The Importance of Aligning Culture with Strategy

6 Min. Read

The importance of aligning your culture to strategy cannot be overstated. In every high-performing organization we work with, there is a clear, causal link between the culture they intentionally create and the successful delivery of their strategic goals. However, we work with many companies who face challenges connecting the two. 

In this blog we will explore the importance of forging a clear link between culture and strategy, what that looks like in practice, and how you can shape and maintain this alignment for sustained business success. 

What is the link between culture and strategy?

At ZRG Consulting Solutions, our philosophy is that to be successful as an organization, you need a culture that is serving your strategy. This means you understand the culture you require, and manage and maintain it in a way that will help you achieve your strategic goals, rather than hindering the delivery of them.
If, for example, your business strategy is exponential growth through new products or services, or entering different geographies, or any kind of disruption of the market, you will require a culture that encourages innovation, agility, and similar behaviours. However, if your culture is risk averse, you’re not going to achieve the results you’re looking for. 
So, while we see an irrefutable, automatic link between culture and strategy, in a lot of organizations there is a disconnect that is hampering results and preventing high performance. 

How can leaders bring culture and strategy into alignment?

Culture Mapping

The first step is to get clear on the culture you need to deliver your strategy. This includes: 

• What do we need our people to think?
• How do we want our people to behave?
• What systems and symbols are required? 

This is about being specific in what needs to change, and prioritising. You need to make decisions and be clear on the few core areas that are going to make the biggest difference to your performance. 
For this reason, when we work with companies on defining their target culture and building a culture plan, we help them make trade-offs. This is because there is a temptation to go broad and try to be all things to all people. But that won’t make you successful. When looking at the culture you need, it’s essential that you keep coming back to the question of, ‘Will this help us deliver our strategy?’ This enables you to make choices and get laser-focused on what will have the greatest impact. 
In the example I gave earlier of a company looking for super growth, they would need to consider other behaviours such as customer centricity, people first, and one team, and how important they are vs. innovation. 

Culture Planning for Alignment

One of the benefits of going through the above exercise is that it speeds up executive team alignment, which is critical to culture change and strategy delivery. By discussing and debating the culture required in service of the strategy, senior leaders can get clear among themselves on the connection between culture and strategy, they can set culture goals on this basis, and communicate these to their teams for organization-wide alignment. 

Goal setting 

Once you’ve established your target culture, the next step is to understand how much of that you’re already doing. From this culture assessment you can identify what you need to dial up or down, pinpoint where the gaps are, and put in place plans for how you’re going to address them. Setting culture goals gives you a clear picture of what you need to pay attention to for successful strategy execution. 

People Activation

Behaviours

If you tell your people that your organization needs a particular type of culture to succeed, then you must be specific on the behaviours you expect. To continue the example of an innovation culture, how do your people need to behave to create that change? What are the behaviours you’re looking for to indicate whether you’re on the right track or not? 
Providing clarity on expected behaviours is the foundation of any blueprint for culture change, and associated plan. 

Systems 

Your systems and processes need to reflect and reinforce these behaviours. For example, if you’re looking to foster a culture of greater collaboration but your performance management system recognises people individually, it sends conflicting messages to your people, and because the system usually wins out, it encourages and rewards the behaviours you’re trying to move away from. In the end, you don’t get the change you need. 

Symbols 

These are enormously powerful in signifying culture. For example, you may say you want a people-first culture, but if your senior leaders all sit on the top floor of your headquarters in separate offices, what message does that send? We find that symbols are often overlooked when attempting to change culture, but the messages they transmit are equally as impactful as those of behaviours and systems. 

Alignment and Repetition 

It’s imperative that there is alignment between your strategy, target culture, and behaviours, systems, and symbols. If they’re all in sync, you’re setting your organization up for success. But repetition is vital. Culture change is never once and done – it requires continual reinforcement over a sustained period to embed new ways of working and to see results. If you don’t keep this focus and you’re not consistent, there is a danger that mixed messages will leak out, and your people will be torn in different directions. 

What are the benefits of having a strategy-aligned culture?

1. High performance

When your culture is aligned with your strategy, you generate high performance because you are actively encouraging your people to think and behave in the ways that are going to help drive the results that you're looking for, rather than throw up roadblocks to it. 
For example, if your strategy demands a more customer-centric culture, then you need to align your people behind a clear vision of what that looks like, and manage your culture in a way that encourages and empowers your people to deliver it. 

2. Improved productivity 

You see higher levels of productivity because your people know how they’re expected to behave, your systems and symbols are aligned to support this, and it’s clear how the culture enables the delivery of your strategy. 

3. Faster results

Speed of delivery picks up significantly because there is a singular and shared direction for the company, you are actively encouraging what will enable that, and at the same time removing any obstacles to it. 
 

What happens within organizations when their culture and strategy are NOT aligned?

1. Firstly – you get lower levels of performance, diminished results, and a failure to deliver on your strategy. The potential of your people and organization is unfulfilled. 
2. Secondly – you see huge amounts of wasted effort. There is duplication, inefficiency, and missed opportunities. 
3. Thirdly – it feels harder to get things done than it should do, which erodes engagement, productivity, and retention. 

How can leaders measure culture and strategy alignment?

Your business metrics will tell you whether your culture and strategy are aligned, and how much. If they are in close alignment, you will be a high-performing organization. Conversely, if they’re in weak alignment, you will be low performing. Where there is alignment but with work to do, you will have unfulfilled potential. 

How can leaders ensure their culture and strategy are aligned in the long term?

If you’re clear on your strategy, the process for aligning your culture to it can be done quickly. The trick is to maintain that alignment through intentional culture leadership, planning, and management, as change is a long-term process. 

Clear purpose 

To keep the culture fresh for your people, your leaders need to keep reminding them of your “why” as an organization. Having an aligned purpose, and a clear linkage between that and your strategy and culture, enables people to connect the dots. This inspires, motivates, and helps your people prioritise what really matters. 
Having a sense of purpose, being purposeful about your activities in service of that purpose (strategy, culture etc), and repeatedly reminding your people of these, are also hallmarks we see in high-performing organizations.

There is no doubt that companies which align their culture to their strategy outperform those who don’t. Being clear on your strategy and the culture you need to deliver it, bringing your people with you, and maintaining focus will accelerate the achievement of your business goals. 

Contact us to find out more about defining your target culture to achieve your organizational goals.