Anyone who has read my articles knows my belief in the importance of a healthy culture in any human organization, be it a for-profit company, a non-for-profit, a church, club, association, or even a family. But when it comes to business, how important is it really?
The short answer is: it depends.
Can people who hate to work together get things done? Sure. Can people who fundamentally distrust each other accomplish goals together? Again, yes, they can.
I have personally worked and participated in plenty of human organizations that had abysmally unhealthy cultures riddled with distrust, disinformation, manipulation, fear, politics and chronic, destructive internal conflicts. At least some of them were relatively successful at achieving their goals. Some of them even managed to hang around for decades.
So what’s the big deal then? If unhealthy organizations can succeed too, why spend all the time, effort, and discomfort to build a healthy organizational culture? Because, let’s be clear, building a healthy organization does take incredible amounts of time, effort and uncomfortable conversations that require true personal courage on the part of the participants.
The answer is that — despite the time, effort, and discomfort costs — it’s actually easier.
It’s easier to spend the time and effort proactively building a truly cohesive team that is crystal clear on your organization’s unique purpose and values than it is to play the eternal firefighter trying to put out the endless crises, blunders and bad decisions that inevitably and frequently occur among unhealthy, dysfunctional teams who work more against each other than with each other.
It’s much easier to make good decisions when you’ve surrounded yourself with a brutally honest team of advisers more invested in the organization’s long term success than their own careers than it is to remedy and recover from the inevitable and often fatal blunders committed by insecure leaders surrounded by equally insecure “yes-men”.
It’s so much easier to attract and retain top talent who enthusiastically take pay cuts to work for your organization and exhibit years of uncompromising service, loyalty and creativity because they deeply share your purpose and values than having to dangle huge compensation premiums to attract people who don’t care about your mission or values (only to have them leave at the next best offer a competitor makes, or, even worse, because of the toxic culture in your organization).
Here’s another reason: in business, you’re bound to have some competition sooner or later, and the health of your organization is the only competitive advantage anyone can count on these days.
Just imagine a competitor led by a person who doesn’t have to deal with the “Trust Tax” that everyone on your team subjects everything you say to. “Hey, congratulations on a great quarter!” translation: “Your next quarter better be just as good if not better or else…” or “We need you to be a team player and step in to handle Bob’s workload since we can’t replace him.” translation: “Here’s more work for the same pay and you better be grateful you still have a job.”
Imagine a competitor who actually gets brutally honest feedback from the team of experienced professionals he has surrounded himself with, even if it is unpopular or difficult to hear.
Image a competitor that is run by a team of people ready at a moment’s notice to share resources and collaborate creatively around any disruption that arises in your industry.
Image a competitor who is laser focused on a daily and weekly basis on exactly what is most important for them to accomplish in the next three to six months for them to succeed in your marketplace.
Very few businesses exist in markets that are impervious to disruption and penetration by new competitors at a moment’s notice. The old advantages of timing, information and technology are just too ubiquitous to matter any longer. Just ask Sears or Yahoo or Blockbuster.
Why leave your organization’s culture to chance if it represents your greatest chance for success and your greatest competitive advantage?
