Spot on Nalin. Failing to capture their reinforcing relationship and putting culture over strategy results - as you say, in the unintended consequence of a company internally oriented and behaviorally focused"; which can mean death by 1000 cuts when the company needs to change to respond to market shifts, to fight for relevance, or to unleash its full mission contribution. In those cases, putting culture over strategy can become a powerful anchor to stop change vs. the dynamic roots and strengths on which change can be vitalized.
I think the 3 (mission, strategy, and culture) are elastic bands tied together. You can't stretch any band to the point of breaking the other. But, I would say defining your mission comes first (this may be foundational and not change for a long time or never change in the life of the organization), strategy comes second (this changes more periodically because the context on which the mission is executed changes), and culture should connect the two but be sufficiently flexible and with a bias towards execution / impact (hence, strategy should sharpen/evolve culture and not the other way around).
Spot on Nalin. Failing to capture their reinforcing relationship and putting culture over strategy results - as you say, in the unintended consequence of a company internally oriented and behaviorally focused"; which can mean death by 1000 cuts when the company needs to change to respond to market shifts, to fight for relevance, or to unleash its full mission contribution. In those cases, putting culture over strategy can become a powerful anchor to stop change vs. the dynamic roots and strengths on which change can be vitalized.
Crucial question from you!
Is the culture subservient to mission or business goal? Or is the mission subservient to culture?
Seems intuitive that you cannot set a business goal on the basis of an existing or desired culture.
I think the 3 (mission, strategy, and culture) are elastic bands tied together. You can't stretch any band to the point of breaking the other. But, I would say defining your mission comes first (this may be foundational and not change for a long time or never change in the life of the organization), strategy comes second (this changes more periodically because the context on which the mission is executed changes), and culture should connect the two but be sufficiently flexible and with a bias towards execution / impact (hence, strategy should sharpen/evolve culture and not the other way around).
As always, very insightful Nalin!
Thank you Jose. So nice to heart from you!
Really enjoyed this very well written piece, Nalin. Lots of meaningful messages with powerful impact and explained with such simplicity.
Thank you, Munish