Experiencing friction at work? Worried culture is toxic? It’s not a clash of values, it’s a clash of hierarchy of values

Embedding organisational culture can often be a friction full pursuit.

I’ve long since believed that culture will appear toxic to anyone on the outside of it and that culture is rarely about a good / bad issue but more accurately a right fit / wrong fit issue. But, there is one other element of culture that is often over looked and when overlooked can leave people treating the symptom and not the root cause, making assumptions about ones character as opposed to the reality of the situation.

Picture this.?

You’re driving a car with your best friend. You pass a speed camera and see the tell-tale flash that lets you know that you’ve just been captured speeding and in that moment you remember that you only have one point left on your license and this fine will mean that your license is suspended. You turn to your friend and say, ‘I only have one point left on my license and if i get this fine i will lose it. Will you say you were driving and take the points for me?’

What do you do?

This in fact was a real life scenario used to explore the difference in cultures.

There were 4 different possible answers and people were asked to rank them in order of preference.

• Say yes, lie to the police and take the points for your friend.
• Say no, and deal with the awkward conversation with your friend.
• Say yes, and always carry a resentment.
• Say no, and lose a friendship.

What the results showed across cultures was that it wasn’t’ the fact that certain cultures came up with completely different scenarios (e.g. cultural intelligence was less about trying to figure out what the unique elements of a different culture are) and more accurately understanding that it wasn’t the choice that change it was the hierarchy of choices.

Which means that embedding culture is less about a clash of values and more accurately understanding the clash of hierarchy of values.

For example people from Germany and other relatively rigid cultures would put “no” as their first answer to the scenario above whereas people from Arabic cultures would often say “yes” without second thought as they’re often happy to do anything for their friends.?

The key lesson here is to know that embedding culture must involve understanding the hierarchy of values by culture, identifying where they differ within your teams and organisations and learning how to speak to people who’s ranking may be different but their alignment to the core purpose of your organisation is not.

#culture #communication #organisationalculture #toxicworkplace

Mike Gore?is the Co-Founder of?Charitabl.?Australia's first app based giving platform for charities and not-for-profits. Mike is also Co-Founder of?FaceMail?an innovative mail order gift delivery service. Mike has formerly been the CEO of Open Doors and has more than 20 years leadership experience. To book Mike to speak at your event email [email protected].