They say that culture eats strategy for breakfast. With good reason - many a business plan is sabotaged by company culture. But a business plan that fails to factor in culture is a business plan ripe for failure. And culture’s first victim (or benefactor) is always morale.

Workplace culture is the sum of values and behaviors - the social-psychological environment of an organization.

The work is why people are hired; the culture is a large part of why they stay or go.

Recognizing and defining company culture

When you work somewhere, in time you can see, smell, and all but touch the culture - but can you define it?

Does everyone think of it in the same way?

Are all its traits, values, and characteristics valued equally by all?

That’s a maybe, a no, and a hard no, respectively.

First, let’s differentiate between stated culture and values and actual culture and values.

A quick rule fo thumb: Stated values tend to be pinned up on the wall of the office kitchen and tout things like team loyalty and work-life balance. Actual values are the boss showing up late every day (or not) or a senior leader failing to take parental leave (or not).

Each action sends a silent yet deafening signal about what the company prizes.

Then there’s aspirational values. Provided they are recognized as such (a work in progress) and that they are worked towards, they are typically a force for good. Otherwise, they’re just words on a poster.

And in the worst case, culture and values are wielded like a weapon. This is the difference between “I love working here because every team member is accountable to their peers” and “I’m going to help you learn ACCOUNTABILITY. No PTO requests will be considered until you’ve stepped up - I hope you appreciate the thoughtfulness I’ve put into creating this career-development opportunity.”

Enhancing culture

So how can you gauge, improve, and live a workplace’s values - and enhance the company culture? How can you make sure your strategy, people, and goals will be supported and enhanced by culture rather than sabotaged?

Addressing something both pervasive and elusive can be a herculean task. The best approaches layer in an audit of the status quo, put the team at the center, and are gauged and improved over time.

In isolation, an offsite values exercise is doomed to fail if it’s not acted on and supported long after the company retreat.

The upshot

Company culture is the lived experience of your people. It varies by team, by individual, by location, and by myriad other factors. But it’s also a sort of company glue - a force that can keep your team engaged and happy or send them out the door.

We partner with companies to improve culture at all levels. We start by gauging the status quo, we help define and improve goals, and we tailor and help execute a plan to succeed.

Expect surveys and interviews, keynotes, team workshops, group and individual coaching, and checkpoints to measure success. You’ll also refine a set of meaningful “living values” - characteristics that define and guide the workplace you’re seeking to create. Talk to us to learn more - we’re listening.

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Ellie Hearne is a leadership-communications expert and founder of Pencil or Ink. She has worked with Apple, Google, Kate Spade, Marriott, Morgan Stanley, Oracle, Pfizer, Piaget, Spotify, Starbucks, and Twitter, among others, and has coached numerous individuals and teams. Ellie can be reached here, here, and here.