What Company Culture Is and Is Not

There seems to be quite a lot of confusion about what company culture is and what company culture is not. This presentation helps to clear up what company culture actually is, what the important layers of the company culture are and why sub cultures, the environment, the chemistry and connections are so important. By the end of this what company culture deck you will be empowered to build the right long term plan to improve your business

Transcript

1. October 2020
   Danny Denhard
   What Company Culture Is
   

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2. Strategy Culture Trust
   Focus’ Pillars
   S
   

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3. Culture aka Company Culture is known as…
   • Work culture
   • Company culture
   • Organisational culture
   • Organisational health
   

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4. Culture seems to be confusing almost
   everyone in the business world.
   

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5. Books, Podcasts, LinkedIn updates, YouTube videos
   all talk about culture and what it is not.
   They don’t clearly define what culture is.
   

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6. I’m going to take you through what
   Company Culture really is
   

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7. Company Culture Is
   

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8. • Company culture is trust
   • Company culture is the work environment you co-create
   • It’s how people feel, yes feel
   • It’s the non-verbals, the cues and interactions
   • It’s how colleagues communicate, especially when not everyone is watching or
   listening,
   • It’s how colleagues work together, it is how colleagues show up and support each
   other
   • It’s the accepted behaviours
   • It’s how the data and information flows and how confidence builds
   Company Culture Is:
   

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9. Company culture is how colleagues and the company are set
   up for success
   

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10. Company culture can be the simple things like meeting
    behaviours;
    • Example of having too many meetings
    • Creating a meeting to make a decision
    • Or having meetings without agenda’s.
    

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11. Company Culture Is
    Not
    

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12. • Company culture is not HR (or just owned by HR)*
    • Company culture is not a marketing tool or a PR stunt
    • Company culture is not leadership dictating what works and does not work
    • Company culture is not a series of perks like an office dog, free beers and a ping
    pong table or quarterly sessions talking about culture.
    Company Culture Is Not:
    * HR aren’t in a position to be trusted by most employees, the old hire and fire model is too engrained
    into colleagues & businesses of all sizes
    

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13. It’s not a blog post or an email, not one internal
    memo and not a reminder on chat tools that we
    should be doing better or doing more.
    These are just baby steps towards company
    culture.
    And yes a reminder, it is more than a mailing list
    or a dedicated chat channel to ask questions.
    For many colleagues company culture is the why
    am I doing this when elements of the business
    become unclear.
    
    ❌
    
    ❌
    

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14. The Perks Problems
    

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15. Perks - Not Culture!
    

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16. Perks - Not Culture!
    

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17. Perks have been a misconception
    for a number of years and masks
    what is happening and what
    makes a successful company.
    
    
    
    

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18. You could blame huge tech businesses for leveraging
    narratives & helping to confuse perks with culture.
    A good place to work is more than feeding your team,
    offering a pool table and offering barista services etc
    

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19. Company Culture is
    more than just the
    word culture...
    Reminder Time
    

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20. Did you and your business get confused?
    Did you join a co-working office to feel cooler?
    
    

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21. Reminder Company
    Culture Is…
    

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22. The communication, the cues,
    the connections, the guidance,
    the agreed principles, the
    company’s pulse, the heart
    beat of an organisation
    

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23. Wait It Is More
    

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24. Company culture is more than a buzzword
    Company culture is more than a couple of old school pulse survey sent into
    oblivion
    Company culture is more than a last resort
    Company culture is how the company knows how the company performance
    is doing, how the company tackles obstacles together and continues to build
    better businesses
    

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25. Company culture is:
    • Developing your people
    • Improving understanding and objectives
    • Developing communication
    • Improving the environment
    • Improving collective expectations
    • And improving your companies performance
    

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26. Culture: Know Your
    People
    

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27. This is Jess
    Jess loves connecting with
    people similar to her in the
    org.
    Jess is an introvert but
    wants to discuss her
    work on slack and
    email
    Jess isn’t always heard
    at work - even with her
    great ideas
    Jess is listened to in team
    meetings but not by her
    manager
    Jess speaks her mind and
    engages a lot when it
    comes to improving how
    the team can work more
    efficiently
    Jess is a good
    communicator and offers
    to work closely with
    management in
    improving internal
    comms
    Jess fondly remembers
    a previous manager
    who would make her
    feel heard
    Jess isn’t able to talk to
    her boss or bosses boss
    about making work
    better
    

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28. This is James
    James is one of the leadership
    team
    James is an extrovert,
    he is the sales leader
    James believes in
    SQL’s, MQL’s and what
    the CFO and CEO say
    James loves reminding
    people just to do their
    job
    James manages over
    shouty emails and
    doesn’t read slack
    James runs it his way or
    no way. He doesn’t
    believe in good or bad
    company culture as he
    cannot manage it in
    salesforce
    James is an awful line
    manager James is famous for not
    saying hello to his team
    in the mornings
    

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29. One Is Rewarded -
    One Is Punished
    

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30. Me Team Department Company Org
    Manager
    Department
    Leader
    Business
    Leadership
    It’s How People Choice Their Part
    Am I here?
    Are they for me?
    Does it connect?
    Do they work together
    and closely?
    Do I support my team? Do I belong to my departments?
    Do we connect?
    

