Corporate Culture in a down economy

okay, so we are not supposed to use the recession word, but it my father always had a saying, "it is what it is." So the question I just got asked today was, "can a high performing culture help a company maintain during the tough economic times?"

Simple answer - YES!!!! In fact, Tom Peters and Jim Collins have made millions of the study of this very topic. Built to Last (one of my favorite books and one I recommend everyone who reads this blog pick up) surveyed the companies that were able to handle tough situations including wars and economic depressions. Overwhelmingly, they found that the companies who had strong cultures rooted in solid values were able to stand the test of time. It was the weak cultures who practiced the "program of the month" mentality of business that failed. 

Many times, we have shared in this blog that a solid culture will sustain. Why? Because people within that culture do not act on their own gut or instinct; they act on the unified "gut" of the culture which is based in years of history and steeped in a rich tradition of contemplative decision-making. 

Its hard not to be reactive. I find myself fighting that battle all the time. And if your corporate culture is the collective values of its people, then you can only imagine why this is so hard. but today, I see too many people making decisions not based on the cultural value system, but on what they see their contemporaries doing. A CFO sees that a company has frozen all travel, so they think this must be good CFO practice, so they do the same in their company. However, their company culture is based face to face contact. And now the entire sales force does not know how to react because they know the new policy is in violation of their culture. 

Here is the rub. It only takes one decision like this made outside of the culture to start the ball rolling. And before you know it, the people start to revolt and the company starts to unravel. What's the moral of the story for today? Never, never, never make decisions outside of your culture. You may save a little today, but ti will cost more in the end.