I once heard a client say, in response to their progress on their strategic plan, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” They had a new strategic plan full of ambitious goals, but they were running into a wall. They couldn’t make the progress they wanted to make and they felt like their culture was the barrier.
I get it. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is a catchy phrase that’s thrown around a lot in business, and it can feel true when you’re struggling to make progress. But does it really have the ability to gobble up strategy? In my opinion, it’s not a matter of one dominating the other, but of how they work together.
The Shingo Model helps us understand that culture and strategy work together, and that ultimately, good strategy enables culture. The model teaches us that all work in an organization is the outcome of a system, and these systems create conditions that cause people to behave in a certain way. In this way, you don’t directly manage culture; you manage the systems and principles that drive behavior. The chaotic culture my client was experiencing wasn’t an accident—it was a direct result of their systems (or lack thereof) and a lack of discipline in their practice.
As we dug in, we saw the problem wasn’t their people; it was their approach. They had set too many priorities, their staff were “resource strapped” and overwhelmed, and they didn’t have the foundational systems or tools to even begin to execute their plan. There was no way to monitor their progress, leading to frustration and a sense of futility.
Here’s what we focused on to turn things around:
- Principles First: We started by anchoring our work with their leaders in a set of common principles for working and being together. These principles outlined key expectations that systems were built to uphold. For example, the Shingo Model emphasizes the principle “Create Constancy of Purpose”. This principle states that the organization needs an unwavering understanding of why the organization exists, where it is going, and how it will enable people to align their actions and innovate with greater confidence. This, essentially, is strategy, and we knew this was what we needed to tackle next.
- Strategy Refinement: We worked with our client to ensure that key goals, objectives, and execution strategies were carefully aligned, empowering the entire organization to work towards those objectives. A clear, aligned strategy helps keep everyone on the same page and pointed in the same direction.
- Building Systems for Success: The organization’s initial strategy was a wish, not a plan. It lacked the systems needed to make it a reality. So we rolled up our sleeves and helped them develop the foundational systems and tools they were missing. We worked with them to create a clear process for prioritizing initiatives based on resources and capacity, helped them determine how best to resource positions, implemented management systems and tools to ensure discipline of practice, identified key metrics and tools to measure progress and success, and are working with them on continuous improvement. These weren’t just administrative changes; they were the building of intentional structures that made the strategy achievable.
- Culture as a Result of Action: As we implemented these new systems and tools, we saw an incredible shift. The frustrations started to melt away. Leaders began to feel empowered because they finally had a clear framework and the resources to do their best work. Their daily behaviors—how they collaborated, solved problems, and communicated—began to align with the principles we had established. We weren’t just fixing their strategy; we were building the culture that would make that strategy a success
So, when I hear someone say that culture eats strategy for breakfast, I now see it differently. I believe a weak strategy—one that is not focused, disorganized, and not supported by the right systems—is what gets eaten. A good strategy, however, one that is built on solid principles and supported by the right systems, doesn’t get devoured by culture. It shapes the culture.
For leaders in health and human services, the takeaway is simple: stop seeing culture and strategy as opposing forces. Instead, use your strategy to intentionally design the systems and tools that will drive the behaviors you want to see. When you do this, you’ll find that a positive, principle-based culture isn’t a happy accident—it’s the powerful and inevitable result of a well-executed plan.
We love working with organizations on strategy development and execution. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to chat about how to make better progress on your strategic initiatives. https://collectiveresults.ca/contact/
