94% of executives agree culture is vital to business success, according to a Deloitte study. Yet further analysis reveals that C-suite members assume employees’ physical, financial, social and mental wellbeing is 24-41% higher than it actually is!
According to Charlie Coode (an entrepreneur, business leader, thought leader, practitioner and consultant in culture, strategy, and leadership, who has two decades of experience in designing and delivering programs to help organisations improve their culture and performance) there are five major pitfalls – neglectful duty aside – that lead to this cultural disconnect. He has shared them with Executive PA to help position leaders for greater success…
- Neglecting strategic alignment
“Effective culture-building requires more than sporadic initiatives and perks. One common mistake leaders make is implementing superficial changes without aligning them with overarching business objectives.
Set clear cultural goals for the organisation before taking action, ensuring these goals support business strategy, with each initiative contributing meaningfully to long-term success.”
- Following the leader
“Research from Gallup indicates employees are 70% more likely to be engaged when leaders themselves exhibit the solicited culture-building behaviours.
Leaders must therefore ensure they personally embody cultural and company values, acting authentically and consistently to foster a positive and cohesive workplace environment.”
- Overemphasis on engagement
“Whilst surveys can provide valuable insight into team sentiment, relying on them as the sole measure of culture leads only to strategic misalignment. Verbatim feedback is often subjective and emotionally driven, meaning it can easily misguide decision-making, even when led by executives who consider themselves unbiased.
This subjective approach to culture also leaves results open to haphazard attempts at interpretation. By way of example, leaders might respond to unmotivated team members by organising team-building activities, not realising that the underlying cause of the productivity problem is actually weighty workloads. Resources are thus allocated inefficiently and fail to resolve true challenges, leaving employees feeling even more overwhelmed or exasperated.
To overcome this, employers must learn to look at the bigger picture, defining culture, not only as self-reported engagement scores but as a set of wider company practices and behaviours. By looking at each of these behaviours objectively and comparing current progress against desired behavioural goals, it becomes much easier to move company culture from stagnation to success – with pace picking up significantly through the incorporation of specialist digital tools.”
- Failing to address diversity and inclusion
“Of course, even the most data-driven initiatives will fail if diversity and inclusion are not embraced as integral components of a thriving culture. This risks fostering a homogenous and potentially hostile culture that stifles innovation and alienates diverse talent.
More must be done to cultivate an inclusive environment where all voices are heard and valued, beyond basic compliance.”
- Ignoring the need to adapt
“No company is stagnant, so its culture shouldn’t be either. Markets are consistently changing along with people, calling for a more agile approach to culture that requires leaders to keep their finger consistently on the pulse. Without comprehensive real-time data insights, this can prove challenging, with companies failing to identify evolving cultural trends or areas in need of improvement.
Embracing tracking and measurement tools can prove useful in such cases, allowing organisations to respond proactively, rather than becoming victims of their own outdated culture.”
