Remember: “It’s the Culture, Stupid!”

Many dealerships have an unhealthy addiction to silver bullets, contests, quick fixes and an array of flavors of the month in an attempt to improve behaviors. These efforts range from the monthly spiff on demos or write-ups, to weekend “slasher sales”, to “we’re firing the bottom guy on the board this month,” to the latest twenty-group best-idea bandwagon, and the like. While versions of the aforementioned examples can play a role in bringing a short-term burst of adrenaline, or a sudden spike in activity; they bring no long term solutions for building a business or sustaining results. They serve as a kind of morphine dealers use to temporarily deaden the pain of slow sales. But just as real morphine is addictive; and too much of it can kill you, these tactics have a similar effect on your dealership. In life as in business, there comes a time when you have to stop killing the pain and have surgery; not cosmetic surgery, but heart surgery.

In business vernacular, “heart surgery” is about improving your culture. In fact, the next time you’re tempted to swallow some quick-fix Kool-aide, gently remind yourself, “I don’t need to chase after another gimmick or fad, I need to strengthen or fix the foundation of my business; I don’t want another “seven-day diet”, I am committing to a lifestyle change.  I’ve got to remember; It’s the culture stupid!”

Sadly, some old-school types in our industry still foolishly consider culture as little more than a warm and fuzzy buzzword promoted by academics, but mostly irrelevant as an ally to sell more cars or service. To correct this misperception and put culture’s importance in perspective consider the following.

     1. Key principle: Culture dictates behaviors and behaviors determine results. In other words, whatever behaviors you’re seeing consistently in your dealership are a result of the culture you’ve created; if you want to change the behaviors you’ll have to improve the culture first.  In case you just skimmed this point, please re-read it slowly because this principle is HUGE. What it reveals is that whatever behaviors you’re seeing on a consistent basis, in any given department is a result of the culture the leader has created, and if you want to change or improve those behaviors you must strengthen the culture first. One of the biggest wastes of time a manager engages in is trying to sustainably change behaviors with spiffs, gimmicks, contests or threats without first changing the culture in which the behaviors are found.

In my workshops and online courses on culture I explain that to help get your hands around culture and how to improve it, consider that culture is primarily made up of five components: core values, mission, performance standards, core competencies and people. These five cultural pillars make up the foundation of your organization. Just as you couldn’t build a higher structure on a foundation filled with cracks, holes, or that has shifted onto sand, nor can you expect sustainable increases in results without continuing to improve your dealership’s foundation; your culture.

     2. Culture is never finished. Building or strengthening a culture is not something you ever cross off a to-do list and declare as “finished”. In fact, think of culture as you would a garden; a garden requires constant attention and if you ignore it for long the weeds, bugs, and disease will hijack the garden. The same is true for your dealership.

Managers who ignore the mandate to continually improve the five pillars of culture put their organization at great risk. Here are signs this is a current reality in your department or dealership:

1. Core values haven’t been established, and if they have people are not living them out.
2. There is no well-defined compelling mission that unites the team.
3. There are no clear, written performance standards to achieve, or consequences for failing to do so.
4. Core competencies are not clearly identified and leveraged.
5. The wrong people have been hired and are being retained.

Until these cultural issues are consistently strengthened any spiff, flavor of the month, management whim, fad or silver bullet designed to change behaviors will have a marginal and unsustainable shelf-life. Again, you’ve got to go back and work on the foundation; it’s the culture stupid!

     3. Culture is a leader’s responsibility and report card. A leader is the chief architect and primary influencer of the culture in which he or she leads; culture is their report card. To take an accurate measure of a leader’s effectiveness, evaluate the vitality of the five cultural pillars they’re responsible for.

     4. If you don’t shape culture in your image, societal trends will shape it in their image. You can’t not have a culture; the question is: who or what will shape it? If you don’t shape your cultural foundation with your values, mission, standards, competencies and quality people societal trends like entitlement, “everyone gets a trophy,” and an absence of absolutes will shape it for you.

     5. A strong culture installs accountability and urgency as a fixed foundational asset. As you continue to refine and strengthen your five cultural pillars you won’t need tricks or gimmicks to create urgency and enhance accountability; clear core values, performance standards and stronger people will create a rhythm of accountability, urgency and positive peer pressure that continues to beat throughout your culture on an ongoing basis.

Granted, diligently working on the five cultural pillars may not be fancy or as exciting as a new spiff, gimmick or clearance sale, but it’s the key to sustainable and measureable results. Fancy and exciting or not, if you want sustainable and measurable improvements in results you’ll need to embrace the mantra: it’s the culture stupid.