Your products are replicable. Culture isn't.
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By Adi
Solution Architect and Founder of ARC
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Hello and Welcome to all new and old readers of ARC’s Leadership Campfire. In this edition we look at
- Why culture is the operating system of an organisation.
- What leaders get wrong when they try to ‘import’ culture.
- How ARC helps organisations build values that are lived, not laminated.
So let’s get started.
What's culture and what it isn't?
Every organisation has a culture, whether it wants one or not. But few think deeply about what they want it to be.
One common reason to think of company culture is as a means of increasing employee satisfaction, which matters when your neglected employees have other options.
But here is another reason: Culture fills the gaps that strategy can’t.
Let me explain with an example.
In the book ‘The Last Lecture’, Randy Pausch (the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor and alum who has become world-famous for his last lecture "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,") tells a story from his younger days when he and his sister went to Disney World.
Like any grateful child, they pooled their allowance money to buy a salt and pepper shaker for their parents, as a way of saying thank you.
Just when they were to walk outside the store with glee, a mini tragedy occurred: Randy accidentally dropped the shaker, breaking it on impact. A nearby adult suggested that they should take it back to the store and they did so hesitantly, not expecting a positive outcome.
To their surprise and delight, the Disney employee who had sold them the items apologised for not wrapping them appropriately and gave them a new set, no questions asked!
Let’s pause here.
Think of this from the perspective of Disney and that employee. Over the years, Disney has created a culture where people come in and feel joyous.
That single act of generosity wasn’t in any rulebook. It was culture at work. An unwritten expectation that every employee should create moments of delight.
Disney built a system where employees feel empowered to act in service of joy. That’s how culture shows up when no script or strategy is present.
Culture fills the gap when strategy falls silent.
Now, does that mean that culture is something that can be replicated from one organisation to the other?
Is there an ideal culture?
Just like DNA, an organisation's culture is unique to its existence.
The reason why leaders need to nurture such different environments is that culture is an operating system for companies. And because strategies differ, cultures must differ too.
Look at the Indian EV 2 Wheeler market in India, which is growing at YoY growth of 15–20%. Ola, TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, Ather and Hero being the big players in the market.
2 Organisations stand out for me, Ather and TVS Motors. Both selling similar prodcuts but having completely different cultures.
One brings in product-led differentiation, software and is a start-up. The other is an established OEM bringing in distribution, service networks and years of brand trust.
→ Ather behaves like a disruptor: It scores lower on Job security and rapid promotions, but is known for its sleek design, and a scooty that feels like a bike :)
→ TVS, by contrast, enters the EV space from the base of an established OEM. Set processes and steadiness are what define them.
(From the data captured on Ambition box, Glassdoor and Indeed)
Ather’s start-up culture rewards experimentation and speed, while TVS’s legacy culture rewards reliability and stability. Both create value, but in different ways.
That's culture in action.
If you want your employees to behave in a certain way, it’s not enough to paint generic words on a wall, but to embody them every day.
How does ARC partner with you to build your organisation’s culture?
Culture isn’t software that we as consultants upload to your system. It is a practice of behaviours that stem from the values you set as an organisation.
Through our cultural interventions, we help you define those values. Explore what they look like in action. And the hold spaces where they can be practised.
We do this by running reflective workshops with leaders. Co-creating rituals that embed values into daily work.
For example, regular storytelling circles where teams share how they lived the values that week, or leadership simulations that reveal hidden assumptions. Culture isn’t built in off-sites; but the bricks of it are laid in everyday behaviour.
A simple test to check if the cultural intervention was successful or not is to ask an employee about their company’s values.
If they reach-out for their handbook or look for it written on a wall- then the purpose isn’t met. If one practices it daily then have to just look within.
Once you know the answer.
It will reflect in your product.
Your market will know.
Until next time,
Integrating Cultures,
Adi
P.S.: Here's how we get our clients to say 'Hmmm, we hadn’t seen it that way'.
If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, there is a high chance that we'll enjoy working together even more.
And by the way, I'm also happy to just nerd about Organisation Development or Applied Behavioural Science without any sales pleasure.
So feel free to choose a time for our chat here, or just hit 'reply' to this email :)
Let's talk soon.
Adi Raheja