The power of culture

An executive looking for a distinctive competitive advantage doesn’t have to look too far. It’s all within the organization. The ability to create a working environment that facilitates desirable behavioral characteristics among the workforce is one of the most valuable skills a leader can bring to table. For the executive ready to move his or her company forward in a competitive marketplace, it’s all about creating a culture that guides a company in a strategically sound direction—and then leveraging it as a competitive weapon.

Leveraging the power of culture begins with creating an infrastructure that aligns culture with strategic goals. This means that an organization must evaluate the current culture to ensure that all policies and processes support strategic initiatives efficiently and effectively. The goal is create a lean infrastructure that allows an organization to create behavioral norms within the workplace that guide employee actions in a particular direction that is advantageous to the company.

The complexity with shaping workplace behaviors suggest that an executive team might want go beyond strategic alignment and make sure there is a reward system in place for behaviors that are in alignment with desirable actions. The power of culture is unmistakable—and we’ve seen companies such as Southwest Airlines(1) use culture as a competitive tool. At the same time, we’ve seen companies like as Enron(2) create a culture that contributed to its cataclysmic collapse. The key for the modern executive, therefore, is to recognize that an organization's culture can be used to his or her advantage. By creating a culture that supports strategic goals with the appropriate reward system, an organization is able to add a powerful ally in its quest to increase the company’s level of success and set itself apart from the competition.

1. Thompson, Arthur; Gamble, John; Southwest Airlines: Culture, Values, and Operating Practice
2. Lawrence, Anne; The Collapse of Enron