Am I managing: Culture for breakfast

Our regular columnist Natalie Barker, Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance, looks at what she, as a leader, has learnt as a result of managing a remote team during the first COVID-19 lockdown period.

Last Friday, one of my team texted me while she was on annual leave. She had taken the leave to spend time with someone in her family who was unwell, so when she messaged me, I was concerned something had happened. In fact, she was sharing her insights from a podcast she’d been listening to. I was pleased to spend a few minutes exchanging reflections on the connection between vulnerability and courage.

In my team, we agreed a while back that we would ‘learn loudly’.

In our organisation, it’s not unusual to share learnings and reflections with each other. In my team, we agreed a while back that we would ‘learn loudly’. One of the first things we do on a Monday is share our learning goals for the week. Over the past few months, themes have emerged around what team members are choosing to learn about. Their choices reflect what’s happening in our business and across the globe. They’re talking about agility, leadership, change, wellbeing and getting comfortable with uncertainty.

The business I work for, like many others, is facing into the disruption caused by COVID-19, so we can deliver the experiences our customers value, as their own realities are changing. It has been heart-warming to see my team leaning into change and disruption instead of ignoring the discomfort they’re feeling. To me, it reflects the team turning a challenge into an opportunity to forge growth and build a positive culture.

They’re talking about agility, leadership, change, wellbeing and getting comfortable with uncertainty.

As a leader, it’s my role to understand what my team members value and align those values to a culture that supports our vision. My team values the connection and trust we have between us, much of which has been shaped by navigating difficult situations together. We appreciate that we back and support each other. We’re proud that we face into challenges, even when we’re not sure of the outcome.

I believe that culture comes from within a team and reflects what’s important to each member. I also believe leaders can help shape that over time; in fact, I believe it’s our job to do so.

As Peter Drucker famously said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. If your organisation’s culture doesn’t serve its strategy, it won’t achieve its purpose. There aren’t many organisations that haven’t experienced a shift of some sort in their strategy over recent months. Culture needs to keep up.

In times of disruption and uncertainty, leaders need to check that they’re role-modelling what’s most important to them. They need to be prepared to be open about their discomfort and open to hearing from their teams. If our actions give our teams the impression we have all the answers, that we’re OK all the time, or that we want them to keep doing what they’ve always done, we’re not helping them, our organisation or our customers.

So, I was pleased to read that text message last Friday. “You can’t have courage without vulnerability, because that is putting yourself out there in situations where you can’t control the outcome – we have a very courageous team.” It tells me we’re on the right track.

Natalie Barker is Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance. She has been leading people for 15 years and believes that leveraging people’s strengths and passions is the best way to drive engagement and get stuff done.