Company culture is a big deal. And with good reason too.
Culture has a huge impact on a company’s success, because it is an extremely strong factor in what people do, how they do it, and how they react to things like change, challenges and conflict.
You probably heard bold statements like “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.
Which is a little bit… you know, even with the most awesome culture ever, you are still going to need a plan and some discipline.
But the point is that among experts there is a generally shared understanding that culture is important in organisations. It is also acknowledged that “bad” (or even “toxic”) culture is the fastest way to utter ruin for organisations.
So to solve all your problems, you should just have “good” culture right?
Ok. But what does that look like?!
Before we get to that, we should probably get this one out of the way:
What is culture actually?
There is a useful definition of culture that goes like this:
“Culture is a set of shared meaning held by a group of people that has been jointly developed over time.”
This means that culture will come to be completely without management interference. Gather people together in a group, and they will develop a shared understanding of what is acceptable and unacceptable in the group.
Good news? You already have a culture!
Bad news? You already have a culture…
Why is it even important?
You could argue that if you have a solid strategy for your product, and a plan for how to get there, what does it matter what culture there is?
The thing is that while plans and strategy determine what and when, culture has a lot to say when it comes to how.
Specifically, culture determines
- How people treat each other
- What expectations people have of each other
- How people go about doing their jobs
- How business is conducted
- How decisions are taken in the face of dilemmas
This means all the small everyday actions you can’t micro manage even if you try.
(Pro tip: don’t try. It’s the worst.)
Ok, but what is “good company culture” then?
Yeah, the point is: it depends.
CompanyA might be in a market with loads of players and fierce competition. They are continuously launching new products.
CompanyB might be in deep tech development on a market with extremely low tolerance for errors in launches.
“Good” culture is not the same in those two companies. In fact, what would be great in one company would be a disaster in another.
But for both of those companies, it is absolutely crucial to be clear on what the desired culture is and do everything you possibly can to nurture and confirm it with your team.
Incidentally, I can help you with that. Reach out for more info or follow me on LinkedIn for more 🙂
Comments are closed