Detecting a shift in culture due to rapid growth.

If you keep what you should discard you will lose your relevance.  If you discard what you should keep, you will lose your identity.

As a business leader rapid growth in personnel, specialized skills, clients, revenue and profit is an idyllic situation to be in. However, leading a large team of successful, confident and diverse people with varying skill sets and deep specialization is extraordinarily complex. Managing the growth is a full-time job and if you are not finely tuned to the rich culture evident in Quattro’s early years it would have been impossible to have missed the subtle, yet certain shifts away from its origins. To bring culture back on path firstly takes identifying that it has shifted in a direction you don’t recognize or like and then the courage and vulnerability to ask yourself as leaders “What could we have done better?” Vulnerability is a key component of trust as it allows you to acknowledge that just because you are a leader you don’t know all the answers. Without trust your culture will be toxic.  That’s just how it is!

At Quattro culture was organic. It was a living thing and was naturally spread to employees and they lived the culture.  However, we quickly recognized that when you 10X your staff it is simply not possible to leave culture to itself.  You must cultivate it. Fortunately for Quattro they had very solid ground beneath them with four strong values guiding them from inception: friendship, trust, loyalty and integrity. We needed to go back to basics and unearth Quattro’s identity, articulate it and then communicate it repetitively so that it was again part of everyone’s DNA. This is not an intervention, it’s a process.  Below is the QFG identity statement:

Birthed out of adversity and united by deeply embedded friendships, loyalty and trust this union of talent are proud ambassadors of a noble profession who strive with integrity to safeguard generations of lives. Not many organizations know their identity so they are unaware of what has shaped them, defined them and what they should hold near and dear. This is vital when making decisions about the future.

Repositioning the Group for the Future

Once we have bedded down identity, we spent many hours on redefining the group’s purpose. What difference does Quattro want to make in the world? This was a great launch pad to communicate the vision and positioning strategy for the group. I think one of the biggest concerns of business is that they wake up one day to find all they have ever learned prepares them for a world that no longer exists. This is where QFG has carved out a unique market in the complexity space. Quattro will solve complexity with empathy and understanding. They will use technology as a servant to their vision and purpose to make their client engagements more effective. Quattro know exactly where they are going, and exactly why they are going there which means whatever they do from here on in will be aligned with their future vision. There is little in business that is more powerful than common purpose and through the continuous process of communication and participation Quattro’s purpose will be written on the hearts of all their people.

 My 8-month consultancy journey with the Quattro Finance Group (QFG) has been gratifying, full of purpose, invigorating and happy. To say that I have been a consultant to QFG will give you, the reader the wrong impression.  The group, it’s two directors and staff have embraced me as one of their own. Friendship is not just a value on the Quattro boardroom wall, it really is alive.  I look forward to so much more with this dynamic group next year.