The Ideal Versus the Real: Closing the Gap in Your Culture’s Divide

I absolutely love the Big Mac. Just thinking about it makes me want to hop in the car and head to the nearest McDonald’s. “Big Mac extra value meal with a large fry, please.”

But here’s why I won’t. The way I’d feel as a guest in McDonald’s is worse than my stomachache after absolutely devouring the delicious two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun along with best fries on the planet.

Ok. Maybe this is a generational thing; I am getting old, and I’m not particularly interested in going through the drive-through. I prefer to sit down and eat my meal while it’s still hot, not arrive back at the office with food stains all over my clothes. Have you ever tried to eat a Big Mac while driving? Not pretty.

I’m getting off track. Sorry. Back to my frustration with McDonald’s identity crisis.

Have you walked into a McDonald’s lately? If not, do so and see if your experience is different than mine. Here’s my experience. I walk in and approach the counter. No one’s there. I peer toward the kitchen to see if anybody’s making a move toward the cash register. Nope. No movement. I keep looking, wondering if I’m being filmed as part of some social experiment. Still nothing. Oh, wait. They see me now. We exchange stares. Still no movement.

Another guest walks in behind me. “Is there anyone taking orders?” he asks.

“I don’t think so,” I say. “They see me, but nobody seems to care.”

“Do you think we’re supposed to order here?” he says, gesturing to a group of kiosks behind us.

“Ah yes, we probably are,” I say, feeling a bit confused. After all, several McDonald’s team members are right there! I can see them. They can see me.

So, off to the kiosk I go. A few minutes later, after fumbling through the digital menu a couple times, I’ve placed my order: Big Mac, large fries, regular Coke. I’m all set. I’m also #628.

Yep. #628. Ok. So, I’ll just wait here and wait for my number to be called. #628.

But wait. I don’t hear any numbers being called. I must have screwed something up. I double check my receipt. Nope. Looks good: #628. That’s when my keen powers of pattern analysis kick in. I see it. The movement of a McDonald’s team member, concealed by a stack of shelves on the counter, is placing to-go bags on the shelves. “Pay attention,” I think. “This must be a clue.” And it is! “That’s it! The shelves! Just watch the shelves!”

Man, that was close. As if my stare-down with the team members and subsequent struggle with the kiosk weren’t enough to make me feel stupid, almost missing the fact that I’m supposed to watch for my numbered receipt stuck to a bag of food just about did me in.

This is a true story, by the way. Absolutely true. It really happened. Honestly, it’s happened more than once. But it hasn’t happened recently. Anymore, I just go somewhere else.

Ok. By now, you’re probably thinking this is a blog about McDonald’s abandonment of customer engagement. It’s not. I promise. This is a blog about organizational identity and alignment. A blog about establishing the environment and culture you intend and not allowing distinctly different environments and cultures to evolve.

Here’s the thing. I think McDonald’s really wants to be the type of place depicted in its commercials. You know, the type of place where you’re greeted by a smiling team member when you walk in. “Oh, man! What a smile! This person is really happy to see me, and they really want to take my order!” You know, the type of place where friends gather to laugh and enjoy a quick meal together.

But in my recent experience, that’s just not the case. There aren’t any happy, smiling team members greeting me when I walk in. No friends gathering to laugh and have a great time. Blah. The chasm between what I think McDonald’s wants to be and what McDonald’s has become is wide. Blah.

So, what about your team? Have you built and created the environment you intended for others to experience, or have you simply allowed another environment to evolve? What words would people use after they experience your team environment? Let me ask it a different way: Are you experiencing a crisis of the ideal versus the real?

The ideal environment is the one you imagined when you took off on your leadership journey. It’s the one that was so important to you. The real environment is the one you’ve got. If the ideal and the real are two very different things, you likely have a problem on your hands.

I work with several teams and spend a lot of time assessing team culture. One team I’m close with has its values and mottos emblazoned on giant banners hanging in the team’s space. These banners are important; they clearly express what’s important to the leader. These words and mottos express the type of culture and environment the leader intends to build. Sadly, however, only a couple of the team members could tell me what was on those banners when I asked. One even told me that they didn’t even realize there were banners on the wall. Not surprisingly, the real team culture is the opposite of the (idealized) words on the wall.

No giant banner will fix the problem. Nope. Only the hard work of an engaged leader can do that. Like they say, actions speak louder than words.

Big Mac, anyone?