Many years ago, Peter Drucker wrote, “Organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It turns out that even a clear vision and organizational strategy planned by a CEO, without considering the organizational culture, has little chance of implementation; more precisely, only 1 in 3 strategies has a chance in such a case.
Many studies, including those by McKinsey Group, indicate that the reason for the failure of 2 out of 3 implemented strategies is not intellectual problems, but emotional ones—the so-called “soft issues” related to people and company culture, which constitute 72% of barriers to organizational success.1
This is also confirmed by our experience at Infinity Power International working with managers and company CEOs. When we jointly plan the implementation of a project aimed at increasing company profits, solving employee turnover problems, or opening new sales channels, the first questions we ask are: Who should lead this initiative? What competencies do we need for a given role or position? What communication approach should be used so that employees willingly and without much resistance want to complete project tasks, and how can we ensure they are motivated long-term? In such situations, CEOs often point to problems such as the low emotional maturity of managers, the reactivity of teams, and the preconventional thinking of colleagues, i.e., in terms of punishment and reward. Added to the repertoire of challenges are “the Great Resignation” and another trend among Generation “Z” employees who, as the Money.pl portal indicates, “prefer to be unemployed than unhappy at work”.2 The times when work itself was treated as the highest value are long gone, and money is no longer the sole motivation. What can be done so that emotional problems or a low level of “soft skills” in an organization no longer constitute 72% of barriers to achieving company goals? CEOs ask.
Focus on Cultivating a Single Habit
The above study emphasizes the significant role played in effective organizational management by managers’ high level of soft skills, including emotional maturity and team motivation abilities. These are skills that also constitute an element of organizational culture. However, “telling people to change is a very difficult and laborious task. That’s not how the human brain works,” stated former Alcoa CEO, Paul O’Neil. It is much easier to introduce a change, for example, one habit in action, reactions, and thinking throughout the organization. If we systematically and over the long term break down and develop a specific organizational habit, that habit will spread throughout the entire company. Many leaders of global organizations have adopted the practice of implementing “one change factor” in the companies they led. An example is the aforementioned Paul O’Neil, who introduced “Employee Safety” as a priority. When he took office at Alcoa, he found the company in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history. He needed to motivate people by providing a common, undeniable direction of thinking that would become the beginning of a great change. The extent of his confidence in his vision is evidenced by the fact that at that time, Alcoa was not a company with a high number of workplace accidents; it was within the national average. However, prioritizing employee safety, which no one dared to challenge, allowed, among other things, for the analysis and improvement of all production processes. When Paul O’Neil retired in 2000, Alcoa’s annual revenues were 5 times higher than when he took office.3 This is just one of many examples of companies where a leader set a new direction for the organization by implementing a new habit in its culture and broke down barriers and limiting ways of thinking among employees. Other examples of companies that introduced new habits include Netflix: “Freedom and Responsibility,” Mastercard: “Decency Factor” (supporting the mission “World Beyond Cash/Kill the cash”), Microsoft: “Growth Mindset,” and Sony: “Kando” (“Wow” people).
As our experience working with managers and organizations confirms, a new habit in employee thinking that supports goal achievement influences their behavior and reactions, which in turn translates into more effective work, fewer conflicts, good cooperation, and ultimately leads to increased profits. However, what should be done to identify it?
One of the elements of the broad process during which we work with CEOs and managers to identify the habit is a set of questions:
Changing one habit in thinking is a prelude to introducing significant change, which starts from the top, cascading down the organization, where it yields abundant fruits in the form of, for example, employees more motivated to build the company’s success, which translates into increased profits.
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A manager must have a clearly defined direction for the development of their area, which is consistent with the overarching goal of the organization and aligns with its Mission and Vision. A direction that will not only bring profits to the company but also develop people’s careers.
