Culture is frequently described as the invisible force that hinders progress, dilutes intent, or quietly derails well-designed strategies. The familiar quote, \u201cculture eats strategy for breakfast\u201d<\/em>, is often used as a sort of universal truth. While catchy, it oversimplifies a far more nuanced relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article examines the interplay between culture and strategy, highlighting why treating culture as an afterthought can create friction, how organizations can make strategy work with their existing culture, and the role HR must play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contents<\/em> Organizational culture<\/a> has many different definitions. Some describe it as \u201chow we do things around here.\u201d Others refer to values, rituals, or observable behaviors. Put simply, culture is the set of spoken and unspoken beliefs that shape what an organization truly values, rewards, and tolerates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Culture is ever-present in all organizations and influences every decision, action, and trade-off, often in an unobserved manner. In that sense, if strategy defines the destination, culture determines how the organization travels to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where many organizations stumble. Culture is often treated as something that needs to align with strategy, as if it will naturally adapt once a new direction has been announced. In practice, this rarely works, and culture is usually treated as an afterthought rather than a core part of strategy setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An insurance business introduced a strategy focused on customer centricity. They focused on getting closer to customers, understanding their needs, and adapting services accordingly. But their existing culture was deeply rooted in product excellence and process efficiency. Their culture always led them to try and think about products and not customers, yet the revised strategy wanted them to act and behave differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The result was a disconnect between what they wanted strategically and how the culture executed. Employees were not actively resisting the strategy; they simply didn’t know how to behave differently. The culture consistently pulled the organization back to established norms, often under the pretense that this is how we\u2019ve always done things.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The mistake many leadership teams make at this point is assuming culture needs to be fixed after the strategy has been defined. In reality, culture cannot be an afterthought. The strategy formulation process should consider how and where culture will help or hinder the strategy execution from the very start.<\/p>\n\n\n I don’t buy into the idea that culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s an old cliche. And honestly, you really need both in your organization. You need to have the direction, the purpose, and you need to have the means to get there. And the culture is what helps support that. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t But in the end, culture is an end state. Culture is something that is a result of the history, the activities, the attitudes, what people bring to work every day, and how they espouse that collaboration, how they incentivize that innovation, how they go about communicating with one another, and sharing those values.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t Working effectively with culture begins with understanding the culture that exists today, not the aspirational version, but the one that shows up in everyday decisions, incentives, and trade-offs. <\/strong>So, how do organizations develop an understanding of their current culture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good starting point is to use culture frameworks grounded in thorough research. Popular models include the classic work of Edgar Schein<\/a>, as well as more recent models, including the McKinsey 7S<\/a>, Denison<\/a>,<\/a> and Barrett<\/a> models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A model that we have used with AIHR\u2019s clients is the Competing Values Framework<\/a> developed by Cameron and Quinn<\/a>. The model strikes a balance between a well-researched foundation and practical, easy-to-use elements that business leaders can quickly grasp and relate to. Rather than defining culture as a single ideal state, it highlights the inherent tensions that exist within organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The framework describes four dominant culture types, based on two dimensions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why culture matters in strategy execution<\/a>
Understanding your current type of organizational culture<\/a>
How to align culture and strategy: Two approaches
<\/a>How HR can start creating culture and strategy alignment<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/www.aihr.com\/wp-content\/plugs\/podcast-blog-ads-fade.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div>\n\n\nWhy culture matters in strategy execution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Example<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/div>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\nUnderstanding your current type of organizational culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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