Establishing culture in the workplace & why it matters?

Culture is what keeps an organization together. When the organization strategy is supported by the right culture then the organization can thrive well even in tough times. There is a deep meaning in the statement 'Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast'. When the right culture is lacking, the organization might still get through but it comes at the cost of employee wellbeing, project delivery and customer experience. Work around organization culture has increasingly been gaining importance as ever more unicorns are coming up and looking at culture as a differentiating factor to attract the best talent. The long established companies are working on reinventing their cultures as they are aware that it is a key factor that differentiates good from the great.

Culture is the way decisions are made and work happens across levels or even by individuals when no one is watching. When culture is not set up in a systematic manner then most of it ends up accidental. Such cultures could get be so toxic or non-constructive that employees and at times even leaders might not feel energized to such a workplace. Infighting, information hoarding, political agendas, dysfunctional teams and high attrition are few of the outcomes of a dysfunctional workplace among others . Identifying a culture that is desired, needs work on - not just knowing where the organization needs to go but charting out how will it get there and as a result the behaviors, values and principles to be upheld . A company can only achieve greatness when its purpose, culture & brand are in sync.

Can any of the below questions be answered by your organization’s mission statement or goals:

When I negotiate the contract, is the price important or the partnership?

Should we discuss the color of this new product for 5 minutes of 30 minutes?

Is the quality of this document good enough or should I keep working?

Is it ok if I go into a meeting without the pre- read or will there be consequences?

Is it ok to be late for a meeting ?

Can I ask for a raise before my annual review or negotiate a salary increase by getting an external offer?

Most probably none because there are no right answers as it depends on what the company upholds, what it does and what it wants to be. Answers to such questions is in the culture. As a saying in the military goes ‘ When you see something below standard and do nothing about it, then you have set up a new standard’. The same holds true for behavior, decisions and actions in an organization.

But before saying it is the most important aspect I wouldn’t put it above the criticality of a good product or good service (depending on type of industry). If you have a great culture but a product which is not great or which nobody wants then the organization fails.

An apt saying by Ben Horowitz on his aspect is "Culture is to a company as nutrition & training are to an aspiring professional athlete. If the athlete is talented enough, he might succeed despite poor nutrition & below average training regimen. If he lacks talent, perfect nutrition & training will not qualify him for the Olympics. But great nutrition & training make every athlete better"

Some of the aspects that are critical when establishing a desired culture are :

1) Walk the Talk- Does the leadership take the values and culture being championed seriously themselves? How do leaders specifically the CEO manage their (his/her) time and what do they prioritize. Leading by example is one of the most critical elements when establishing how things work in an organization. If the leader makes frequent customer visits, and spend time discussing customer complaints it signals the importance of customer centricity. When new product ideas are given attention across levels, it signals the support to innovation and encourages it.

2) Stories or anecdotes - from real life situations and recognition of best practices. When Cisco in early 1990s wanted to ensure every bit of money is spent on business. The CEO at that point realized that just talking about frugality to key senior executives might not be effective as this required a big change for them. He not only decided to stay at a regular Motel for his business travel but also came up with an interesting axiom ‘If you cannot see your car from your hotel room, then you are paying too much’. When his business executives heard that, they understood that business class travel and fancy dinners were out of question. They understood the point of business travel was to meet customer needs not to enjoy perks.

3)Avoid Management Debt - To take a short term management decision with an expensive long term consequence. E.g. Overcompensating a key employee because they get another job offer –things have a way of coming out even though the person would have been sworn into confidentiality. There will be other people from the team over a period of time approaching with similar issues and expectations or plainly disappointed when getting to know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Leading to organization politics, defeating the purpose of salary cycle and meritocracy. (if that’s what the organization wants to uphold)

4) Promotions/Titles- Be careful of who is being elevated or promoted because any title or level in a large organization eventually converges to the least competent person with the title. To clarify, employees in a company with a lower title will naturally benchmark themselves against the least competent person at the next level and demand promotions.

 5) Tell it like it is- If things are not looking good in the organization then it’s imperative to tell it like it is because most of the times people across the hierarchy already know about it. Bad news always travels faster than good news and being transparent helps build trust and encourages transparency by others.

• Trust- required amount of communication is inversely proportional to trust and every time an important thing which should be shared is not shared with the appropriate set of employees at the right time, the trust factor takes a downward dip and vice versa.
• Encourage & not punish people for getting problems in the open- This is a common maxim’ Don’t bring a problem to me without a solution’. But what if a supply chain person sees a flaw in the product. Should the information be buried? Such maxims are aspirational but they could block free flowing information which has its own significance

Create shocking rules-Something which is memorable, has straightforward cultural impact and people must encounter it almost daily. E.g. VMware is an organization, the success of which depended on partnerships came up with a rule –Partnerships should be 49/51 with VMware getting 49.That shocked employees that had the organization asked them to lose. However they had got the understanding of the underlying point that if they are negotiating something on the margin , its ok to give it to their partner and over a period of time they had some of the most stunning & profitable partnerships in their space.

Yoga /Zumba or dogs at work might be perks but it’s not culture. It is generally not something that drives business agenda and helps promote what the business aims to achieve.

In a Columbia University study of more than 1300 executives in major firms ‘92 percent said that improving their culture would increase their company’s value’ yet 'only 16 percent said that their culture is where it should be'.  Glassdoor's survey revealed some important insights such as -

Over half (58 percent) of employees and job seekers say company culture is more important than salary when it comes to job satisfaction.3 in 5 employees and job seekers (64 percent) say company culture is one of the main reasons to stay at a job. 

Employees always remember how working in a company felt and customers remember how they felt dealing with organization. Culture creation has many facets to enumerate however these are a few to look out for, when thinking of establishing a strong desired culture along with purpose & brand.