only time will tell how Uber fares but it’s imperative that the senior leaders quickly understand how positive cultures can drive innovation, teamwork and collaboration, ultimately resulting in sustained long term growth.
The key ingredients for a winning culture are: clarity of purpose and vision; a set of values translated into simple behaviours that ‘live and breathe’ across the organisation; leaders who role model; people approaches that are not only aligned to the culture but positively reinforce it; and a commitment to on-going investment in culture to ensure impact is maintained. Getting it right will mean higher employee engagement, better performance and sustained growth in the long term.
Every business has a culture, whether intended or not, but Is your culture helping you to achieve success? Do you know how to proactively influence your culture or are you leaving it to chance?
If you’re going to end up with a culture anyway, why not choose to shape it? Put your people first and your business growth will follow.