One of the businesses we have worked with appears to have no culture to speak of at all. Each player plays their own part, individually, with little input from elsewhere. Minor subcultures may be present in some relationships, but the overall company has no pyramid builders, no one sitting on top and no one willing to engage in a united culture where the happiness of the staff and the success of the business are at the heart. It is almost as if each person is wearing blinkers -not interested in what other people are doing to progress the business but instead just continuing to wade through the treacle of their own tasks at their own pace.
While Mary focusses on the day to day bookings of the holiday lets, she has no concept of what her overall turnover is nor how it compares to the previous years. Though she liaises with the cleaning company around which lodges need cleaning when, Mary has no understanding of how the costs impact the business nor does she operate a budget for those costs. Meanwhile, Jason works on the fishing pegs, ensuring that everything meets competition standards, spending whatever is needed to achieve his goals without an understanding of whether the money is in the bank to do so. He makes good deals; organises the landscaping of the site; controlling the maintenance aspects and the cash and carry for the café on site. But with little time spent on shaping the future; liaising with the team or studying the management figures.

With no culture to bind the staff there’s little motivation for anyone to do more than the bare minimum necessary to keep ticking along. This is a business which desperately needs someone at the helm. It’s a family business which has already been in administration but despite being bailed out, has unfortunately not taken up the opportunity to re-build a pyramid and create an environment in which people want to excel. While some families have a rock-solid cultural core, built on trust, shared values and a clear vision – others sadly are much more dysfunctional and bring that dysfunctionality into the workplace.