I see it time and time again. Leaders say they want to grow their business, but it quickly becomes apparent that they really like the idea of growth, especially from a revenue perspective, while their organization and behaviors tell a very different story.
When someone says they want sales growth, what they are actually yearning for is not just more deals. They are yearning for an aligned culture, one that fosters collaboration, shared learning, accountability, and a unified mindset around growth.
Growth doesn’t break down because of a lack of strategy. It breaks down because the organization isn’t aligned to support it.
Ask yourself a few hard questions:
- Can marketing effectively help the business become known if they don’t understand what customers actually need, because feedback from business development isn’t flowing?
- Can business development make the company loved without the right content from marketing?
- Can operations earn trust if they’re only brought in after expectations are already set?
- Can HR retain, find, and hire the right talent if pipelines are inaccurate and don’t reflect real current or future workload?
- Can finance and accounting forecast, budget, and model cash flow if sales leadership doesn’t demand accurate CRM data and pipeline discipline?
These aren’t process problems. These are cultural problems.
What truly has to happen to achieve sustainable business growth is a realignment of expectations across every function of the organization. Growth is a team sport. When departments operate in silos, growth slows.
This is exactly what Peter Drucker meant when he said, “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” You can build the best structure, process, and strategy in the world, but if there is no internal alignment, no shared buy-in, and no reinforcement of growth behaviors, the strategy will never take hold.
The essence of growth is not found in a slide deck or a CRM configuration. It is found in how well people are aligned to one another and how well the organization’s values support the results it claims to want.
Culture is the business.
Culture change is not an overnight shift. It requires a dogged pursuit of clarity, consistent process execution, and reinforcement of the behaviors that drive growth.
It takes relentless leadership, constant coaching, and intentional recruiting, all anchored to a clear and steady growth vision and business development battle cry.
So ask yourself honestly:
Everyone says they want to grow. What would your culture say?