Culture eats strategy for breakfast

"People want (and need!) clarity, they want to know where they can add value and have an impact"

Emma Simkiss | Managing Director | Freestyle


How would you explain what “culture eats strategy for breakfast” means?

 

Culture eats strategy for breakfast, that infamous phrase attributed to Peter Drucker is in itself a really interesting concept, and one that I believe over time has been interpreted and popularised in a multitude of ways - and not all perhaps as it was first intended.

In essence, it’s widely and broadly used in a sense that suggests for many that culture is more important than strategy when it comes to running and leading a business.

There is no doubt…and I mean none at all…that a business will not thrive without a healthy culture. Toxic cultures and workplaces that encourage all the wrong types of behaviours will not only struggle to retain and attract good people, they will also stifle growth through a lack of engagement and ‘care’ for the job they are doing and the company that they are doing it in.


What do you think about this ‘advice’?

 

With the above in mind however, my belief is that an organisation’s ‘culture credit’ will only last so long, and with all the best will in the world, as a business strives to grow and evolve, a fantastic culture will only get you so far.

People need purpose. They need clarity, they need a clear vision and direction, they need some form of structure (not necessarily just talking org structure here) and an understanding of where a business is heading (and why!) - and more than that, they need to believe in and be bought into the strategy and subsequent plan that will get them there.

So for me culture and strategy must eat breakfast together side by side.


Would you give this advice to other people?

 

I’d give people a flavour of the original ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ advice. Culture will only get you so far….equally so will strategy. You can’t have one without the other, and so neither one must eat each other for breakfast, they must as I said above eat breakfast together, side by side.


If not, what alternative advice would you give to agency leaders?

 

In order to build a high performing business ripe for growth, you need both a clear (and communicated!) strategy (as well as a clear vision) and a healthy and genuine culture that the whole team is bought in, and subscribed to.

You must first be clear in your own mind on the direction of travel, where are you heading, what do you want to achieve/deliver and why? What is your wider business vision? You must then communicate that…with everyone, after all strong and healthy cultures are built on transparency, visibility and collectively working towards common goals.

People want (and need!) clarity, they want to know where they can add value and have an impact. Without the clarity, it becomes nigh on impossible to know where to direct their efforts in order to truly have an impact (both for themselves and the business).

Most people want to feel valued and fulfilled by the work that they do - they want to feel useful, and so for me the what, why and how are collectively much like the foundations of a house….you must put time and effort into building and ‘shoring up’ solid foundations before you can even begin to build on top of that.

Once you have that nailed, you’ll be able to hire, train, develop and retain the right sort of people who are bought into your business vision - you can start building from your foundations.

As the house goes up you’ll factor in a set of core values and beliefs that by their very nature encourage and nurture the right type of behaviour. As the build continues you’ll be looking to put in some other key components that are imperative to the structure of the house such as trust, autonomy, clear avenues for progression and an organisational structure that supports this - this is what will underpin your company culture.

It’s not until you get to the furnishing stage that you need to be considering how you embellish your culture with benefits such as flexibility and 4 day weeks (because let’s face it, if you haven’t got the rest of it nailed, those things will never work as they are intended)...the softer perks such as beers and pizza (cringe) really are akin to cushions and candles…and whilst they might be nice to have, they will not underpin a solid culture.


What is the Emma Simkiss definition of culture?

 

A workplace culture is an amalgamation of values, beliefs and behaviours. The glorious thing about the workplace is that it can create and provide an environment where a bunch of talented people from all sorts of backgrounds with a real mix of interests, passions and belief systems can come together to coalesce around a common and shared goal.

Where the magic happens is when that bunch of people are all committed to working towards that common goal, becoming invested in what the business has set out to achieve, developing themselves - and having fun doing it.

Our business founder and CEO (Suzanne Linton) and I both have a passion for ‘people first’ workplaces and approaches, and to build a workplace culture that encourages trust and autonomy. A culture that enables adults to show up as such, to be treated as humans, to have their strengths amplified and nurtured, and to ultimately feel valued and fulfilled in the work that they do and to experience a sense of community and belonging.


How do you define what vision, mission and strategy is and the differences between them?

 

In the simplest of ways, I look at vision, mission and strategy as ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’. It’s more complex than that of course, but in essence it looks a little like this.

Your vision is your clearly defined, often aspirational (and inspirational) image or statement of what you want your business to be at some point in the future. Articulating the vision is perhaps easier for those who are visual thinkers…possibly even dreamers. It’s the ‘idealistic’ future of a company, usually more emotive.

Your mission is your why. Why is the business in existence, depending on how the businesses started, this can be tricker to articulate than the what. My observation is that this is more challenging for agency founders to articulate because their agency was born out of doing what they loved and it grew organically from there (not true for everyone of course). Unless you started your business with a very clear and definitive idea around why you were doing it i.e. “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” (Tesla) defining a mission statement can be tricky (and not many people want to publish the mission statement ‘to make loads of money!).

Your strategy is your how…your plan of action, your clear set of actions, goals and objectives that outlines how you will succeed.


Emma Simkiss' bio

 

As Managing Director of Freestyle, Emma Simkiss helps the agency lead digital transformation. Emma initially joined Freestyle 3 years ago from a marketing and recruitment background to work alongside Founder and CEO Suzanne Linton to cement Freestyle’s strengths as a people-first business.

Having stepped into the MD role earlier this year, Emma is now responsible for the day to day running of Freestyle, and believes in keeping people at the core of what they do.

With 15 years experience spanning both client and agency side, Emma brings a diverse skill set, and an excellent reputation for relationship-building, team leadership and a passion for coaching led cultures. Emma is currently working towards her ILM Level 7 in Executive level coaching.


Humble promo of Emma Simkiss and Freestyle


Emma managed to progress from a Head Of People role to Managing Director in 3 years - that is quite the achievement! It's a testament for her tenacity and relentless search for doing things better at Freestyle.

Freestyle, one of our troop members at Polymensa, has been running under the same leadership for 25 years. Since taking on the role, Emma made some significant changes at Freestyle, a mega tough challenge given the history and one that would test anyone's sanity. An incredible achievement and I am looking forward to seeing Emma take the business to the next level.

Cheers,
Daniel (Polymensa founder)

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