When Culture Crushes Strategy
I’ve noticed that corporate Strategy and corporate Culture often show up in separate conversations with Leaders.
In fact, focus on corporate strategy . . . execution . . . results often receives far greater attention than the corporate culture in which those results are generated.
Why do we have Strategic Planning off-sites, but we don’t have Culture Retreats? We have Performance Reviews and Strategic Reviews, but . . . what would a Culture Review look like? My guess is a 90:10 ratio between activity spent on strategy / performance review and culture. What’s the ratio at your company? When is the last time your executive team sat down to focus specifically on your corporate culture?
I’ve learned that Culture will eat Strategy for lunch every day of the week . . . unless they are intentionally linked.
Leaders Have Weaknesses with Their Strengths
I’m learning that Leaders have weaknesses with their strengths.
Specifically, I’ve recently observed that . . .
1. Leaders have difficulty naming their unique strengths. Leaders tend to be good at a lot of things. But in talks with Leaders I work with, they are often fuzzy on the one-of-a-kind abilities they bring to their companies . . . the abilities they have that no one else does. Without clarity on these strengths, a Leader can miss opportunities for their most powerful contributions.