What's Your Personal Culture?

I left school in 1990. Ouch. It even hurts to write that down!

Despite the huge gap in time between then and now, I still find myself at the beginning of each September with a feeling of a new start. And I know this is a common feeling for many at this time of year.

New starts, of course, provide us with an opportunity to do things differently. And over the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about this more than usual, prompted by a story I read about graphic designer Paula Scher in Billy Oppenheimer’s weekly SIX at 6 email.

Paula Scher is one of the world’s most influential graphic designers… Yet when Scher talks about her career, she often describes it as accidental: “Everything was very accidental.” “It was all a bit accidental and happenstance.” “I find more and more that artistic success is accidental and circumstantial.” Once, when an interviewer pushed back on the idea that she had simply been lucky, Scher paused and thought of something else. One of her first jobs out of college was in the promotions department at CBS Records—the “cootie department,” as it was known. A designer there, Scher said, “was the lowest form of graphic designer.” Still, Scher poured herself into the work. When she suggested small improvements to an ad, colleagues would tell her, “Oh, nobody’s gonna see that. Who cares?” “Except for I think somebody might see it,” Scher would reply. That small choice - to care about work other people thought wasn’t worth caring about - became something of a habit. “Even on some lower end piece of an identity project,” she said, “I always think, ‘somebody might see it.’” And eventually, somebody did. After two years in the “cootie department,” one of Scher’s ads caught the attention of an executive at Atlantic Records, who offered her a job designing album covers. She went on to create covers for artists including Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Harris, before CBS hired her back as East Coast Art Director for album covers.”

Why has this story stayed with me?

Because in the spaces I work there is a constant focus on performance and excellence. With the vital added ingredient of the word ‘sustained’.

In an organisational sense, culture is key to this. And one of the best articulations of culture I have come across is simply:

‘What happens when no one is looking.’

But why should that apply only to organisations?

I think it is just as important for individuals. For sustained performance and excellence, your own personal culture is critical. What you do when no one is looking. How you go about things. How you approach things. How you behave. The habits you build.

All of these are critical to your outcomes - and the outcomes of those around you.

Another definition of culture that I like comes from the world of sport:

‘An organisation’s culture is the combined result of the values, attitudes and behaviours exhibited in its engagement with stakeholders both internal and external.’ [1]

So let’s apply that to ourselves.

What are your core values?

What is the mindset you bring to work and life?

What behaviours do you display on a daily basis?

And what habits have you built up over time?

Is this an opportunity to have a bit of a reset? And if you did, what might this look like?

Let’s take a look at ‘Martin’s’ journey to bring this to life.

Martin was CEO of a large sports organisation. It was his second CEO role, he was enjoying it, but he had some key challenges that he was struggling to solve.

He felt that he was almost ‘getting in his own way’.

Whilst he was generally a positive, ‘can do’ sort of person, with a good strategic brain, he felt that some of his behaviours and habits were adversely affecting his ability to lead the organisation through its challenges.

We did some work looking at frameworks and models that might help - on decision-making, strategic planning and delegating, for example. But we didn’t seem to be getting to the root of the problem.

So I decided to take a backwards step.

Instead, we focused on Martin’s general approach. His values, mindset and behaviours. How he operated when no one was looking. And the habits he had built for himself.

Martin distilled his core values down to four: Integrity, Commitment, Balance and Fairness.

His mindset? He saw himself as optimistic and positive. A ‘doer’. Original in his thinking. Someone who liked to solve problems.

His behaviours? He worked hard. He gave quick responses, rolled his sleeves up, often talked more than he listened, was keen to make swift decisions, and tended to influence through discussion more than fact and evidence.

And his habits?

Martin worked long hours. He often responded to emails early in the morning and late at night. He wasn’t comfortable finishing a working day without having ticked off everything on his to-do list. He was often the first to speak in meetings, tended to push for quick decisions and, when he had delegated tasks, checked in incredibly regularly on progress.

Martin found the identification process itself helpful.

But then we took it further.

Bearing in mind the challenges the organisation faced, I asked him to consider what might need to change. Not his values - these are very difficult to change at will - but his mindset, behaviours and habits.

What should he stop, start and continue?

Having explored this for some time, and deliberately keeping the list very short, Martin went away with some small but potentially significant changes to his own personal culture - how he went about things - which he hoped would help him lead the organisation more successfully.

And that brings it back to us.

How would you define your own personal culture?

What are the values that drive you? What is the mindset you bring to work and life? How does that show up in your behaviours? And what habits have you built as a result?

Most importantly, what is positive about all of this? How does your personal culture drive your performance - and that of those around you?

But equally, where does it hold you back?

Where do you ‘get in your own way’?

It’s the start of a new school year.

Why not do an hour of homework on this and see where you get to?

[1] Birkbeck University of London, Moore Stephens, ‘The State of Sports Governance: Are you leading or lagging?’

 For more on this or any aspect of leadership and performance, with a healthy dose of mindset, sport, and I hope usefulness thrown in, do feel free to browse through all the articles in the Huddle, or get in touch with me directly on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk. To order a copy of my book - Staying the Distance: The Lessons From Sport That Business Leaders Have Been Missing – click here .