all agree that culture is important.
Now it is also important to
remember that the question is not,
“Do you have a culture?” because
you do. The question is, “Do you
have the culture you desire – one
that inspires your staff and that
keeps your guests coming back for
more?”
This is the year that all managers
and executives must be looking at
their culture and determining if it is
instilling their staff with a positive
mindset and inspiring them to deliver
on the brand promise. And if your
culture does not meet your staff’s or
guests’ expectations, then it is time
to do something about it. It is time
to refresh and reignite your company
culture to be more service-oriented
and customer-experience focused.
While HR may take the lead, the
reality is that everyone in your
company must be involved. Culture
can no longer be seen as just an HR
thing, an optional thing, or a notrequired thing. It is a fundamental
business thing, and as such every
manager and executive needs to
understand it and be involved in
delivering it.
Peter Drucker’s phrase, “Culture
eats strategy for breakfast,” is
probably more relevant in business
today than ever before. Edgar
Schein, a professor at MIT’s Sloan
School of Management, goes even
further to say that, “The only thing
of real importance that leaders do
is to create and manage culture. If
you do not manage culture, then it
manages you, and you may not even
be aware of the extent to which this
is happening.”
So, if you are serious about culture,
then the next challenge is to
understand how you can refresh or
rebuild it as required. I often get
asked, “Can you really reprogram
our company code (culture) or
the mindsets and attitudes of our
people?” The answer is of course,
but it is not an easy, short-term
initiative, and it cannot just be
made up as you go along. Evolving
a culture requires its own plan, a
focus on the right things, the right
resources, and most importantly
the right leaders. Before you can
get started the one big challenge
you have to overcome is the idea of
change.
No matter how much people claim
to be comfortable with it, the reality
is that most of us are generally are
not okay with change. I learned over
the years not to make such a big
deal about change, especially when it
comes to culture. I have been a part
of many cultural transformations
over the years where the first thing
the company did was to announce
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