What is your organization’s identity?
It’s the cumulative answer to these 4 questions:
- Who are we?
- What are we about?
- What do we stand for?
- What are we trying to accomplish?
If I walked in to your office or in on a meeting at any given time… would I clearly know your identity?
I should.
Your identity should permeate everything you do.
How do you live out your identity?
By setting standards.
Rules are written at the top, handed down and expected to be followed.
Standards are collectively agreed upon by everyone and honorably upheld.
They are a code that everyone on the team chooses to live by.
Why do standards work better than rules?
People will always give more effort when they feel like they are making a meaningful contribution to something they helped create.
As far as upholding the standards… everyone holds everyone else accountable.
They do this because they care about their teammate, they care about themselves and they care about the mission.
And when it comes to standards, you either accept it or you correct it.
There is no middle ground.
The degree to which your team upholds their standards is your culture.
Your culture is the difference between what you know you are supposed to do and what you actually do. The narrower that gap, the stronger the culture.
In essence, your culture is the collective values, beliefs, behaviors, decisions and environment of your organization. It’s what the team does every single day… during the seen and unseen hours.
You test your culture by evaluating the environment when the CEO isn’t around. If there is minimal slippage in efficiency and productivity, you have a strong culture.
Which is imperative because your culture is the #1 determining factor in whether or not your organization will be successful.
