The Litmus Test of Your Culture

The abil­i­ty to work hard and have fun with your team can be a lit­mus test of the strength and vital­i­ty of your company.

Peo­ple can have a com­pelling pur­pose and strong core val­ues and talk about cul­ture all they want. But where it real­ly shows up is what hap­pens organ­i­cal­ly, when peo­ple in a com­pa­ny get togeth­er, in or out of work. A true cul­ture rep­re­sents the com­mon beliefs and behav­iours that peo­ple in the com­pa­ny share — and that’s why peo­ple who don’t get the cul­ture can be so dis­rup­tive and cre­ate dysfunction.

You can tell the cul­ture is incred­i­bly strong, not because it’s writ­ten on paper but when a group of peo­ple – some who bare­ly know each oth­er – can come togeth­er and have an amaz­ing time.

That was cer­tain­ly the case at the last strate­gic plan­ning meet­ing for our India-based client Ashi­ana Hous­ing Ltd, which has an amaz­ing cul­ture. In a year when we don’t quite hit our num­bers, we stay local. But, when we meet our tar­gets, we go to a dif­fer­ent loca­tion. This time, after a spec­tac­u­lar year, we gath­ered in Istan­bul, Turkey.

And while the exec­u­tives bring their part­ners, this is no hol­i­day. We work incred­i­bly hard, while part­ners explore, and then meet lat­er in the day for din­ner and activ­i­ties together.

The amount of laugh­ter and fun – in the meet­ings and after – was con­sis­tent with their culture.

A good time was had by all, espe­cial­ly on Karaōke night. Peo­ple didn’t even notice the amaz­ing food the hotel chefs brought into our ball­room, as they shout­ed enthu­si­as­tic encour­age­ment to each oth­er. Every sin­gle per­son got up to per­form at least one song – includ­ing me, which is unfor­tu­nate for the peo­ple who had to listen!

Build­ing cul­ture starts at the top, is a lot of work and well worth the invest­ment when peo­ple play togeth­er as well as they work. That’s a lit­mus test worth passing.

The Chal­lenge

• Does the nat­ur­al organ­ic behav­iour of your team match the cul­ture you are try­ing to cre­ate or that your doc­u­ments out­line: In meet­ings, and when your team gath­ers out­side the office?
• What might you do to enhance your cul­ture make your team stronger when you are together?

Addi­tion­al Growth Whis­per­er podcasts

• The Sev­en Mis­takes Lead­ers Make at Strate­gic Plan­ning Meetings
• Plan­ning to Win in 2023 (Peo­ple)

Addi­tion­al Lawrence & Co blogs

• An Amaz­ing Team Retreat
• How High is Your Energy?
• Hid­den Costs of Not Hav­ing A‑Players

Lawrence & Co’s work focus­es on sus­tain­able and enhanced growth for you and your busi­ness. Our diverse and expe­ri­enced group of advi­sors can help your lead­ers and exec­u­tive teams stay com­pet­i­tive through the use of var­i­ous learn­ing tools includ­ing work­shops, webi­na­rs, exec­u­tive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achiev­ing lead­ers to have it all – a great busi­ness and a reward­ing life. Con­tact us for sim­ple and impact­ful advice. No BS. No fluff.