Culture’s Not Just For Breakfast Any More

How HR can help win the now of work

Back when I was in business school and Peter Drucker was the last word on management, I remember hearing one of his more famous observations mentioned in class: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Considered controversial then, it certainly got the attention of this erstwhile B-school student. Fast forward to today – if anything, culture and strategy are actually morphing in our emerging post-pandemic world with significant implications ahead for HR professionals.  

Culture has become the defining criterion today for attracting and retaining talent. And companies that can’t demonstrate a culture rooted in transparency, collaboration and empathy will get caught in the grips of macro forces that will weigh them down—perhaps never to escape.  

We’re in a unique era nowadays with a chasm growing between what many employers are offering and what workforces really want. This significant mismatch has the same feel of Curt Flood ushering in the era of free agency into Major League Baseball and later into all professional sports.

What does this look like from the perspective of talent? They want more control over their portfolio of experience. They want to work for a company that represents their values and interests—not just a paycheck. They want more optionality in the way they work. And many won’t consider any job if it doesn’t fit those priorities. With a hot labor market and the overall sensibilities of the workforce evolving, the employment pendulum sits squarely on talent’s side. I believe businesses must embrace three key macrotrends to succeed in this new and fluid environment:

It’s been said that “data is the new oil.” In reality, labor has always been “the oil” and in today’s world that maxim holds even more true. If you’re only focused on employees’ output—and not input—or if you’re getting feedback that employees are not feeling heard, it’s entirely possible that you’re relying too much on numbers and not enough on human intuition. Empathy is a contact sport—you must have contact and connection with your colleagues and team to succeed.

For example, I was recently conducting a quarterly review with my team. But the numbers we were reviewing told only part of the story. What was missing was the nuance of the complete picture that data alone failed to convey. With the focus mostly on output, and little color on input, the impression was that no progress was being made. I knew that was false. I knew the above-and-beyond efforts being made during the pandemic and the emotional toll it was taking on everyone. But no data reflected that.
 
The solution? Obviously you can’t run business with no data at all. Impossible. Instead, a better way is being less purely data-driven and perhaps more data-advised. Call it, “mathematician plus intuition.” Data should never be a proxy for connection, even in a world that’s still mostly remote and will return to a more hybrid normal. In the abstract, data provides comfort for management in a less tactile world but may only be the greenest of trees in the proverbial forest. Human connection—it’s always been a part of your job. It’s now most of your job.

While some businesses continue a rigid approach to bringing people back into the office, many have redefined the purpose of physical spaces or downsized their footprints. That might be great for SG&A, but we still need engaging forums where people can meet face-to-face.

Why? Think about today’s reality. Most social contact these days in remote or hybrid work environments is intentional (i.e., scheduled)—team calls, virtual celebrations, broad calls-to-action that lack personal engagement. But these intentional moments are exhausting – “Zoom-fatigue” is real.

There’s no single initiative that will help build or change a company’s culture in the Now of Work, where people feel they are being heard. Unintentional moments are what’s missing and we need to give people the option to engage naturally without making them feel obligated to.

Here’s one suggestion that could help: Take some of the savings you’ve realized from reducing your real estate footprint and use it instead to build a new “rotating commons” that allows the atoms to collide naturally and freely. It could be a weekly coffee huddle at a local roasteria, game night at a rented space where water coolers are replaced by Jenga towers, or simply meeting up at a local park to do email outreach. True connection requires in-person contact even if it isn’t Class-A space in the financial district.

The most important qualities that constitute good leaders have changed. Emotional intelligence has long been one of the best tools at a leader’s disposal. It’s now more crucial than ever. Leaders who don’t possess high EQ could get by in the old world, relying solely on the brute force of delivered results. That’s no longer possible these days.

Effective leaders nowadays, must evolve culture and hold it strong, pick up on cues from team members and call audibles when necessary. It requires an innate sensibility and desire to identify those things in a real-time, nuanced manner. Simply put, in today’s hybrid workplaces, empathic leaders are required to serve as cultural repeating towers.  Of course, results are still paramount, but the path to success runs through an engaged workforce, powered by strong culture.

Our own proprietary research has found that organizations that continuously listen to their employees, customers, industries as well as outside trends amplify their ability to benefit from change, reinforcing a culture of flexibility which increases innovation, improves engagement and reduces turnover.  

It’s not just build it—and they will come. It’s also listen—and they will stay.

Finally, here is one other thing I remember from business school that’s just as true today: People tend to leave bosses, not jobs. In translation, improved leadership will be existential in a post-pandemic hybrid world.

That truism will be tested now more than ever and some HR leaders may be surprised if they don’t take the next steps by prioritizing EQ, evaluating data in context, and re-socializing at a new commons. Those who can’t figure out how to foster an engaged, connected group where culture and strategy morph together are in for a rough ride ahead. Those who crack the code, however, will be blazing the path for others to follow.