I am pleased to bring to your attention a concept of company culture captured by Edgar Papke in his book True Alignment (AMACOM, 2014). Company culture includes how members are empowered and rewarded, how compensation and promotion is used, how hiring occurs, and the focus of employee development. Culture offers insight into how teams are created and defines cooperation and collaboration.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, a phrase originated by Peter Drucker (a successful management consultant), is an absolute reality! Organizations disconnecting the two are putting their success at risk. Organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner so don't leave it unattended.
Customers are people. Whether you are a small corner store or a huge multi-national corporation, somewhere along the process a human being makes a decision to purchase your product or service – or not.
The Four Elements of the True Alignment Model
1) The Customer
Customers may be motivated by Attention (want to feel heard), Competency (want to feel competent) or Caring (want to feel cared for). It is worth some effort to determine which of these values motivates the majority of your current customers and, for marketing, your "ideal customer."
2) Brand Intention
Your organization should consciously decide how to respond to the emotional needs of your customers. Customers who want attention will appreciate customization while those who care more about competency may want a low price. Consider a good meal composed of quality ingredients, competently prepared, well presented and priced fairly.
What is the main ingredient?
Simplicity is one attribute of extraordinary brands. The customer knows what the main ingredient is, and that main ingredient is delivered consistently. Complexity can make the customer anxious.
3) Culture
Papke has identified twelve “strategic keys” to align employees around Participation, Expertise and Authenticity. Culture provides insight into the level of and quality of communication and interaction among members and parts of the organization. This is particularly evident with how an organization manages conflict. Conflict often highlights win-lose posturing as well as acceptable-unacceptable behavior.
An individual’s first experience, and the one through which that person will interpret culture, occurs when he or she first observes or engages in conflict. The level of collaboration or win-lose posturing provides a great deal of information about what conflicts to engage in, the appropriate level of participation, and whether to argue or fall in line. How members respond is an aspect of what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
4) Leadership
Leaders' behavior falls into three general types: Participative, Expert or Servant. When leadership behavior is misaligned to culture it results in distrust and a lack of engagement and commitment among organization members, negatively impacting performance.
Leaders need to model the Brand Intention and Culture Preference of the organization.
| Human Motivation | Customer Motivation | Brand Intention | Culture Preference | Leadership Preference | Corporate Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
To feel Important | Attention | Community | Participation | Participative | Harley Davidson |
Customization | Lands’ End | ||||
To feel Competent | Competency | Preeminence | Expertise | Expert | Bose |
Low Price | Wal-Mart | ||||
To feel Accepted | Caring | Physical Wellbeing | Authenticity | Servant | Whole Foods |
Personal Actualization | Oprah Winfrey |
Contact SWB Consulting Services to help your company build the organizational culture that works best for your business.
