The great state of North Dakota is my home. Yes... It is cold here. The people are wonderfully kind and helpful. North Dakota is a fantastic place to raise a family...
For the record, I did not grow up on the farm. It is an interesting thing to see some of my neighbors driving big four wheel drive pickups that could be pulling cattle trailers but they are not. Instead, these big pickups are going to the grocery store but never the farm field. Many of these big pickups have not actually been on a dirt road.
And once in a while I see someone that I know who does not have any cattle with a big hat on driving their big trucks from grocery store to home. One might say, "They are all hat and no cattle..." They have the big truck and the big hat... But no cattle.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with companies and CEOs that "got it" in terms of true awareness of their Culture and others that did not.
Interestingly, the organizations and CEOs that had a more realistic grasp of their Culture actually performed better.
Key Corporate Culture Distinction - Every company has "Culture". Unfortunately, not every CEO has a real grasp of what their Culture truly is.
Some CEOs are unaware or in denial about what their Culture really is.
Naturally, as we work with our Clients, we spend time with them. As a result, we often find a "disconnect" between what the CEO and senior leadership thinks the Culture is and what we observe. This is a common occurance.
Saying what the Culture is does not make it so.
A conversation I had with a CEO a couple years ago serves as an excellent example...
Me: "I need to share something with you... There is an obvious lack of Personal Accountability in your organization. From you own words, Personal Accountability is important in your organization but few employee team members are actually living it. In fact, few of your values are being "lived" at the present moment by your employees. In summary, your view of the Culture and what it actually is from my perspective and experience are completely different."
Side note... This particular company had a history of a strong product that practically sold itself. Most sales team members actually sold less in raw dollars than what their salaries were.
CEO: "That's just not possible. My employees are very accountable. Employees are rewarded for their performance. They are hard working..." More defensive language follows...
To clarify - Note what the CEO said... "Employees are rewarded for their performance." When the company did well, everyone received the same bonus. This bonus does not represent "Personal Accountability". "Group accountability" is an oxymoron.
Important Cultural Transformation Note - The CEO sets the Cultural tone of the organization. Therefore, all problems start at the head... The buck stops with the CEO.
It is the responsibility of the CEO to know what their Culture is and how that Culture is creating shareholder value, helping retain top performing employee team members, and maximizing the Customer Experience.
In the past, intangibles such as Culture and values have been challenging and costly to accurately measure. The result is Culture and values are not typically a part of the leader's scorecard or "dashboard" of Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The good news... The Cultural Transformation Tools or CTT is a detailed diagnostic report of the Culture of the organization.
The Cultural Transformation Tools are based on the Seven Levels of Consciousness Model. Awareness of the Seven Levels of Consciousness Model enables measuring the alignment of the personal values of employee team members with those of the current Culture of the organization, and those of the current Culture with the desired Culture.
Important distinction... It is difficult to change what you do not know with relative certainty. What gets measured gets improved... Our experience suggests that the Culture of the organization should be measured on an annual basis. How else can one measure improvement?
Give us a call and we will be happy to share how to measure your team or organization's Culture - 866-988-RAIN (7246).
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