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Creating a Positive Culture for Success Business consultant Stuart Rose shares advice on setting goals and establishing purpose to inspire your team Gandhi said of a nation that its culture resided in the hearts and minds of its people. As such, culture is intangible. Yet how is it that this intangible thing is so powerful that it unites groups of people to achieve amazing results, (and makes them feel good along the way)? Success in business is so often discussed in the context of conflict and we only have to look at past wars where apparently insurmountable military might has been defeated. North America in Vietnam and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan were classic examples where vastly superior firepower was not enough. Why? Because the most potent weapon lay deep within the hearts and minds of the defending nations’ people. A profound belief in what they are doing – an unshakeable sense of purpose. Belief in purpose (mission) is arguably the single most powerful thing that a business can forge. Accompany this with a set of values and overlay it with an inspiring vision and the stage is set for a consistent set of behaviours. It is these behaviours that become the observable culture of a business – of the way we do things around here. It’s well-established that a good culture promotes profitable business growth and staff wellbeing. But if it’s that obvious why isn’t everyone doing it? The reality is that, in our busy worlds, people are focused on near-term operational issues, (the day-job), and this can distract us from focusing on the important things, because they happen to not be urgent.
The worth of culture To fully understand how powerful culture is, it is helpful to employ an analogy. Cast your mind back to genetics and the genotype: phenotype relationship. The genotype is the invisible coding for a set of proteins that determine the function and appearance of so many biological systems and manifestations – our phenotype. Just as when our DNA becomes aberrant, either through inherited gene defects or through faulty repair, the physical manifestation can be profound. A healthy genotype gives rise to a successful phenotype.1 Without getting too Darwinian, the concept of culture is the same. The mix of beliefs, values and goals, (genotype), combine to make us behave a certain way, (phenotype). This analogy gives rise to the concept of Foundational Culture – the bedrock of all that becomes manifest in a business. Healthcare professionals know that the best way to manage disease is through addressing the underlying cause rather than treating symptoms. The same is true of culture – investing time in understanding the elements (diagnosing) and then nurturing them (treatment) makes the same sense as practising medicine itself. And to a private medical practitioner who is running a business, the sense becomes more obvious when you consider the impact good culture has on business performance.
Over the last two decades the concept of employee engagement has grown in popularity and credibility. A key publication over 20 years ago into the relationship between fulfilment and productivity noted that employee satisfaction and, more importantly, employee commitment to the company, directly affect sales increase. It was also noted that it affects sales through improved customer loyalty and improved staff attendance.2 Building on this work, a highly validated workplace survey exists which quantifies the impact of what is called ‘sustainable engagement’. The results, drawn from global employee databases of close to 150,000 respondents, are compelling.3 Companies whose cultures are strong have employees who feel emotionally engaged and are willing to go the extra mile, have the right tools for the job and score well on emotional and physical wellbeing. These employees typically deliver three times more operating profit than those with low engagement scores. They also take 6.5 fewer days off a year, (per employee), and are 41% less likely to leave their job.3 Translating this to a small clinic with few staff is sobering – and exciting! An unstable culture with disengaged staff has some obvious symptoms. It is hard to attract the candidates that really excite you and, on the occasions when you can land them, they don’t stay. The net effect is that you, as the clinic owner or business manager have more work on your plate backfilling the vacant role. On average it takes eight months to get a new hire in place and operationally effective, costing you between one and three times the job holders’ basic salary.4 Staff turnover begets more turnover, compounding the problem. And how much time do you personally invest in recruitment? Each time you lose a good staff member that time becomes an opportunity cost, robbing the business of your expertise in the things that only you can do well. The effect on your business becomes diluting and exhausting. The great news is that understanding and implementing a great culture is actually quite simple and, like eating an elephant, best done in parts! Let’s take a look at the foundational building blocks that comprise culture.
On a mission First, mission and purpose are one and the same. Big businesses often have a mission statement, but the use of ‘purpose’ is becoming increasingly mainstream because it is more literal and self-explanatory. In its simplest sense it is the raison d’etre or
Reproduced from Aesthetics | Volume 8/Issue 7 - June 2021
