Roger North, president and founder of the North Group Consultants, spoke to business students on Friday, Sept. 12 as part of the M&M Mars Executive Lecture Series. His seminar, titled “Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch,” focused on the importance of culture in the workplace.
The North Group is a leadership consulting firm which strives to assist businesses and non-profit organizations by strengthening workplace management through building leadership and long-term personal interactions. Their beliefs lie with the idea that the growth of a workplace community and its people can heavily influence the growth of the business or organization itself.
Culture, North explained, is the pattern of organizational life or “the way [we] do things around here.” Every single organization, institution or general group of people has a method of running things. These methods, or cultures, are based on basic patterns of human behavior and strongly held beliefs. Additionally, the people within a culture can shape the patterns around them. “Culture is a paradox. It shapes you, and you shape culture,” North said.
He theorized that a strong culture can help any business thrive no matter the state of economy. “There is nothing more important in a business organization than culture,” North said. He suggested that supervisors should not simply oversee others’ work, but influence their environment to benefit the goals of their organization.
North outlined several steps to take if a leader wants to change the culture of their workplace. First, they should decide what would most benefit the mission and desired outcomes. They should then determine the beliefs and patterns of behavior that are beneficial to this mission and attempt to recognize, reinforce and reward these behaviors. The leader should also discourage any tangents that do not appear to benefit the goal of the workplace. Leaders should be consistent in their methods and models for the behaviors they desire. Inconsistency can cause distrust, and as North put it, “An entire organizational culture is based around trust.”
When people believe they are working towards a common goal, North explained, they tend to work harder and more diligently to finish their mission. Without proper recognition, feedback or affirmation, a team can remain discouraged and unhappy in their productivity. “Sooner or later, people run out of gas,” North stated. By supplying their employees or team members with proper encouragement, a leader can ensure that the goals of the organization are achieved without sacrificing their workers’ well-being.
Changes or adjustments in the organization of a culture rely on changing a poor culture or reinforcing a positive one, the chance of this change occurring lies in the power of the leader. The patterns that form can either produce or block success in an organization. People tend to operate best in conditions of clarity and consistency, and it is the job of a leader to supply these conditions.
North explained that it is often more difficult to change a culture from the bottom than the top and urged future leaders to find simple ways to encourage production through a comfortable work environment. “Leadership is hard work,” he explained. “Leading a culture is the primary work of organizational leadership.” He also warned about the dangers of putting all of one’s focus into the organization’s culture. He stated, “Strong culture is incompatible, in the long run, with a poor business plan.”
Culture exists in all sizes, even if it is simply a small group or informal event. The behaviors we exhibit within a culture stem from conscious and unconscious behavior and social beliefs. As North described, these behaviors come from the fact that humans desire acceptance into standard practices of the setting in which they live.
“There are two things that leaders do really well,” North said. “Number one is that they observe, and number two is that they listen.” Talking, rather than listening, can provide severe distractions which can distort a person’s ideas on clarity and consistency. It is also part of the role of the leader to eliminate these distractions to ensure a productive workplace.
