How you go about fostering a culture of delivery and collaboration is the focus of much debate. Ultimately, culture is driven by the clear articulation of the strategic objectives of the business followed closely by agreement on the necessary foundational steps and the key desired results.
Firstly, alignment between each of the CEO, the board, and the investors on the strategic objectives of the company is crucial. This then allows the board to determine the key steps and performance metrics that are required to achieve the agreed goals. With that alignment, the CEO and senior executives can build the road map and milestones that will ensure the desired outcomes. This enables the executive team to determine their objectives and key results (OKRs) on an annual basis. Ideally, within these OKRs there will be ones that are common to the entire executive team. They can be about the opening of a new geographic market or a new market segment and ultimately are focused on what characteristics you want from a business at its point of exit. Creating objectives which focus on the foundational drivers of these key results, like operational efficiencies and product development, then becomes important to drive sustained growth.
The strategic plan is then cascaded down an organisation from the executive team, with a focus on encouraging best practice. When objectives involve the sharing of ideas and thoughts cross-functionally, the clear definition of such objectives leads to functions collaborating and debating effectively. This, ultimately, where needed, breaks down silos between functions to continue to drive positive change.
Another core component is then the continuous checking in and evaluation of performance against the agreed metrics. This includes a quarterly evaluation of progress to objectives, where there is a focus on what insights results give in understanding why a metric has moved like it has. This ultimately creates a culture of continuous improvement which is driven from the bottom-up.
