HOW TO CREATE A CULTURE THAT UNLOCKS GROWTH By John Harte, Managing Partner at Integrity Governance
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good, positive company culture encourages healthy day-to-day attitudes, behaviours and work ethics within an organisation. Importantly, it sets the foundations for real, tangible business growth. As the pandemic starts to ease and boards come out of crisis mode, culture must be one of the first things they turn their attention to if they are serious about moving from survival to delivering long term growth.
Boards are custodians of company culture Effective boards recognise that they are responsible as custodians of culture - keeping, protecting and nurturing the good things, the ‘assets’, in company culture, as well as shaping it. They are also aware they need to address where the culture is not appropriate and must change for the business to be ‘fit for the future’. In fact, effective boards enact their role in culture by inspiring it, ensuring alignment, demonstrating authenticity by both reflecting and demonstrating the behaviours implicit in the culture, while guiding, encouraging and assuring themselves about it.
Three types of directors on the issue of culture Some directors struggle when it comes to culture. We see three populations on the boards that we work with: 1) The ‘Jurassics’. They view culture as the latest management fad which will pass like previous ones; for example, total quality management and mindfulness. 2) The ‘restless’. They know that culture is important but just don’t understand or know what to do, or how to deal with culture as a board. 70 europeanbusinessmagazine.com
3) The ‘effective enablers’. These are directors that not only recognise the importance of culture but are vigorous in actively engaging in shaping and directing it.
The pillars of culture that support business success Boards must recognise that the pandemic has demanded four key success factors for effective boards - adaptability, resilience, courage and candour - which remain relevant today and for the foreseeable future. These must be the core pillars of company culture moving forward. 1) Adaptability and agility are critical factors for evolutionary success and are now demanded of boards and businesses as they plot their way through the uncertainty, volatility and complexity of the COVID age. To deliver a culture of adaptability and agility requires the board to promote an entrepreneurial spirit, which unleashes the potential of their people to provide new ideas to help take the business forward. As part of this, boards must engender a curiosity and fearlessness to
inspire creativity, innovation and continuous improvement. Leading by example, by demonstrating diversity of thought and ideas in the boardroom, will give confidence to the rest of the business to follow suit. However, it’s important to realise that it’s only those boards that have diversity across demographics, skills, experience and thinking styles which will have a true diversity of thought. 2) Resilience, the capacity to bounce back from setbacks, is a valued cultural attribute which is in demand as we build back better and orientate for growth in the recovery. To deliver resilience a business needs to have strong, transparent and visible leadership, engaged and empowered employees, and
