In this episode of the Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle podcast, Francis Wade reflects on his Jamaica Gleaner article “Is Culture Still Eating Strategy for Breakfast?” He revisits the popular saying that culture eats strategy, arguing that the phrase is neither wholly true nor false and can be leveraged in strategic planning. Wade defines culture as the unconscious habits, practices, and recurring complaints that emerge when people work together, distinguishing these persistent patterns from isolated incidents. He notes that many teams want cultural transformation but lack the expertise to move beyond labeling cultures as “good” or “toxic.” To embed culture change into a strategic plan, Wade offers three concrete steps: (1) move beyond stale values and purpose statements by retiring or refreshing them and, instead of vague language, articulating precise, observable behaviors; (2) identify specific behaviors that support the strategic objectives and ensure they pass the “videotape test,” meaning they can be clearly demonstrated on film, trained, measured, and tied to performance systems; and (3) link each culture‑change project directly to a strategic goal, showing a clear cause‑and‑effect relationship so that cultural initiatives are not isolated efforts but integral to achieving the plan. He cautions against allowing cultural projects to be swallowed by a toxic environment and ends with a call‑to‑action inviting listeners to visit his blog for more articles and solutions to Caribbean business challenges.
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Hello and welcome back to Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle Podcast. This is Francis Wade, and here's an article I wrote for the Jamaica Gleaner. It's entitled, "Is Culture Still Eating Strategy for Breakfast?" You've heard the saying that culture eats strategy for breakfast. It has a ring of truth to it, but you don't want to believe that strategic planning is futile a victim of large negative forces which cannot be overcome. But if it's neither entirely right nor wrong, can you still use it? The most depressing naysayers warn us that fancy plans can only go so far. Jamaican culture on a whole or a specific corporate culture would only allow so much change but no more. But is this just a cynical way of looking at the world? Should it be discarded, or is there an element of truth that should be included in your planning for 2023? After all, you don't want to waste time shaping interventions meant to move the company forward, which could be doomed from the start. In this context, what is culture made of? While there are many definitions, let's assume that it comprises unconscious habits, practices, and routines. We all have them, and when we humans come together in an organization, we can't help but bring these elements, combining them into one. For example, all companies have people who complain about being treated unfairly. Some leave their ruminations in the car park. Others spend most of their workdays kvetching to themselves. But our definition would focus on the complaints which are continually shared in workplace conversations. By contrast, the occasional complainant who resolves matters quickly does not add to the culture. When a single problem is solved, it goes away. This definition of culture is one your strategic planners should adopt. Why? Most teams I work with want to include some kind of cultural transformation in their long-term plans. Unfortunately, they lack expertise in this area. They only know enough to label organizations they experienced from the past, judging some as superior and others toxic. However, they don't know how to create a large-scale shift from one level to another. Without this expertise, their objective remains more of a hopeful wish than anything they can operationalize. To make things more concrete, here are some practical steps to take to forge the kind of culture that supports your strategic plan. 1. Go past current values and purpose statements. If your company hasn't revamped its core statements in the last year, chances are they are no longer offering much guidance. In the worst cases, staff only use them to point out hypocrisy gaps, the places where your leaders are not walking their talk. If you find yourself in this kind of situation, the standard advice is to undertake a refresh. Rather than driving up further cynicism and resignation, retire the statements and declare that they have done their job. Set up an effort to define new ones in light of a fresh strategy. Point out their purpose to help accomplish a specific long-term vision. This is Blue Ocean style opportunity creation at its finest. But most leaders may still want the documents to be vague, echoing the tone of the ones they are replacing. Today's best practice calls for a different approach. Instead of being ephemeral and high-level, look to define specific behaviors so they can't be mistaken. 2. Specific behaviors listed in the corporate strategic plan. It may become clear as you do your planning that some of your corporate culture must be changed. For example, a culture of constant victimhood isn't likely to be innovative and entrepreneurial—the behaviors your new strategy needs to succeed. But these initial phrases are only clues. They aren't detailed enough. Instead, take a deeper dive into the specific behaviors you want to change. And here they need to pass the videotape test. If they can be enacted on film, then they are clear enough to be included in your strategic plan. For example, a phrase like "responsibility" may fail the test because it doesn't speak to a specific behavior. By contrast, "I apologize to those I have wronged" is a specific behavior which is undeniable. It's also one which can be trained, coached, measured, and added into a performance system. As such, it becomes a tool to assist in accomplishing the strategic plan. While you may group similar behaviors for ease of transmission, it's important to be careful. Why? The fact is, this isn't about a change for its own sake. Instead, the planning team should see a clear cause-and-effect relationship between newly envisioned behaviors and critical elements of the strategy. As such, these are carefully defined culture change projects designed to shift specific behaviors. Although such efforts are challenging, don't allow them to languish or be eaten up by a toxic culture no one supports. Thanks for listening. Do you have an unsolved problem in your Caribbean company related to strategy, productivity, engagement, or business process improvement? Just visit a searchable listing of all my prior articles and you may be able to help yourself to a fresh line of thinking. Go to blog.fwconsulting.com Or see the show notes.
