"Culture eats strategy for breakfast!" - Peter Drucker
Posted by Kalani Iwiula on Thu, Dec 02, 2010
According to a recent "Management Tip of the Day" by HBR, faced with failing businesses, most leaders tighten the purse strings, take strict control over the organization, and put strategy first. However, in the famous words of Peter Drucker, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." To right an organization headed for trouble, you need to build a culture that supports strategy implementation. Give employees a reason to care about your customers, their colleagues, and about how to do business right in a world that rewards cutting corners and compromising values. During a turnaround, don't focus exclusively on distinguishing yourself from the competition; find what brings you together as a company. It may be values, a vision, or a set of shared emotions. Articulate this sense of unity well and the business will follow.
In a recent blog post by HBR's Bill Taylor, he asks leaders two questions: What keeps you up at night, and what gets you up in the morning? What keeps you more committed than ever, more engaged than ever, more excited than ever, as the environment around you gets tougher and more demanding than ever?
According to Taylor, that question—what gets you up in the morning?—is one organizations need to take seriously if they hope to prosper during this period of crisis and (slow) recovery. And that's exactly what new CEO, Kent Thiry, did for DaVita just over 10 years ago in 1999. To read Taylor's article on Thiry's incredible culture change at DaVita, click here.
For Western Region/San Francisco-area OD, HR, & TD professionals looking for research-based training and development tools that engage participants, inspire sustained culture change and measurably improve organizational performance, consider attending our 4-day training forum, Foundation Workshop, on September 21-24. Click here for details.