Is your organisation one which invests a considerable amount of time and effort (and, therefore, cost) in looking to the future and creating a strategy and strategic plan? I hope so! However, what happens if the plan is not successful and the objectives not achieved? Is the blame put on to the market, the competition, the planners, the staff, or even the plan? The problem may be something more fundamental – the culture is not right for the strategic direction!

There are a number of variations about what is a strategy and what is involved in identifying and creating a strategy. The definition below is one which covers most of the key elements.

“An effective strategy is an integrated array of distinctive choices about which markets a company serves, what unique value proposition it offers to the customers, and how it arranges its functions to deliver that value.” Prof Jan Rivkin

In creating a strategic intent, Michael Porter suggests asking 3 questions:

What is the business doing?

What is happening in the environment?

What should the business be doing?

For many years, when working with organisations in various sectors on creating their strategic plan we found that people approached the process with good intentions and wanted to be thorough and professional. The tools and techniques are generally well-known and are applied with varying degrees of effectiveness. Many managers know about the 7S’s, SWOT and PEST and suchlike. (How well they use them is another matter!) The better organisations have customer feedback data and may carry out some market research. Their analysis of the external environment is based on good information plus knowledge and experience. However, when they come to analysing the internal environment, they may not have such a clear understanding even presupposing they carry out the Strengths and Weaknesses thoroughly.

Combine running the day to day business with looking to the future and leading the people and the organisation and today’s executives and managers have plenty to deal with. Is it any wonder that they do not consider the culture of the organisation? Anyway, surely the culture is what it is, we cannot do anything about it can we? Not strictly true.

Corporate culture happens – the only doubt is if it is the culture you want to have (or be part of.) What is the culture of an organisation – or the corporate culture? The simple statement (probably first used at McKinsey) saying, “the way we do things round here” is a good start point. A more wordy definition is “the moral, social, behavioural norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.” This does provide for a better understanding of where cultures start to emerge. Corporate cultures evolve from a number of factors:

• The top management and how they behave and operate
• The history and traditions within the organisation
• Strong groups
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  mental – the culture is not right for the strategic direction!

  There are a number of variations about what is a strategy and what is involved in identifying and creating a strategy. The definition below is one which covers most of the key elements.

  “An effective strategy is an integrated array of distinctive choices about which markets a company serves, what unique value proposition it offers to the customers, and how it arranges its functions to deliver that value.” Prof Jan Rivkin

  In creating a strategic intent, Michael Porter suggests asking 3 questions:

  What is the business doing?

  What is happening in the environment?

  What should the business be doing?

  For many years, when working with organisations in various sectors on creating their strategic plan we found that people approached the process with good intentions and wanted to be thorough and professional. The tools and techniques are generally well-known and are applied with varying degrees of effectiveness. Many managers know about the 7S’s, SWOT and PEST and suchlike. (How well they use them is another matter!) The better organisations have customer feedback data and may carry out some market research. Their analysis of the external environment is based on good information plus knowledge and experience. However, when they come to analysing the internal environment, they may not have such a clear understanding even presupposing they carry out the Strengths and Weaknesses thoroughly.

  Combine running the day to day business with looking to the future and leading the people and the organisation and today’s executives and managers have plenty to deal with. Is it any wonder that they do not consider the culture of the organisation? Anyway, surely the culture is what it is, we cannot do anything about it can we? Not strictly true.

  Corporate culture happens – the only doubt is if it is the culture you want to have (or be part of.) What is the culture of an organisation – or the corporate culture? The simple statement (probably first used at McKinsey) saying, “the way we do things round here” is a good start point. A more wordy definition is “the moral, social, behavioural norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.” This does provide for a better understanding of where cultures start to emerge. Corporate cultures evolve from a number of factors:

  • The top management and how they behave and operate
  • The history and traditions within the organisation
  • Strong groups
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    the environment?

    What should the business be doing?

    For many years, when working with organisations in various sectors on creating their strategic plan we found that people approached the process with good intentions and wanted to be thorough and professional. The tools and techniques are generally well-known and are applied with varying degrees of effectiveness. Many managers know about the 7S’s, SWOT and PEST and suchlike. (How well they use them is another matter!) The better organisations have customer feedback data and may carry out some market research. Their analysis of the external environment is based on good information plus knowledge and experience. However, when they come to analysing the internal environment, they may not have such a clear understanding even presupposing they carry out the Strengths and Weaknesses thoroughly.

