Does Culture Eat Strategy For Breakfast?
When It's People, Ideas and Things, Always In That Order!
Take a look at this photo from the National Archives.
Here’s the official description:
"Retired U.S. Marine Corps LT. GEN. Victor Krulak and PFC. M. Peralez stand at attention during the 229th Marine Corps birthday celebration at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif. on Nov. 10, 2004.”
In one picture you can see the essence of a culture that clearly places people first.
Shared core values and tradition is just one example of how the Marine Corps has done this for 247 years.
Of all the things you can learn from the Marine Corps, this one is so simple:
Put people first, always before ideas and things!
Any leader, in any industry, can prioritize people—both inside the organization; and outside external stakeholders like customers, clients, and prospects.
Anyone can emulate the Marine Corps’ approach, by emphasizing a people-centric focus that generates enduring success, no matter the industry.
By placing individuals' well-being, growth, and development at the core of our focus, we unleash cognitive power that makes us more collaborative, creative, competitive and cooperative
How do we start?
🔘Build and maintain genuine connections with teammates and external stakeholders.
🔘Learn, know and understand their aspirations, challenges, and motivations.
🔘Foster and reinforce an environment of mutual trust and respect, which creates a solid foundation for collaboration, engagement, and high-performance.
🔘Promote continuous learning and personal growth within the organization.
🔘Provide opportunities for skill development and knowledge sharing.
🔘Invest in the total formation of individuals, including their moral, mental, and physical well-being, empowering them to excel in both their personal and professional lives.
🔘Celebrate Milestones and Successes.
🔘Acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of individuals and teams.
🔘Celebrate achievements, big and small, as a team.
Appreciation and recognition creates a culture of encouragement, which in turn inspires a sense of belonging, motivation, and shared purpose.
Remember:
You don’t have to be the US Marine Corps to prioritize people first.
Regardless of your organization’s scope and scale, focusing on people above all else is the key to building and maintaining an enduring, attractive, and influential culture.
Empower teams, and create environments where people thrive, innovation flourishes, and success is inevitable.
Embrace the concept of people, ideas and things, always in that order.
Competitors will clearly see it if you don’t!
If they’re doing it and you’re not, they have the edge.
Don’t give away the advantage!
People, ideas and things, always in that order!
The impact of putting people first is a culture that I have identified as “a persistent, residual culture of values that persists because it resides in the relationships of the people.” This culture will develop, even with bad or weak leadership, because this is how we survive in a world of conflict and chaos.
I’ve been tempted to write a piece about the problem of “nobody gives a damn anymore.” You’ve just trumped the problem with positive solutions, and you are absolutely correct.