Your culture is going to implement your plan. It’s as simple as that.
If you dig into any strategic plan it will focus on two things.
Part 1 – The set of circumstances the organization is dealing with: gap analysis, swot analysis, the market, the competition, your reputation.
Part 2 – The processes, policies, procedures, systems, equipment, vision, mission, and goals. Then you simply start aligning your stuff, and getting more or different stuff, to have the right stuff that will change your circumstances.
All that stuff put together in one place is your set of tools to get the job done.
But your culture — your people and how they think, your shared mental model, your paradigm, your view — all of that, is what is going to use the tools you’ve set out. It’s what will decide which tools are liked or not liked; which are overused or underutilized; which tools get shared with which people; and who does or doesn’t get to use all the tools in the first place. Your culture decides whether you will use the tools together or separately. It determines how quickly the tools will be returned when borrowed, and what shape those tools will be in when they come back.
If you need to test that in reality, look back at your latest CRM implementation, change in benefits plan, performance reward system, performance review process, or customer care package.
The tool did not determine the outcome of the initiative.
The implementation of said tool determined the outcome of the initiative.
It’s your culture that will elevate the tool and put it to work in an optimum and innovative way. Or, it’s your culture that will drag everything down to it’s own level and beat it with experience. Your culture is what puts the lid on what was possible for your strategy and all the stuff you put into place to ensure the plan was implemented.
