In my years of working with clients around culture, I find there are a lot of misconceptions about what culture is and how to define it. This keeps organizations from fully understanding their culture and taking the steps necessary to enhance and better leverage their culture. Following are ’12 Principles of Culture’ that can serve as a helpful foundation for any culture initiative.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
Culture reflects the prevailing mindset and attitudes across the organization and defines the rules by which people work and relate to one another – becoming, in essence, the organization’s silent operating manual.
Culture can’t be mandated or manufactured by leadership. It is something that coalesces over time.
There is no textbook example to follow. The “ideal” culture is one that best suits the organization at that stage of its history or development.
There will always be local variances in culture. However, key elements of the culture will cut across different regions and functions.
DEFINING CULTURE
As present and all-encompassing as the culture may be, leaders don’t always have a firm grasp of their culture, relying heavily on anecdotal data or impressions.
Company values tend to speak to the organization when it is at its best, and don’t always align with life on the ground.
There is a tendency to place simple labels on culture – e.g., mission-driven, innovative, collaborative. Culture is multifaceted, with overlapping and sometimes conflicting traits.
Traditional assessments tend to focus on a relatively narrow set of traits. They can miss some of the more nuanced traits that help shape the employee experience.
LEVERAGING CULTURE
At key tipping points, leaders need the full power of the culture behind them – to rally staff, enable performance, and minimize burnout and turnover.’s silent operating manual.
Culture shouldn’t be viewed in the abstract; but rather, in terms of how it helps or hinders key business objectives.
Some extreme cases will call for culture transformation. For most organizations, the goal should be to make better use of the culture they already have in place, by making timely adjustments to the culture that can further their key business objectives.
Success around the business objectives creates momentum for the culture changes, extending their impact beyond those from traditional culture campaigns.
These market insights from Carpe Diem Global Partners are gathered from the firm’s extensive client work with Board, CEO, CXO, and CHRO leaders in public and private multinational companies. For deeper, custom insights, contact Craig Kamins at ckamins@carpediempartners.com.