It’s No Good Having a Great Culture if You’ve Gone Out of Business.

Author: Tom Geraghty
Full Title: It’s No Good Having a Great Culture if You’ve Gone Out of Business.
Category: #articles
Summary: Having a great culture is important, but it alone won't ensure an organization's success. Companies must also focus on their mission and strategy to navigate challenges and remain viable. Psychological safety is essential for long-term success, as it fosters accountability and better decision-making within teams.
Document Tags: #psychological-safety
URL: https://psychsafety.co.uk/its-no-good-having-a-great-culture-if-youve-gone-out-of-business/

So what do we need in order to achieve our mission? If mission is what we’re aiming to do, strategy is the approach we intend to take to achieve it. Strategy is how we decide what to do, when, and how. The mission is the goal and the strategy keeps us heading in the right direction – so it’s important to maintain and communicate a clear and effective strategy. While a great culture might allow us to go fast, it’s no good going fast in the wrong direction. (View Highlight)
Dixons Academies Trust (a not-for-profit company that runs 17 UK schools) has dispensed with senior job titles such as CEO, in order to “avoid top-down control”, instead using terms such as “school and college trust leaders”. They also recently got rid of appraisals, and introduced a nine-day fortnight working pattern for teachers. Power gradients are one of the most harmful factors in reducing psychological safety, and I think this approach to reducing the power gradient in organisations has great potential. Certain domains (healthcare and academia are two notable examples) suffer significant issues in culture, communication, and psychological safety that are exacerbated by job titles that unnecessarily increase the perceived power distance between people. (View Highlight)