Culture eats strategy for breakfast, says Northland Inc's Joseph Stuart

Balance and recognising value in each other's contributions requires compromise and an ability to listen. Photo / 123RF

Culture eats strategy for breakfast is a famous saying from the management guru, Peter Drucker. It conveys an important message on approach and how people work together to achieve outcomes. It suggests that the "why" you're doing things is more important than the "how".

As we move forward to strengthen the regional economy, taking this saying at face value implies that our people, and the spirit in which we work together, are more important than the plans we're implementing.

Working well with others, regardless of focus, requires strong collaboration and a partnership approach. It is very difficult to do everything yourself and be successful – we all need to work together to collaboratively create and deliver the best options for creating communities and relationships that we are proud to be a part of.

Partnerships aren't easy, though, and require balance and a common vision to progress successfully.

Peter Drucker, management guru 1909-2005. Photo / File

Partnership arrangements do not have to be between external parties and be a formal contract. Your relationship with your better half, the relationship with your employer, the relationships with those that you share hobbies with, all require balance and a common view to support a healthy engaging activity that will flourish to grow and develop over time.

It is easy to suggest that we all have a social contract with our community to contribute and we're all in partnership to make it stronger. But what does stronger mean, and are we all working together to build the same thing?

Developing a common vision is important to ensure that the direction of travel is going to support the aims of the collaboration. This co-operation to support achievement of mutual benefit, or collaborating to win, should be a key mantra that we all need to be actioning to support a better place for us to work and play in Tai Tokerau.

Do we have a vision that will provide the aspiration and inspiration for our community to pitch in, and for others to want to join us in creating a place we all love to be? And what happens when there is more than one view?

Working well with others, regardless of focus, requires strong collaboration and a partnership approach. Photo / 123RF

Balance and recognising value in each other's contributions requires compromise and an ability to listen. Really listen. We may have agreed what winning looks like but the challenge is always in how this gets actioned and delivered.

Perhaps this is why there are so many strategies created but very little resulting delivery – the culture of collaboration is missing and, therefore, it's too hard and nobody agrees on how the strategy will be delivered.

Getting agreements in place before starting anything is absolutely essential. There's another old saying, about doing business only with those you like and trust. It's simple but effective, it keeps a positive lens on things and requires that all parties to the relationship understand and trust that the direction of travel is appropriate for the activity of focus. It ensures that culture is front and centre.

Joseph Stuart. Photo / Supplied

In my work, I see a lot of partnerships and opportunity lost because conversations are not had early about why people are working together and what success looks like. The focus needs to be on how people and groups work together and what's being given to support this; not what the KPI is and how much we can take for personal benefit.

Culture and how we work together determines success. When you look around, how many partnerships are you in and how many of those are flourishing? How can your influence support a culture of inclusivity and mutual progression?

Northland Inc and our key stakeholders are keenly interested in developing a culture of success for our region, providing opportunities in 2020 for our communities to share their views in support of a collective vision for Northland's future.

• Joseph Stuart is general manager, business innovation and growth at Northland Inc, the regional economic development agency.