Blog 31 - The Intersection of Strategy, Culture and Process in B2B and B2G Growth - How Winners Grow
The blog this week is from Jeremy
The Intersection of Strategy, Culture and Process in B2B and B2G Growth - How Winner Grow
There’s a famous saying in business: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But does it really? My recent journey working with organisations of all shapes and sizes—from 50-person consultancies to 3,000-strong contractors—has shown me that the truth is more nuanced. Growth in B2B and B2G organisations doesn’t hinge on culture alone, nor strategy alone, nor process alone. It thrives at the intersection of all three.
Lessons from the Field
Over the past few months, I’ve seen striking contrasts in how organisations approach growth:
High-agency culture, no strategy - One business I know operates without a formal strategy but thrives on entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone understands their role in winning work, empowered by clear guardrails. It’s agile, energetic, and locally effective—but without a long-term vision, it risks plateauing.
Strategy without culture - Other organisations have carefully crafted strategies, often backed by market data, but lack the cultural spark. Without vision and emotional engagement, strategy becomes a sterile exercise, disconnected from the people who must deliver it.
Process without culture or strategy - I’ve also seen businesses with robust processes and clear roles, cascading responsibilities from the bottom up. Yet, without culture or strategy, these processes become mechanical. People know what to do, but not why it matters or where it leads.
Each of these models has strengths, but none alone is enough to elevate beyond mediocre. The high-performing organisations—the ones that consistently win work and grow sustainably—are those that integrate all three.
The Three Legs of the Stool
Think of growth as a three-legged stool. Remove one leg, and the stool collapses. The legs are:
1. Vision and Strategy - Successful organisations start with a clear vision of what they want to look and feel like in five years. That vision is supported by a strategy grounded in market research, pipeline data, and realistic forecasts—not finger-in-the-air guesses. Strategy provides the roadmap, ensuring the vision is achievable.
2. High-Agency Culture - Culture is the energy source. In high-performing businesses, people are empowered to act, fail fast, seek feedback, and relentlessly create value for clients. Emotional intelligence and empathy are as important as entrepreneurial drive. Culture ensures the strategy isn’t just written—it’s lived.
3. Robust Processes and Roles - Finally, process provides the scaffolding. Clear roles and responsibilities cascade from the boardroom to the front line. Objectives align across levels, so every individual’s goals contribute to the collective vision. Progress is measured, rewarded, and reinforced. Process ensures consistency and accountability.
Why Integration Matters
When vision, culture, and process align, organisations achieve more than the sum of their parts:
• Strategy sets direction.
• Culture fuels momentum.
• Process ensures delivery.
Together, they create resilience, adaptability, and sustained growth. Bonuses, recognition, and performance metrics tie individual contributions back to the bigger picture, reinforcing alignment across the organisation.
Final Thought
So, does culture eat strategy for breakfast? To a point, yes. But culture alone won’t carry you far without strategy backed with market research and process baked into the DNA. Growth in B2B and B2G organisations requires all three legs of the stool: a clear vision and strategy, a high-agency culture, and robust processes. Get them working together, and you’ll have a business that not only performs, but thrives.
Other Resources
We’re on a mission to help companies like yours win more work.
Here are some other free resources that should help you too. Feel also free to share them with friends and colleagues:
Bid Writing Training - Learn to write winning tenders here.
Free Bid Writing Basics Training Video - Watch the video here.
Writing Crown Commercial Services Bids - Learn to tackle the challenges of writing CCS tenders here.
The Bid Toolkit - We make winning simple.
Our free work winning Podcast, the Red Review, can be found here.
You can also follow Jeremy on LinkedIn for hints, tips and insights here.
100% Typo Guarantee—Our blog posts are free-range. It was hand-crafted with love and sent out unfiltered. There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-post revisions. Therefore, I can pretty much guarantee that there is some sort of typo or grammatical error or literary snafu. Got a business to run and a four year old to Dad. Sorry.