You may have heard the following oft repeated quote regarding culture, misattributed to Peter Drucker, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." I don't use it here to perpetuate this deception. I'm also not the biggest fan of it, as if a ping pong table in the faculty lounge will enhance the productivity of a school. Its aggressive and convicted tone also cause me to pause.
I definitely get its essence: the best laid plans will go awry unless they align with our mission, beliefs, values, and unscripted behaviors. For example, the manner in which we convey a message also conveys a message. If we desire our teachers to communicate professionally yet inform them of this in an email with misspelled words, or at a meeting in a demeaning tone, or by revealing a particular teacher's snafu along these lines, our culture just ate our strategy. Similarly, we might have lots of strong policies and procedures and clear expectations yet not attend to the human needs of our community members for belonging, rest, and purpose. It won't be long before burnout ensues and productivity suffers.
The positive connotation of the quote posits the power of culture, suggesting that a strong culture can compensate for a subpar strategy. Get the culture right and you'll be on your way to higher job satisfaction, greater productivity, and operational viability.
But, I think we can also understand the quote in nuanced way: many believe breakfast to be the most important meal of the day. As such, culture's beginning of the day meal choice strategically provides the energy and strength needed to sustain the culture. We might promote parents and families as the primary educators of our students yet only communicate with them when a problem has arrived at its last resort. In this scenario, lacking a more specific strategy for communicating with parents and families causes the culture to grow weaker.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast because culture needs strategies in order to thrive. In fact, to mix aphorisms, if we are what we eat, then culture is a strategy. Aligning our strategies to our culturally foundational statements (mission, beliefs, values, pillars, philosophy, and/or charisms) strengthens both. Striving for this type of coherence between and among the various aspects of our schools anchors what we do in who we are, and operationalizes the pithy language that adorns our walls, email signatures, and handbooks.
As we continue to emphasize our schools' mission statements, consider the ways in which we can create strategies as leaders to accomplish it.
Likewise, what parts of our communities need pruned because of their disconnection from or opposition to our mission? The monkey paradigms in our schools dim the parts that shine brightly.
How might we build shared understanding about our shared language so that we can ensure shared experiences? Be explicit about what the various words and phrases in our foundational statements mean: how does the school community collectively define values like "hope", "tradition", or "change"?
What behaviors need checked because they misalign with who we say we are as an organization?
Since culture is a strategy and our strategies reveal our cultures, let's be intentional about what we're eating and feeding others for breakfast or any meal. As we become what we consume, may we grow into the strong, vibrant, and life-giving schools we hope to be.
