CULTURE | Why It Concerns You
Drive Value, Build Partnerships, Evolve Culture
BRM Institute recently unveiled this mantra, and it is beautiful! To me, it does feel like a mantra – Drive Value, Build Partnerships, Evolve Culture. After I repeat it a few times I drop the verbs and drift into repeating:
VALUE • PARTNERSHIPS • CULTURE • VALUE • PARTNERSHIPS • CULTURE • VALUE • PARTNERSHIPS • CULTURE…
…then I wake up from my trance and I think…what comes first? Value? Partnerships? Culture? And why should I be concerned about Culture? And if I should be concerned, what the heck do I do about it?
So I think:
Value = PURPOSE
Partnerships are RELATIONSHIPS to achieve shared PURPOSE
Culture promotes (or hinders) RELATIONSHIPS to achieve shared PURPOSE
Ok, next I think:
TRUST promotes RELATIONSHIPS to achieve shared PURPOSE, hence we need a CULTURE OF TRUST
TRUST is a function of WARMTH and COMPETENCE. “What are the intentions of other people toward me? (WARMTH). How capable are they of carrying out those intentions? (COMPETENCE).”
These two questions that we instinctively ask (almost instantly) have to do with SAFETY so people feel SAFE to freely engage in RELATIONSHIPS to achieve shared PURPOSE. That they won’t be harmed and threatened in anyway.
This leads me to wonder:
What are the BEHAVIORS that promote a sense of SAFETY? That if I interact with you I won’t be harmed in any way?
So I think empathy, honesty, integrity, transparency…that these are the BEHAVIORS that evoke a sense of SAFETY promoting TRUST promoting RELATIONSHIPS to achieve share PURPOSE. That these are the BEHAVIORS that need to be weaved into a CULTURE OF TRUST.
So what comes first? Value? Partnerships? Culture?
Let me suggest that it is the CULTURE OF TRUST that envelopes the other two. And this is why you should be concerned about it. And BRMs are in the perfect position to work with Leadership to forge a CULTURE OF TRUST. That really we are obliged to do something about this…that it is the righteous thing to do. Why? Because the promise of BRM will not be fulfilled without it.
Steve Plante
Head of Professional Services at PeopleProductive.com
Contribute to the Conversation about Culture at BRMConnect San Diego Oct 1-3, 2018
