Every Culture Tells a Story

you do you

Research demonstrates that when organizations have cultures that prize results above relationships, if they have a leader who puts people first, they actually achieve greater performance gains.

- Adam Grant, Hidden Potential

Culture is Everything

Every organization has a culture - whether it’s consciously cultivated or not. Leaders can create a culture with purpose. They can train people on the behaviors and approaches that support the culture, reinforce the behaviors they want to see, and model the culture in the way they behave and lead. A strong and cohesive culture is powerful - it accelerates trust and consistency among everyone.

But it’s important to note that in the absence of a specific culture, every organization has an implicit culture. ‘No Culture’ is a culture. It’s an unmanaged culture that often results in an “everyone does whatever they want” culture, but it is what it is. Note that while this culture isn’t directed, it’s also a powerful culture. But it’s powerful in unintended ways.

Culture, Culture, Culture

Always Day One, by Alex Kantrowitz has this quote about Balmer Microsoft:

Microsoft was different. Under its then-CEO Steve Ballmer, who rose through the sales function, the company was bureaucratic and slow, and clung to the past. Focused on protecting its lucrative legacy businesses, Windows and Office, Microsoft prioritized profit over invention, developing a command-and-control culture that optimized for the short term. The alpha males running Windows—the dominant desktop operating system in the age of personal computers—almost always got their way.

So. Much. Truth.

Treating people like cogs in a maching (see my last post) to focus on short-term gains is foolish at best, and usually worse.

When Satya Nadella took over Microsoft (just a few years before I left), he focused on shifting the culture to focus on collaboration and learning (vs. the more traditional msft values of backstabbing and information hoarding). I could see some of the changes taking effect before I left (it was a big ship to turn), even I can’t ignore the impact of Azure, and the company growth under his tenure.

A purposeful culture makes a huge difference.

The Bottom Line

A Gallup study found that organizations with employees who feel valued and respected—are more productive and profitable. Companies in the top quartile for employee engagement outperform their competitors by 147% in earnings per share.

Perhaps more famously, Google’s Project Aristotle found that psychological safety - a sense of being valued and free to express oneself without fear of negative consequences was the most critical factor in team success. Sadly, cultures of blame are still prevalent, despite this research.

The Call to Action Isn’t Easy

There isn’t an easy answer here. Individual teams can have their own culture, but a culture where safety and collaboration requires leadership alignment on what the organization culture should be. I am typically against anything that feels like a mandate from leadership, but unfortunately, culture may be the only thing that needs to be top down - and I think the stories of Balmer and Nadella drive this point home.

But as leaders, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. The data show a strong correlation between a culture of safety and accountability and high production and quality. If you want to deliver, create a great culture.

Or ignore the data. You do you.

-A