Often under economic stress, executives will stop focusing on people development and culture. The rationales are 'we can't afford to', 'we're too busy', 'our time is better spent focusing on sales'.  

It is in these challenging times however when organisations are most reliant on their people and on a culture that facilitates the achievement of the strategy, rather than one that slows performance down.

Culture is the product of all the messages people within a company receive about how to fit in and succeed. You will have a culture either by default or by design. In challenging economic times, clarity of cultural expectations and behaviors are even more essential if you want to have a hope of achieving your strategy.

What type of culture do you need to achieve your strategy?

Firstly, this is dependent on the focus of your business and strategy.  Your strategy may require you to create innovative ways to service clients. In that case, your people will need to look outside the box, be visionary and have a 'can-do' approach. 

In an Innovative culture, people need to be willing to learn and change. This leads to the discovery of new and better ways to operate. One of the deal breakers in successfully implementing this type of culture is a penny pinching mentality that will kill off an idea before it has developed momentum.

Strategies that are reliant on exceptional customer service will require a culture where staff are empowered with the appropriate authorities and trust to do their job. The deal breaker in this type of People First/Customer Centric culture is an autocratic leadership style where a distrust of others, and lack of faith in people's ability, leads to micro-management and centralized power.

An organisation may have decided to grow through mergers and acquisitions. In this case, they will need to build a One-Team type culture and pay particular attention to people collaborating, sharing knowledge and working across businesses in order to achieve the desired synergies designed to lead to: greater market share, cost savings and integration of people and systems. The deal breakers are the barons, the ones who hold onto their fiefdom, turn their backs on everyone else and encourage separateness.

A particularly sought after culture in recent times has been high performing or Achievement  cultures where emphasis is placed on accountability, discipline and risk mastery. The deal breaker is a CEO (and top management team) who is not prepared to hold people to account and act on the consequences.

It is important for the executives to discuss, debate and decide on the four or five critical cultural qualities they believe are required to achieve their strategy. This needs to be done as a rigorous process where a full range of cultural options are explored.

Immediate Practical Steps to Take:  Start - Stop - Keep

An immediate and practical step you can take is to use a start, stop, keep framework to define specific behaviors you need people to adopt. Ask the following questions, what do we need to start doing that will have a direct positive effect on our business? What do we need to keep doing that has always worked for us? Additionally, what do we need to stop doing immediately because it is counter-productive?

For those organisations that are focused and remain committed and composed, there comes a moment in time when critical mass is achieved, where enough people are demonstrating the required behaviors. This, in turn, supports the culture to be resilient in the face of economic stress and ambiguity.

Mettle is hosting a complementary practical working session for senior decision makers on Accountability on Thursday 18 September as part of its Mettle U Program. Participants are able to experience elements of the programs they use as part of their Culture and Leadership roll-out initiatives. To enroll: Ring 002 9964 9511 or www.mettle.com.au (current executive programs).