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31. Everyone has a
    strategy until
    they are punched
    in the face
    Focus Mike Tyson Quote
    
    

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32. Everyone has a
    ‘strategy’ until
    company culture
    blew up in their face
    Updated…
    
    

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33. Culture & Leadership
    

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34. Let’s be honest, almost all leadership and HR teams are too
    disconnected from the day to day, this means neither
    understand the pulse or heartbeat, nor are trusted internally
    enough to make the right steps forward when it comes to
    culture, this then impact strategy.
    Company culture does, however, need the HR team and
    leadership buy-in and has to have complete backing in-front of
    the departments and in the boardroom, and yes even the CFO
    signing off on ‘soft skills’.
    

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35. Leaders!
    Company culture is more than disagreeing and committing in
    the management meetings.
    

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36. Yes company culture is hard,
    Yes it is long term and yes it’s about weeding out the work
    politics and setting up success across the business
    BUT
    Company culture is directly connected to company
    performance.
    

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37. Company Culture =
    Company
    Performance
    

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38. Company culture needs nurturing and developing and is an
    ever-evolving and a growing part of your organisation.
    It’s not a one and done
    It’s not a recurring agenda item for the senior leadership team
    don’t have time to skip through
    And hear about from just one of their trusted people.
    

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39. If in doubt, remember:
    Your people build and develop your products
    That drive profits.
    

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40. The Culture Build
    

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41. Company Compass
    Culture
    Sub Culture
    Behaviours
    Chemistry
    Connections
    Workplace / Environment
    Ideals, values - BHAG, these are the guides and guiding principles.
    If these are hard or something people reject the rest can break very
    quickly, tech isn’t going to bring this back
    Culture - rolling up to compass, the below factors all rolls up into culture.
    This is the hardest thing to define and hardest to shape without clear &
    precise guidance.
    This is how certain departments or sub teams work together and
    integrate. These are the things new people need to use as a guide and
    integrate into
    What is acceptable, what is not across the organisation at any one points.
    Behaviours is how chemistry and connections are centralised and often
    acted out
    Chemistry is the hardest to interview for and understand before a team or
    teams work together. Chemistry is between people, teams and the way of
    operating, bad chemistry will kill teams
    Connections is how people find each other, work together and develop
    relationships. Connections bond chemistry & often sets long term
    behaviours. If connections breakdown then the rest can fall down
    The workplace (whether in an office or remote) is vitally important, the
    more time we spend in the office and together the more important your
    surroundings are. If you are unhappy in your workplace or in your specific
    environment you will not build good connections, build the right chemistry
    and behaviours will fail.
    Influencing factors
    

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42. Subcultures, team and departmental “tribal behaviours” are
    far more influential than any businesses realise or work on
    improving.
    Subcultures often go on undetected and unspoken of, leading
    to numerous issues
    

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43. Why Are Sub Cultures Are Important?
    You have subcultures within the same office, often within
    teams in departments.
    For individuals: Trust, behaviours & belonging all essential at
    the individual level. This is before we connect with our team,
    our department, our company.
    Work is: me and we (company), not one or the other.
    

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44. Yes, Management is vitally important to your company culture,
    your company likely is not set up to allow a company culture to
    develop or to succeed properly.
    Your company is not likely built out to support leaders and
    develop the next generation of leaders throughout your
    business.
    These are all signals of company culture and belonging to this
    tribe.
    

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45. The Environment Is Crucial.
    Working in the office, working from home, working remotely or
    the Hybrid model.
    Just because we are not within the same walls, it doesn’t
    mean anyone is less important, their situation is different and
    not to have a rule that applies to all.
    All important lessons and learnings should apply no matter
    what your set up is or has to be.
    

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46. Remember!
    Leadership is more than a
    job title or job
    description.
    

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47. Something That Will Shock Many:
    Culture is set by the employees daily, guidance and principles
    set by leadership.
    These factors help to set their company culture up.
    It’s the signals, actions, behaviours and the support that makes
    company culture win. This makes company performance.
    Not writing statements on the wall, not a commitment to
    something that was written months ago and never revisited.
    This is why culture cannot be decided upon from the leadership
    team or by one department.
    

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48. Why Has The Company Culture Broken?
    The truth is:
    Many leadership teams have got culture wrong as it was being
    directed by the wrong departments
    Or
    By leaders who were completely disconnected from the teams
    and departments.
    Culture became a buzzword and not an essential part of the
    business success
    

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49. No one is in a better position to help address company culture
    than the right internal people,
    However,
    Without the right framework and being able to step back, scan
    the landscape and gain insights - you will struggle to make any
    progress.
    

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50. Company culture goes
    hand in hand with
    strategy and it has to be
    treated as a constant
    priority.
    

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51. Strategy Culture
    ❌
    Historically Treated
    Separately
    

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52. Company Culture +
    Strategy
    = Company Focus.
    

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53. Are you ready to tackle company culture?
    Are you ready to prioritise and put company culture front and
    centre of your business?
    Company culture should now be clearer, for leaders, the next
    generation of leaders and people who just a better workplace
    and those who just want to do their job.
    

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54. 2020 has been challenging for everyone,
    2021 has to be clear, concise and ensure your people and your
    business is set up for success.
    Take the Focus challenge!
    Improve company culture and build an ongoing alliance with
    strategy to ensure it is treated as a business-critical item.
    

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55. 55
    +Thank You From Focus
    DANNY DENHARD
    The world of work has lost its focus!
    Focus was created to cut through the noise, cut through confusion and
    ensure businesses focus on developing their organisations and
    performance.
    FOUNDER
    E: DANNY@FOCUS.BUSINESS
    W: WWW.FOCUS.BUSINESS/MANIFESTO
    M: ANONYMOUS HELPLINE: +447480064060
    

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