There is a great quote that is often attributed to Peter Drucker, the famous management consultant. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Now I don’t know if Drucker actually said that or not. But I love the quote because it has proven to be true time and time again across the clients I’ve coached for the last 25 years. Let me explain why I say this.

Virtually every service firm I’ve coached has operated on the assumption that they need better strategy. After working closely with leadership teams at more than 70 mid-sized service firms, it has become crystal clear to me that strategy and intelligence are not the problem and not the key to unlocking your growth potential. Not one leadership team I coached had dummies at the top. Their people have earned PhDs, JDs, MBAs, advanced engineering degrees and hold more certifications than I could name. Intelligence and strategy are not the solution.

Now you’re probably thinking that the real problem is that they didn’t execute the strategy that was already in front of them. That would be correct. But the question is—why not? Why is execution so hard? That is an excellent question. Here is my answer. Organizations can’t execute their strategy consistently and effectively because their culture gets in the way. That statement requires a bit of unpacking.

How I Define Culture

A lot of formal definitions of the word culture have been thrown around and they’re probably much smarter than what I’m about to say. Leave it to me to dumb things down a bit. For me, culture means: “what it feels like to work around here.” Maybe better said, culture is how your team members feel about you, other leaders at your firm and the company overall.

I suppose some might say that I’ve conflated the outcome of culture (feelings) with the actual stuff of culture: policies, values, leadership style, employee communication, benefits, mentoring and all of the other good stuff we associate with strong culture. Point taken.

But, at the end of the day, all of that stuff is supposed to produce an outcome. It’s the results that matter. The main result my clients want is an energized, focused, productive and loyal team that punches above their weight class. That outcome can only be achieved when the team feels good about the firm and its leaders.

Now I know this whole “feelings” thing might be hard for some people to swallow. But if you reflect on it a while, I bet you’ll change your mind. Have you ever left a job, ended a relationship, switched majors, left a congregation or house of worship or made some other major life change? Why did you do this?

What language did you choose to describe your decision? Did you say something along the lines of—it just didn’t feel right for me anymore? Or—it just didn’t feel like I fit in there any longer? See. Maybe you’re a bit more comfortable with feelings than you realize. 

The Connection Between Growth, Feelings And Culture

If you want to unleash the growth potential of your firm, you need to get comfortable with feelings. Why? Because the way your team members feel about you and other leaders, the way your leadership team feels about each other, the way the leadership feels about staff—all of those feelings—that will determine your growth potential.

Feelings will determine how effectively and ardently you and your staff execute your strategy. Guaranteed. Feelings will determine how aligned you are and whether or not you even care to be aligned. Who wants to align with someone they don’t like or feel good about? Feelings will determine how much focused energy your employees give to your company versus the thousands of other places they could expend it. Feelings will determine whether or not they’re still on your team next year.

This is ultimately about intentionally fostering a culture that emphasizes organizational health. In organizationally healthy companies, leaders are aligned, decisions get made quickly, bad behavior gets exposed and vanquished and the BHAG remains front and center. Organizationally healthy companies are fun, focused and highly energized. 

This doesn’t mean that things will always be easy or that you won’t have disagreements or conflict. That will probably still happen. It simply means that those things won’t hold you back. You’ll overcome them, resolve them and quickly move on. The blockade points that many organizations get stuck behind—you’ll move right past them.

My friends, the answer to the question—how do we grow—is not better strategy or smarter people. The answer is a better leadership operating model, one that promotes and sustains organizational health and allows for fluid strategy (because nothing is constant in business) and flawless execution. The answer is better culture.

Next Steps

My eBook on the topic of mid-size service firm growth goes into much greater detail on many of the concepts I’ve discussed in this article. There is an entire chapter that describes how organizationally healthy teams operate and the results that produces for those companies. If you liked the ideas in the article, you’ll love the eBook.

About The Author

Randy Shattuck is a seasoned entrepreneur who works hand-in-hand with senior leaders of mid-size professional service firms to grow revenues, acquire clients, open new markets, increase profits and effectively position their brands.