A successful organisation is one which accomplishes its aim or purpose. To do this, people need to be willing, able and aligned. A culture, with highly engaged employees, has been repeatedly proven to deliver significantly higher results.
So how do you know if your culture is delivering results?
Firstly, it is vital to know what exceptional results look like for your organisation. When Think Organisation conduct our diagnoses, cultures which do not deliver results frequently come back to an inattention to results.
Results which lack clarity, are inconsistent, uncollaborative and are poorly communicated will guarantee your culture is not delivering results.
Focusing on outcomes, impact and effective measurements allows the culture to suddenly start supporting the delivery of results.
Is your organisation just ticking boxes when it comes to results? If so, we would recommend you spend some time identifying your Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). This format has been around for years and creates a great starting point for creating objectives and key results Collins & Porras (1994).
Secondly, do your teams know how they contribute to delivering exceptional results? An effective culture creates a golden thread of consistency between teams. Each team trusts the other teams to deliver their part. There is collaboration, health conflict and creativity across the teams to ensure that everyone contributes. Together the teams deliver exceptional results.
Thirdly, does it really matter? One large bank, invested significant sums in marketing why their bank was different, focusing on purpose. But in reality, their behaviour was not aligned with this purpose. When the pressure was on for profit, the claimed purpose suddenly became less important. Your culture will not be delivering results if it doesn’t matter.
So if you know your why, the purpose and the aim of your organisation. Then, have you communicated these consistently across your organisation. How do you know if your culture is delivering results?
Look back over the last year – did your organisation achieve all it aspired to? Was your culture consistent with the aspirations you had? Would someone experiencing your culture use the same terms? Would it match the behaviours, competencies and values which leaders claim set the culture apart from your competitors?
Many clients come to Think Organisation to use our own independent measures including psychological safety, culture, toxicity and inclusivity. However, we often work with global assessments, including Investors in People, Best Companies, and a Better Place to Work, which clients already use. These tools each bring a different perspective into a business. But so often, clients do not know where to start in terms of how they ensure their culture delivers results.
The challenge is that humans don’t always do what is asked, and often, the brain reacts in ways which are unanticipated by leaders.
The objective of “we need to impact a million people in a year” led to one company broadening their definition of impact, creating a culture where people celebrated a diluted success. A result focus of increasing the numbers of potential customers a company connects with can lead to significant wasted effort, and a much lower conversion rate, in addition to creating highly frustrated employees.
Finally, and in some ways the most fundamental element of whether your culture delivers results is – how do results get ticked off?
Many organisations have a culture which spends three months per annum designing suitable objectives, yet a year later there is a quick tick or yes/no before moving on to the next cycle. This culture creates frustration, as people need autonomy, mastery and purpose to be motivated (Pink, 2018).
Think Organisation recommends real-time management, so time is spent effectively. There are many technical solutions which can help with this. But fundamentally the system is about creating visibility, empowering employees to be accountable, have purpose and be able to master their own roles using their own strengths. Each thread winds together, across teams and the organisation to ensure everyone moves towards the purpose and aim of the organisation, spending time adding value, not ticking boxes.
An organisation can determine if its culture is delivering results by assessing whether its objectives are consistently achieved, if there is clarity and alignment in the goals set, and if there is a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
In Summary . . .
How can an organisation determine if its culture is delivering results?
Factors contributing to a culture that successfully delivers exceptional results include clear communication of objectives, fostering collaboration and trust among teams, ensuring alignment with the organisation’s purpose, and providing autonomy, mastery, and purpose to employees to keep them motivated.
Why do some organisations struggle to achieve their goals despite having clear objectives and purposes?
Some organisations struggle to achieve their goals despite having clear objectives and purposes due to a lack of alignment between stated values and actual behaviours, inadequate communication of goals and expectations, and a failure to empower employees to take ownership of their roles and contribute effectively to the organisation’s mission.
Think Performance. Think Excellence. Think Impact.
