I’ve noticed over the years that ‘Culture’ is a term that’s often tossed around and even sometimes trivialized by leaders to the point of being synonymous with casual Fridays and pizza parties.
I’ve always felt deep down that it’s way more than that, but it wasn’t until recently that I’ve been doing deep research into the matter and discovered that there is a strong correlation between organizational culture, stress, and performance.
For further information, see — “The Effect of Employee Competency and Organizational Culture on Employees’ Perceived Stress for Better Workplace”
My Observations…
Everywhere I’ve worked — there is always a fight over culture.
Leaders will tell their employees “You are responsible for the culture, not us. It is created from the bottom up. Organic culture is best.” Employees will in turn say to their leaders “No, it’s your job to prioritize culture and lay the foundation! Lead by example, please.”
And sometimes, specific individuals will take issue with something specific that may not actually represent the organization’s values at large, creating an internal conflict. For example, when I worked at Starbucks during college, I couldn’t afford razors. Yes, I was frequently rocking an overdrafted bank account like many other shoe-string new yorkers who came before and will continue to come after. So, I let my beard grow and put the extra few bucks a month into the “rice and hot sauce” fund (better than borrowing my room-mate’s razor). The people in my store had no problem with the beard, but I had a district manager who despised facial hair—and even held my performance review up until I would “agree to shave.”
Not to say that my situation is special — I’ve also heard stories from colleagues of the muslim faith, for example, where wearing a beard is in fact part of their religious beliefs, and someone (a district manager no less) nit-picking it was not only frustrating, but attacked their very identity (not to mention violates very clear ethical codes and standards to not discriminate based on religion).
Years later, I’ve been very pleased to see Starbucks uphold their own company values and relax their dresscode—prioritizing inclusivity. Died hair, casual clothes, even beards—it’s all good. Don’t get me wrong, there are guidelines, but as long as you have the proper footwear and your garb is compatible with food safety and general safety standards, you can clock in. Yes, you may have to wear the hairnet over your face, but the beard is finally OK and not even a district manager can take it away from you.
Battles over culture are not just between the top and the bottom. They also arise laterally between peers, functional teams, departments, and even the foundation gets called into question — should we have a monoculture that prioritizes conformity to standards, or should we insist on diversity of culture for its own inherent values?
Are we an organization that emphasizes being “on camera” for important virtual meetings? What communications preferences do we facilitate through culture? Do we have a culture of accessibility?
What about adopting a market culture that prioritizes results, versus a clan culture that prioritizes adaptability?
So what?
Simply put: Culture goes beyond pizza parties.
Culture transcends superficial gestures. It’s about cultivating an environment that nurtures specific behaviors and values. And further, it belongs to every stakeholder who is impacted by the business, internally, and externally.
Now what?
Cultivation, not culture.
When you think “culture,” from now on, I want you to think about “cultivation.”
Cultivation is about nurturing the seedlings of behaviors and values that align with an organization’s vision and mission so they grow into the shape and produce the value that we want them to. For instance, when creating or optimizing an operating model, we can emphasize the importance of culture in achieving organizational objectives, not just improving teambuilding and morale. This could be a culture of operational excellence, of being customer-centric, of learning, of inclusivity, etc.
But how do you cultivate a culture? (see what I did there)
Example: Creating a Culture of Innovation
Innovation is a behavior that high performing organizations value—so I’ll use it as an example.
Innovation doesn’t sprout in a vacuum. It requires a fertile ground of encouragement and the right resources. Leaders should ask themselves: Are we creating an environment where innovative ideas are not just welcomed, but actively sought? Are we tolerating risk in our approach to strategic planning and process optimization to foster such an environment? Are employees engaging in innovation and if not, how can we invest in them to do so?
This type of cultivation is about setting clear objectives and aligning leadership, management, and operations towards encouraging innovation.
So yes, it does start with leadership. They set the tone. However…
Cultivating Self-Organizing Teams
The key to a thriving organizational culture is in 1) empowering (and incentivizing) employees to exercise proper cultural behaviors and 2) hiring employees who embody these behaviors already.
Ask yourself, are your team members equipped to be self-organizing? Are the equipped to self-equip? Are they encouraged to problem-solve proactively?
This self-replicating seed for your company culture is best when tied back to an emphasis on values. For example, by creating a culture where analyzing and critiquing and solving process gaps is a welcome behavior (a “see something, say something” culture for example), teams will optimize workflows to empower themselves and the company at large to be more autonomous and solution-oriented.
Go Forth and Cultivate
So, when we talk about culture in the context of an organization, let’s remember that culture is not simply about fun events or karaoke, or even whether or not people in the organization “wear the uniform.” We don’t have a pizza party to feed employees (although that is a nice benefit of it). We have a pizza party to build the team, allow them to make new connections, and encourage collaboration — which leads to (for example) innovation.
So instead, I encourage everyone to shift the focus to be about the deeper, more substantial aspects of what value we are actively cultivating our organization to bend towards.
Are we nurturing a culture that drives innovation, empowers our teams, and embraces inclusivity?
Remember, a strong organizational culture is not just about what we celebrate; it’s about what we cultivate.
