culture – Road to improvement

Culture and breakfast

24 octubre, 2020Publicado en attitude, leadership, organizational culture, teamEtiquetado como change, culture, execution, transformationDeja un comentario

“The Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast”. Peter Drucker.

Corporate culture is defined as: “the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions”.

So, in the end, everything comes to people, teams and individuals. Each with its own roadmap, goals, but with a common sharing of beliefs and behaviors. But, together they are who run the business and usual, who face challenges and who will have to execute any strategy that can be designed.

As employee you need to understand your company’s culture. If you are new, in order to fit. If you are already part of the crew, it will help you to understand the way to reach your goals, why you have the feeling there is something not right or make you realized that it is not your place, you don’t fit.

As a company you can have designed the best strategy or requested for the most disruptive solutions, that if the teams have not changed, implementation will be pretty hard to achieve and proposals will not be too original. So, the company has to be aware of what kind of culture is in place.

You want to do different as a company? You need to change the way your staff behaves, or change the staff who behaves in a specific way. If this does not happen majority imposes their own way: Change proposals are always the same with different names, part of the staff is in discomfort.

Changing corporate culture it is not easy, it takes time, willingness, effort and commitment from the management team as they who will lead the transformation.

Thanks for the nice chats with awesome people that reminds me that some things never or change or the only thing that change is the name or label.

Those cozy spaces of language

3 mayo, 2020Publicado en communicationEtiquetado como culture, language2 comentarios

Language is a vision of the world, a way of thinking and of organizing real and mental objects.

This is why sometimes we do not have enough words to express how we feel, or to describe reality.

This is why, when we learn a new language we should not try to translate everything into our mother tongue. The one we grow up with, the one, that structures our way of seeing the world. It will never fit.

And last, but not least, this is why there are words, set frases which only have THE meaning in the language in which they were “created“, in which they have a social meaning. We will never find them in our dictionaries or meet their exact translation. They were build to give meaning to a different way of seeing the world.

There is beauty in language, there is beauty in expanding our knowledge by learning unusual words. Every language have their own cozy spaces. Why not go out and enjoy them?

I have some of them, in English, French and Portuguese. Do you have your list already?

New times for construction kits

28 octubre, 2018Publicado en attitude, leadership, organizational culture, teamEtiquetado como change, culture, development, teamplayerDeja un comentario

Imagine a construction kit of 100 pieces, 1 set of instructions for 5 predefined figures and one single player, yourself. Pretty sure that mostly all of us has had one of this during his life. If you think about it, I am sure you find different behaviors when you observe kids nowadays sharing this toy.

There could be that kind of kid that played alone many times, followed the instructions that came with the toy and and perfectioned the figures to build. But also, there is that one that didn’t even look at the instructions and just started building.

What happens when we add another player? A younger brother, a neighbour, another friend? Will they still follow the paper piece, will the owner of the game tell the others what to build next and how? Or will they just add more imagination to the game and assemble something different and amazing? Will they decide at the beginning what to build and discuss from time to time, what would happen if they did it that way? Giving the best of each?

When they will grow up, they’ll find a world constantly changing (faster than before), where usually the construction pieces do not come with instructions. And, they will have to get together with other kids who had their own toys and friends.

What do you want them to decide? Play by themselves, play with other kids (expanding their horizons)?

Will you wnat them to follow the instructions, always, as you did? Or will you want themto think out of the box and create something cool?

Will you want them to follow the owner’ orders (well, instructions) or will you prefer to see that each kid gives his best? That there is a debate of how to reach the common goal set before the game started?

The rules have changed, and in this case, what applies to kids applies to us. If you were the one who played alone, gave the orders or follow the instructions, it will be kind of difficult to change and adapt. To take risks. There are new «no rules». Adapt or …. live in the «always have been like that».

About Companies and fashion victims

7 marzo, 201816 marzo, 2018Publicado en organizational cultureEtiquetado como culture, fashion, organizationsDeja un comentario

Outfit: Combination of clothes and accessories that we chose to wear (and there is no dress code needed). We will never see two people with exactly the same look. We have our own style (or we try to do our best). But if we love labeling we will get to similar ways of dressing, different tribes. Let’s look at them.

The Classical style tribe, contemporary, loyal to a brand, color or style of dress. They never change, innovate or introduce a new color.

The fashionables tribe, always following the latest trend. No matter what. Regardless of it looks funny on you, or it does not fit well (you do not look comfortable wearing it).

And last, but not least, the practical-but-sometimes-dressing-out-of-the-box tribe, although having a conservative style from time to time, they try something new, taking advantage of that super cool piece that fits like a globe and makes you look gorgeous. Because, it’s different, practical and it looks reeeaally good.

If we look for them on facebook, Instagram or pinterest or whatever social network available there would be plenty of each tribe.

But, what if we said that Companies have exactly the same kind of relationship with fashion. You see it?

Once in a while (or every season) a new topic pops-up, and it seems that if you don’t use it a lot, your out of the loop, completely old-fashioned, not cool.

One of the previous Fall-Winter collections brought Agile, analytics, digital, robotics,… to our stores. The spring-summer collection include design thinking, lean, customer oriented… (if you look back you will find a bunch more from many years ago). See now who is wearing what.

Do we wear an «unflattering color» just because a fashion magazine told us to do so? Do all companies understand what applications might have the new season release? Have you ever heard someone asking for a specialized training, just because it’s a new skill? (required for what? no idea, but it’s a new skill)

Is there a style that defines us? What should be embedded in the company mission, in its vision? Shouldn’t be the customer (the one reason why we exist as companies) always in the center of what we do?

Or are we all just fashion victims that buy something just because «YY» THE influencer was using it or recommended? Do we only listen to the seller who tells us that everyone, I say everyone, is wearing this and we don’t think and we overpay?

Have a look around, to what’s new. Think. Do you want to keep your style or change it completely? Can this new element make me look amazing? Will I feel comfortable? Then, go for it.