Culture Is a Balancing Act

CUs consider workplace culture strategies.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” said the late Peter Drucker, a distinguished management consultant and organizational scholar of our time. “But, what if your strategy is to change the culture?” countered a credit union CEO and friend. Both are spot-on: Culture is a crucial component of organizational existence. How credit union professionals comprehend, identify and react to culture drives organizational capability and attainment.

Recently, the Harvard Business Review published an article titled, “The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture.” One of the more noteworthy aspects of the article and research were eight identified culture characteristics along two dimensions: How professionals interact (from independence to interdependence) and a general response to change (from flexibility to stability). Across all industries, two culture traits surpassed all others with respect to effectiveness: Results and caring. More interestingly, results and caring were opposite each other along the two dimensions. It seemed clear that a balanced approach to culture was most effective.