Culture is the bedrock of high performing organisations

While the planet has been focussed on flattening the Covid curve, savvy managers have continued to focus on the health gradient of their employees. At the bottom of the curve are unhealthy employees who suffer all the most serious of health concerns like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and premature death. Depression and anxiety are also prevalent in this group. The folks at the top of the curve live longer, happier and healthier lives. Dr Norman Swan in his book What’s Good For You?, cites Whitehall bureaucracy studies that show where you fit in the hierarchy at work has the most significant impact on your position in the health gradient (pp 126 to 130). 

The question is why?

Studies, seeking to answer the ‘Why’, were conducted by University College London, led by an Aussie, Professor Michael Marmot. The findings are stunning. The study eliminated the obvious suspects for heart disease and cancer like cholesterol and smoking. The conclusion reached was that “job strain” (or how much pressure to perform one felt or how much freedom and empowerment you had to decide how to do your job or reach targets) was the biggest determinant, by far.

The less control you felt you had saw you more likely to be at the bottom of the health gradient. The loss of control over your life and emotions negatively impacts body and mind, manifesting in poor physical and mental health. Professor Len Syme of Berkeley in California dug deeper. He identified the dramatic impact loss of control had on people: they lost confidence, belief in themselves and lost the ability to take action and make decisions. 

The culture of a company becomes the lifeblood of an organisation that flattens the health curve of its employees and nurtures its growth and productivity. Our behaviour, and that of all our colleagues in an organisation, has a profound impact on our self-esteem, our locus of control and our effectiveness in our roles.

So how does a company manifest its culture?

It starts with the CEO and the Senior leadership team: the so called “C” suite. They must set the standard by behaving in accordance with their company’s agreed culture totems every day. Their leadership must be transparent examples of that culture. Provided the company or organisation has invested in developing an appropriate culture and core values, signed up to by all employees, issues of loss of locus of control and the stress from that loss should quickly disappear.

What transpires is an organisation where the company acts as a large team made up of a series of teams, within which authority is confidently delegated, information is freely distributed and transparency on strategy success and failures is timely and candidly identified and discussed. 

The organisational cancers of micro-management and fear of making a mistake are eliminated by an actively practised culture.

What’s important is a clear purpose and alignment

Innovative companies do not strive for perfection, as that comes with a host of rules, inertia, increasingly unproductive analysis (leading to paralysis) and increasing loss of control by employees that is utterly de-motivating and unproductive. Instead, delegation, spread of information and a clear purpose allow each person in a company to understand their role in achieving that purpose. Passionate commitment to working and behaving aligned to each other, leads to individual success that can be further encouraged via culture gatherings and award ceremonies.

The recruitment process has a huge part to play in maintaining culture, as recruits need to be selected on their ability to adopt the culture and support its values and behaviours.

Phil Allison, Founder of Corporate Edge summarises the impact of culture as follows: “Aligning people to a culture is what makes good teams great. Culture Alignment is needed for organisations who are looking to create, change or embed a unique way of working that unblocks behavioural issues and amplifies what makes the organisation great”. 

Culture alignment will flatten the health curve enhancing employee well-being and allow productive and happy employees to thrive. The focus will instead be the purpose set by the organisation.