News Message / Event
1 Conscious culture creation
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Henley Business School South Africa 2015-06-17
One of the simplest ways to define corporate culture is “The way things get done around here”. As such corporate culture refers to the organization's values, beliefs, and behaviours that are manifested on a day to day basis. A mistake often made by organisations is to believe that the corporate culture can be equated to the operationalised statements of culture - such as when executives come back from their annual retreat with the new values for the company. Sticking a set of values on the wall does not create a culture. The only corporate culture that is truly relevant are the manifestations of culture that can be observed in the behaviours of individuals within the organisation. An important question would be: 'Where does corporate culture come from?' Even though it is true that culture is driven by the sets of assumptions and beliefs of people;  it is their behaviours that will create the true culture. To illustrate this point, a couple of examples. Example 1: The assumption about Company A is that it has a 'high performance' culture. However, observable behaviour shows low energy levels and poor individual performance. As a result the 'real' culture of Company A is 'low performance'. Example 2: The belief of senior management in Company B is that the culture of the organization is 'innovative'.  However people are not encouraged to take risks but have to adhere to restrictive policies & procedures. As a result the 'real' culture of Company B is 'conservative'. The same principle applies to descriptors of cultures as 'dynamic', 'quality driven', 'flexible', 'customer centric' and 'people oriented'. From the above it becomes clear that corporate culture can be an asset or a liability - depending on the actual behaviours of people within the organisation. Research shows that organisations with strong positive and aligned cultures achieve better results because employees sustainably behave and focus on both 'what to do' and 'how to do it'. Well entrenched behaviours consistent with the mission and required market direction of the organization will be an asset; whilst well entrenched contradictory behaviours will be a liability. An awareness that organization culture impacts on the bottom line implies that it must be consciously managed to preserve appropriate business values and sustainable success. The emphasis on 'well entrenched' is critical. Many organizations truly do not have well entrenched sets of behaviours - and therefore do not have established and defined corporate cultures. Not having a defined or clear corporate culture could be a blessing in disguise as it provides the organization with a window of opportunity to consciously create the required culture. How do we consciously create culture within an organization? The first step in the process is an understanding that culture is the result of clear leadership; a focused values orientation; and the alignment of the entire organization in a specified direction. There is no right or wrong culture - only a culture that is relevant in terms of your mission, vision and key strategic objectives. To know what to change we must understand what the current culture is and what that culture consists of. Defining and describing the true culture reflected in peoples behaviours will assist in making an informed decision about 'where we are' and 'where we want to go'. Corporate culture can therefore be described as 'results focussed', 'people centric', 'task focussed', 'authoritarian', 'paternalistic', 'laissez-faire', etc. Again, these are not necessarily value judgements but rather dependent on the needs of the organisation. Once we understand what culture we have and what culture we want, we can start to directly address the various elements that make up culture - such as structures, use of power, symbols, use of language, stories, myths, rituals, habits, dress code, team work, approach to problem solving, approach to meetings, physical layout (e.g. open plan), and even style of furniture! All of the above manifestations of culture will impact on the 'real' culture of an organisation and often requires conscious effort to change. Behaviours, activities and environment related to the above must be identified as it relates to the required culture in order for culture to shift. To create a new culture for the organisation establish new habits; new rituals; tell inspiring stories about success and failures; change the look and feel of the environment. In short - speak to people's passion and emotion. When they start to feel the culture in their 'bones' they will develop intense loyalty and a sense of cohesive belonging. Then you will have a culture that sticks!
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