Recently Jonathan Betts, Dianne Lee, Jackie MacRitchie, Renos Savva, Sara Vanderberghe and I met to talk about how to sustain culture in times of change, especially in a downturn.

We discussed how a positive organizational culture is critical as organisations grow and evolve so that our best talent can thrive.  Culture is a differentiator! As times get tough culture is just as important, but it may show up differently. Take these three examples:

  • Agility could translate into making difficult, yet rapid decisions, about where resources are most needed and what is no longer critical to delivering core business.
  • Collaboration becomes about how we survive together through tough times.
  • A focus on Customer Centricity ensures that clients are not surprised by changes and that their needs continue to be met.

When downturns happen, decisions need to continue to be made based on organizational values so that culture is sustained, and key talent is retained to help see the organization through to better times.  There is no question of the clear link between culture and business performance.

There is no doubt more people are valuing culture as a key reason to join a company or more significantly, perhaps not join a company.   Just explaining the culture is not enough, culture needs to play out during the recruitment process. The authenticity and congruency shown by the organisational leaders will be noticed.

Another environmental challenge to culture is virtual and hybrid working.  Leaders need to work even harder to demonstrate that we are living our desired culture.

For all these reasons having a healthy culture is important, so what can be done to maintain and grow a healthy culture?  In the article are ten actions to consider.

  1. Do a reality check. Is the culture we desire, what we have?  Does everyone know the values, buy into them and most importantly live them?
  2. Get clear on your organizational vision and ensure your stated values enable and sustain this vision.
  3. Keep your values simple. Have a small number that are generated through engaging the whole organization.
  4. Ensure business focus features in values. Without a business focus and customers there are no jobs. This is not permission to ignore the people aspects of the culture but to recognize the balance that needs to be made to have a sustainable organization.  Aim to achieve business goals through engaging people in the journey.
  5. Hold people accountable. Be clear on what you expect of your teams and consider aligning reward and recognition with those expectations. For example, some organizations have a performance review process where 50% of the review is based on performance against set objectives and 50% is based on performance against the company values – not just what has been achieved but also how it has been achieved.  Others have recognition systems to showcase living the values.  Calling out behaviours that do not align with the agreed values is critical
  6. Don’t be afraid of subcultures. Within large diverse global organizations, the reality is that there will be different legislations, different local customs, ways of working and doing business. A common framework and set of values will give consistency to feel part of a large organization whilst allowing local behaviours that live these values to be adopted.
  7. Build skills that support an effective culture. For example, one skill that is important is the ability to see things from others perspective. This enables and fosters successful cross functional and regional working and cements the value of teamwork and collaboration
  8. Have leaders who role model values. Leaders have a critical role in setting the tone. Their observed behaviour at all times is more important than them verbalising the values.
  9. Use data to monitor culture and act. Engagement surveys are useful instruments to solicit direct feedback on how organizations are doing.  They act as a basis to generate action plans to build on the positive observations and rectify any issues that arise.
  10. Value the diversity   Diversity in skill sets, perspectives and backgrounds are a prerequisite to healthy collaborative businesses and cultures.  Ensure the culture within an organisation embraces diversity