October 2020 Danny Denhard What Company Culture Is

Strategy Culture Trust Focus’ Pillars S

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

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

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

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

Company Culture Is

• 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:

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

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.

Company Culture Is Not

• 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

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. ❌ ❌

The Perks Problems

Perks - Not Culture!

Perks - Not Culture!

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

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

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

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

Reminder Company Culture Is…

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

Wait It Is More

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

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

Culture: Know Your People

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

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

One Is Rewarded - One Is Punished

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?

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

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

Culture & Leadership

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’.

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

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.

Company Culture = Company Performance

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.

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

The Culture Build

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Strategy Culture ❌ Historically Treated Separately

Company Culture + Strategy = Company Focus.

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.

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.

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: [email protected] W: WWW.FOCUS.BUSINESS/MANIFESTO M: ANONYMOUS HELPLINE: +447480064060