How culture eats strategy for breakfast (but strategy helps)

Whilst it is well-documented how strategy helps organisations to grow, culture underpins successful change. With many organisations balancing absence, the great resignation and quiet quitting (aka the ‘slow work movement’) on social media, culture seems a large challenge. A recent survey by Gallup indicates that only 9% of UK employees are engaged or enthusiastic about work. Indeed, the strong psychological shock of the pandemic has broken the emotional bonds between organisations and their employees. So, read on to find out how culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

A famous quote by the legendary educator, often referred to as the founder of modern business practices, Peter Drucker, resonates strongly in 2022. If 91% of UK employees are disengaged and unmotivated about work, that suggests that culture is in the doldrums. A disengaged employee is neither receptive to organisational messaging or initiatives. An unenthusiastic employee has little motivation to engage in change or ‘go above and beyond’ for the organisation. Unfortunately, the realisation that expectations of work have shifted somewhat is hard for boards to accept. After all, decades of business strategy relied upon doing more with less, working more efficiently and lowering costs. Without addressing the cultural issues within an organisation, it is difficult to put strategy into action. After all, why would a disengaged and unenthusiastic worker want to put themselves through the change curve and step up? Culture, it seems, is the foundation of strategy.

What has gone wrong with organisational culture?

The pandemic created a once-in-a-generation disruption in office culture. The employee experience of commuting to an office, interacting with colleagues and connecting in a ‘hive’ culture disappeared. In a matter of days or weeks, this habitual and ritualistic behaviour was replaced with life in isolation, sitting at home and interacting through a laptop screen. Additionally, some people joined organisations without visiting a physical location or meeting their colleagues in person. That’s right, they went from pottering about at home to a delivered laptop and headset, sitting for 8 hours per day talking to a screen. Unfortunately, this remote working undermined the non-conscious associations with the workplace – the very foundations of ‘bonding’ with an organisation and its people. With thoughts turning inwards to self-preservation and the meaning of life, many people realised that there is more to life than work. The result is an exodus from the workforce, reduced productivity at work and a longer-term shift towards work-life balance. In fact, many over-50s retired early rather than work long hours in unrewarding managerial jobs.

Can organisations restore culture?

Many leaders seem to believe that bringing everyone back to the office will restore the culture. This is, in part, the truth. However, it also ignores the fundamental reassessment of what matters in life that occurred during those dark months. In summary, it requires a relaunch of what the organisation stands for, its values and its purpose. Employees are seeking purpose, a cause, social value, an enrichment of their being. After decades of management consultants focused on productivity and efficiency, many are ill-positioned to successfully transform an organisation with a broken culture. The new paradigm is that work has to mean something or many will seek alternatives. For the 91% of staff who are ‘coasting’ or quietly quitting and hoping that nobody notices, it may appear that management has lost the plot. A subsidised gym membership or a ‘no meetings day’ are hardly going to inspire those who seek purpose, cause and ‘giving back’. As a result, it means that many boards are outside of their comfort zone right now, ill-prepared for a world where the majority won’t comply. A break from a centralised, command and control, micro-management approach is sorely needed – a change that is difficult for those coming through business schools in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Culture for breakfast and strategy for lunch?

To understand where the organisational sentiment is today or the state of employee experience, we need to measure it. Once we have measured it, we can then embark on organisational design and align the organisation to the targets we set out from our strategic business planning. As part of this, it is necessary to focus on the people element of the organisation, the culture and capability we have to operate and achieve our targets. A ‘sick’ organisation is likely to find that anything above BAU or ‘crisis management’ is a challenge right now. To corroborate this, many businesses in manufacturing and engineering are suffering a high level of absence, even after free COVID-19 testing has ended.

In truth, many people have lost their passion, their ‘mojo’ at work and have other priorities. With support, we now need to ‘win back’ trust and convince staff that work is worthwhile. This is even more important with millennials and Gen-Z who entered the workforce expecting to champion a cause, working somewhere that resonates with their beliefs and allowing them to express themselves. In short, there is work to do before we can confidently deploy strategy and succeed in our strategic objectives. This is a new dimension of uncertainty within which change is increasingly difficult.

Concluding on culture and strategy

It seems that Peter Drucker was correct. The age-old debate about whether culture or strategy is most important was firmly answered by the pandemic. Yes, it took a tiny, ingenious virus to remind people about purpose, cause and social value. Most people reassessed their expectations of work and EX. They also non-consciously lost their ‘link’ to their organisation, particularly for home and hybrid workers. It seems that it wasn’t just our Zoom or Teams calls that had their connection disrupted.

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