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Over the last decade of coaching, I've come to see that many companies could use a few improvements in the way their people think and act. If you are a busy manager, team leader or executive in charge of people, and looking to your staff for new and better results, then it might be a good time to look at your current culture.

In their book Change the Culture, Change the Game, authors, Tom Smith and Roger Connors point out that, by definition, a company's culture produces the results they get. They continue to say that you cannot expect your current culture to produce new results. What you have now may not be a bad culture; it simply isn't what's needed if you want different outcomes.

When you step back and look at your team, department or company, how is your corporate culture working?

Linda Yaffe
Certified Executive Coach

CORPORATE CULTURE AT ITS FINEST

You may not realize it, but as a manager or team leader, you create experiences every minute of the day that help shape your organization's culture. These experiences include:


·    Promoting someone


·    Firing someone


·    Announcing a new policy


·    Interacting in meetings


·    Providing feedback


·    Communicating through conversation, email or presentations


·    Servicing clients/customers 

Such interactions shape beliefs about "how we do things around here." These beliefs, in turn, drive people's actions, which collectively produce results.

Whenever I'm coaching top executives and team leaders in companies, I'm often impressed with their knowledge of all the various disciplines that contribute to business results.

While leaders regularly pour over financial, operational, marketing and sales reports, they generally don't take the time to access their corporate culture and how it impacts their bottom line. 

In general, many are curious about the ways in which cultural beliefs and attitudes affect performance and profitability. They know there's a link, but they're not quite sure how it shows up on the bottom line.

I've been reading an excellent book entitled Change the Culture, Change the Game. Authors Tom Smith and Roger Connors write: "Either you manage your culture, or it will manage you." 

Shifts in culture are required anytime you want people to think and act in new ways to achieve new outcomes. Most of the time, it doesn't involve a total transformation, but rather a transition to new cultural norms. 

To achieve this you first must define the new results you wish to achieve. As well, everyone in the organization needs to be focused on and aligned with the desired new outcomes. Your people must believe that these new results are obtainable. Only then can they change their thinking and actions. 

In simple terms, "culture" refers to how people think, act and get things done in their company. It is comprised of three components:   

1.    Experiences, which foster beliefs 
 
2.    Beliefs, which influence actions
   
3.    Actions, which produce results 

Few managers excel at optimizing culture. While they're aware of surveys that reveal two-thirds of employees are disengaged at work, they don't know how to break down culture into readily identifiable components. They get lost in emotions, feelings, beliefs, soft skills and fuzzy thinking.

Optimizing your culture should command as much attention as performance metrics, operations, finances, sales and every other organizational discipline. 

By harnessing the power of culture, you can change the game by growing faster than your competitors, surviving a bad economy, improving your value proposition and outperforming all previous metrics. 

Your culture is always working, either for you or against you.  

What do you think about the culture in your organization?

Linda Yaffe
Working Matters 

WorkingMatters' principal, Linda Yaffe, a Leadership Development and Certified Executive Coach, uses her senior and executive level management experience to help you achieve your business and career goals.

Whether you are jump-starting a business, advancing your career, an executive or president, Linda’s coaching expertise will provide you with the essential focus, skills and behaviors needed to perform, advance and lead in today’s business environment.

As well, Linda works closely with companies like yours focused on "high potential grooming and leadership performance enhancement" geared toward your top talent and next generation of leaders.

Linda delivers bottom-line benefits to individuals and organizations focused on moving to the highest levels of learning, performance and achievement.

In addition to coaching, Linda delivers Leadership Workshops to small and large businesses.

Linda abides by the strict code of confidentiality and adheres to the highest standard of ethics in accordance with the International Coach Federation.

For more information, please contact Linda by email at LYaffe@WorkingMatters.com