    Combine running the day to day business with looking to the future and leading the people and the organisation and today’s executives and managers have plenty to deal with. Is it any wonder that they do not consider the culture of the organisation? Anyway, surely the culture is what it is, we cannot do anything about it can we? Not strictly true.

    Corporate culture happens – the only doubt is if it is the culture you want to have (or be part of.) What is the culture of an organisation – or the corporate culture? The simple statement (probably first used at McKinsey) saying, “the way we do things round here” is a good start point. A more wordy definition is “the moral, social, behavioural norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.” This does provide for a better understanding of where cultures start to emerge. Corporate cultures evolve from a number of factors:

    • The top management and how they behave and operate
    • The history and traditions within the organisation
    • Strong groups
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      tion plus knowledge and experience. However, when they come to analysing the internal environment, they may not have such a clear understanding even presupposing they carry out the Strengths and Weaknesses thoroughly.

      Combine running the day to day business with looking to the future and leading the people and the organisation and today’s executives and managers have plenty to deal with. Is it any wonder that they do not consider the culture of the organisation? Anyway, surely the culture is what it is, we cannot do anything about it can we? Not strictly true.

      Corporate culture happens – the only doubt is if it is the culture you want to have (or be part of.) What is the culture of an organisation – or the corporate culture? The simple statement (probably first used at McKinsey) saying, “the way we do things round here” is a good start point. A more wordy definition is “the moral, social, behavioural norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.” This does provide for a better understanding of where cultures start to emerge. Corporate cultures evolve from a number of factors:

      • The top management and how they behave and operate
      • The history and traditions within the organisation
      • Strong groups
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        ou want to have (or be part of.) What is the culture of an organisation – or the corporate culture? The simple statement (probably first used at McKinsey) saying, “the way we do things round here” is a good start point. A more wordy definition is “the moral, social, behavioural norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.” This does provide for a better understanding of where cultures start to emerge. Corporate cultures evolve from a number of factors:
        • The top management and how they behave and operate
        • The history and traditions within the organisation
        • Strong groups within the organisation
        • The policies and practices – including rewards, recognition and promotion

        Whether the present culture has been created by accident or design, it is what you have and is the platform from which the business will continue to operate. Before you can set out on the new strategic plan you need to know whether the culture and strategy are aligned. If they are, you have a chance of success. If not, ……..?

        A close fit between the culture and the strategy will increase your chances of success. Where the culture encourages the right behaviours and actions to support the strategy, the people will have clear guidelines and kpi’s about what is good performance. If the culture has clear values, beliefs and behaviours which link to the vision, objectives and strategy – people will feel (and be) aligned and deliver more.

        Where your culture does not fit with the strategy implementation, and required behaviours, you send mixed signals. People are in conflict. Should they be loyal to the culture and company traditions and resist actions and behaviours promoting better strategy execution? Or should they support the strategy by engaging in behaviours that run counter to the culture?

        When a company’s culture is not right with what is needed for strategic success, the culture has to be changed as rapidly as can be managed!

        How can you decide what your culture is – and whether it will fit the strategic plan?

        There are a number of ways of looking at corporate culture. There are some which assess the styles of the top leaders and can define the culture based on their behaviours. There are tools such as the Hofstead Cultural Orientation model, which look at various paired factors each on a continuum. The Johnson and Scholes Cultural web offers a more anecdotal and subjective view using 6 inter-related elements. The one we have used with a number of organisations is the Denison Organisational Cultural model. This tool has been around for over 16 years and benchmarked across over 1,600 organisations. It provides a more objective view of organisations into 4 areas, based on axes which consider External - Internal focus, Stable - Flexible

        Involvement
        commitment – ownership – responsibility
        Are our people aligned and engaged?

        Adaptability
        patterns – trends - marketplace
        Are we listening to the market?

        Mission
        direction – purpose – blueprint
        Do we know where we are going?

        Consistency
        s