Breakfast of Champions: Organizational Culture
In a brilliantly organized and expertly presented session titled “The critical role of organizational behaviour in effective business relationship management”, Elka Schrijver, of Lead the Pack Consulting, led BRMConnect 2023 attendees down a journey of truly connecting relationships to results.
What is the key element to ultimately driving results for anybody in any organization?
Behaviour.
The common adage, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” could not ring truer for BRMs, and as Elka demonstrated, it is individual behaviour that creates culture in the first place. As long as two individuals behave in a way the contributes to organizational purpose, then a proactive and sustainable culture is being developed through their relationship.
She goes on to define both behaviour and results in an organizational context.
The definition of behaviour is, “what an organism is observed to be doing.” If action is not being taken, then there can be no results that come of it. Consider an organization that boasts the most inspirational mission statement in the world, leaders all around the organization are constantly proclaiming the impact that will make, and explaining the strategy to get there. But if work towards that mission does not end up happening, then it all just becomes empty promises.
Thus, Elka breaks down the behaviour we ought to be doing down to 4 main items:
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Individual/team
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Sequential
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Actions/activities
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Collaboration
When these observable actions come together and exhibit the right behaviours that move people forward together.
MACRO
However, in the same way that having a mission/purpose without action is empty, having action without direction proves wasteful. So, by connecting that behaviour to a shared purpose with clear expected results, the energy placed into these relationships moves forward in the right direction.
To ensure your behaviour is driving the right results, Elka shares that all behaviours must satisfy the acronym MACRO:
M – Measurable
A – Active
C – Controllable
R – Reliable
O – Observable
What comes from this activity?
Results. Defined as, “all that remains after the behaviour is completed. The image from her session demonstrates a few examples of the results the could be measured from appropriately guided behaviour.
