Enjoyed presenting at the Corporate Finance Network National Conference last week on Creating A Culture For Competitive Advantage and thanks very much for those who contributed to the session. For those that attended (and for those who didn’t for that matter!) you can download the slides here!
We define culture as ‘the way we do things around here’ and it was interesting to get the participants’ views on what they’re up against when it comes to creating the culture they want, and how some are actually doing it!
Our research suggests that winning businesses Create An UBER Culture and it’s 3D Characteristic #5 in our 7 Characteristics of 3D businesses. and we provided participants with an assessment tool to help them find out how they measure up, and we thought you might like it too!
You can download it for FREE by simply clicking on the image on the left. to see how your business (or your part of your business?) ‘measure up’!
It’s a chance to assess yourself against the 4 key ingredients of ‘Creating An UBER Culture!’ which are…
- Understand…
3D businesses ensure that everyone Understands what is expected of them when it comes to living ‘the culture they want’ and crucially, the behaviours they should display to live and reinforce that culture. They have a clear picture of what they want their culture to be, and they clearly and consistently ‘spell it out’! They turn it into something ‘tangible’ by spelling out their ‘core values’ – not lots of nice posters on the wall, but turning those ‘values’ into ‘preferred behaviours’ and getting people to understand what this means for them in their day to day activities.
- Build Systems And Processes…
3D businesses establish systems and processes that help shape and reinforce the culture they want and need. For example, they ensure that their recruitment processes assess people against ‘fit’ for their business and culture, they make sure that their induction process gets people up to speed when it comes to ‘the way we do things around here’ and their reward systems reinforce their ‘preferred behaviours’. They ensure that their systems and processes promote and reinforce the behaviours they want!
- Empower, Engage and Educate …
Having spelt out the ‘preferred behaviours’ they want, 3D businesses proactively identify the things that are holding people back, hindering them and preventing them from living those behaviours – and eliminate them! This could a training issue, a lack of guidance, support or resources, or it could be an ‘attitude problem’! Crucially, they replace them with things that support and reinforce the culture they want! It’s about establishing clear guidelines, policies and procedures that help people ‘deliver’! It’s also about giving them the knowledge and training to make that happen!
- Reward and Recognise…
3D businesses Reward And Recognise the behaviours that they WANT! They establish ways of recognising those who demonstrate the behaviours they and spot them doing things right. They proactively ‘Champion their Champions’, encourage and support them, and where appropriate, highlight them to others in the business – it’s about creating ‘role models’! Crucially, they ‘challenge’ those that don’t act in line with their ‘preferred behaviours’ – it’s about making it transparent and consistent!
So go on, download the assessment tool!
- How do you rate?
- What do your people think?
- More importantly, what do you need to do to ‘Create That UBER Culture’?
