Is culture important to organisational resilience?

Yes, it is.

I often hear, “Our organisational culture is an issue.” I hear the frustration that leaders and teams feel when an organisation is unproductive, siloed, toxic, or unhealthy; which leads to high turnover, low engagement, and burnout.

Organisational culture is defined as a set of shared company beliefs, values, and expectations. It is also the behaviours, systems and symbols that that define the workplace environment and employee experience. Culture can be seen at its best (or worst) in a crisis, when tough decisions need to be made and when change is being implemented.

Organisational culture can be misaligned. To give an example, many organisations set out to create a safety culture. They set the values, the systems and processes, and the expectations to align with their strategy to ensure a safe workplace. But the reality may be that injuries still occur. An aligned culture is one where employees speak and act in alignment with the strategy and expected cultural practices.

Many of you have heard, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” (Peter Drucker). Strategy provides the vision, purpose and goals; and culture provides the right work environment for the achievement of strategy. In addition, culture can sustain an organisation despite uncertainly and ambiguity.

A resilient culture is one where organisations can respond quickly and effectively to crises, changing external environments and uncertainty and an environment where success withstands adversity and is sustained over time.

The below diagram shows the elements of resilience and how these elements intersect to create a resilient organisation. A resilient culture is one that enables the alignment of strategy to systems and capability. This leads to the delivery of promised value to customers and employees; and ultimately results in trust based relationships, growth and sustainability.

Resilient organisations work to align strategy with culture: i.e. what we aspire to achieve is aligned with what we say, what we do, and what we believe; the systems that support our work; and the symbols that represent our actions, words and beliefs.

Going back to my example of safety: I worked in heavy industry for 14 years. In that time, I witnessed both safe and unsafe cultures. The workplace was at its safest when there was:

• A clear and well communicated strategic intent for zero harm

• Processes and tools that supported safe practices

• Reward and recognise for safe behaviours

• Employees looking out for the safety of their colleagues

• "Safety shares" and "safety interactions" occurring consistently across departments and sites

Safety was embedding into the culture i.e. what was said, what was done, beliefs, systems and symbols. Culture was aligned to the strategic intent.

How do you know if you have alignment? Here are some questions to ask using the example of safety:

• How do we talk about safety?

• Is it something we value?

• How do we enable and encourage safe behaviour?

• Do we walk past unsafe behaviour?

• Do we acknowledge those working safely?

How aligned is your strategy to your culture? About the Author 

Angela Richardson is a master’s qualified expert in people leadership and change management. Angela has dedicated over 25 years to helping organisations build resilience to thrive and grow amidst uncertainty. Her practice focuses on equipping leaders with the knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to navigate and adapt to change effectively. 

Contact Angela, at angela@angelarichardson.com.au or on 0488 097 885.