If you want to change your culture, focus first on defining what you want.
Culture is revealed by outcomes. It’s revealed by looking at the results. Not necessarily financial results, although strong cultures have been empirically linked to better financial results. Rather, I am talking all results. End results. Outcomes.
So, you’re getting whiffs of a problem. Your turnover numbers might be climbing. You might be hearing from clients about “dropped balls.” More people seem to be disengaging. The quality of ideas has diminished. Or maybe as Phil Collins once sang, “There’s something in the air tonight.” Whatever. Something’s up.
Instead of focusing on the symptom, we need to place the symptom into the largest context that makes sense. That larger context will help hone in on the root cause. The root cause tells us what reality is.
But we are looking to change that reality. We change it by clearly articulating what we want. It needs to be clear, crisp, and in as much granular detail as we can muster.
Only then do we have something to work with. Warning: there is a pitfall in defining what we want. The pitfall is found in the lazy response, “well, I don’t want…” Too easy. Try the harder work and use positive phrasing by saying, “what I want is…”
Once you have the root cause defined and a clear solution, then the work begins. How will you bridge the gap?
