Culture vs strategy – there’s only one winner

By the Corporate Governance Institute

www.thecorporategovernanceinstitute.com

Culture vs strategy – there’s only one winner | Corporate Governance | CGI

The debate over culture vs strategy has lasted for a generation, but it shouldn’t be an either-or decision for company directors.

Excerpts from the article: 

An organisation’s strategy is the carefully constructed roadmap that will enable it to reach its goals. Culture defines what organisations value and how employees interact to achieve their goals.

The latter eating the former for breakfast suggests that no matter how much time and energy goes into perfecting the perfect corporate strategy, if the culture takes the firm in the opposite direction, that will win out.

If there was ever a culture-vs strategy tug-of-war, then that competition ended long ago. The two have embraced the best of each other and are being considered alongside each other by competent management. Culture does predominate, but what difference should that make if the goal is to align culture and strategy?

LabNotes: Just because culture is broader and vaguer than strategy doesn’t mean it can’t be approached clinically, and it also doesn’t mean there aren’t experts who can advise on crafting culture if needed.