Survey: Does Culture eat Strategy for Breakfast?

Our recent survey focused on culture and strategy to derive an understanding on the impact of both culture and strategy to an organisation and how they coincide.

We asked the question, “Does Culture eat Strategy for breakfast?”

 55% of the respondents strongly agree,

 36% simply agree and

 9% neither agree nor disagree.

Summary of Comments / insights from respondents   

• Culture needs a good strategy for it to perform at its utmost best.
• Strategy is the source of ‘strength’ as it provide ‘nourishment’ and works to empower culture.
• “you are what you eat” – if culture feeds off the organisational strategy, its values, missions and goals, then it’s able to reflect and mirror what it has been feeding off. This is also the reason why an organisation needs to adopt an effective strategy.
• Strategy and culture work hand in hand, and one without the other are not effective enough.
• Culture and Strategy feed off each because without a strong strategy, culture cannot meet the organisations’ mandate.
• A strong culture with a poor strategy will fail the company.
• Most organisations tend to lean towards creating the best and most effective strategy, but give little attention to the culture of the organisation which both are just as important for the success of the organisation.
• Culture provides for the means to implement the Strategic plans and is where the results come. Hence the right culture needs to be adopted, one that best suits the company’s core values.

Overall findings conclude that both strategy and culture are important. For an effective strategy, culture needs to be aligned to it. Culture not only eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and super, it simply breathes it.