Everyone talks about "organisational culture." But do they really know what it means?
"Culture" is an important part of organisational dynamics, and it's probably growing in importance. But it's cursed by two opposing vectors. First, the word is being used too often. And second - and this is no surprise - it's being used by people who don't understand its meaning.
This HBR article captures the problem neatly. In part, this is to be expected. In the search for something to differentiate themselves (whether that be to a potential hire, a client or someone else) companies have fallen upon their "culture" as something unique about them and celebrated it as a differentiating factor. And probably it is, objectively, so. Every company (same as every rugby team, every book club and every bikie gang) has its own culture. But I often hear things like: "It's our culture that makes us so different" or "Culture is very important to us here at Acme Corporation." Those statements are easy to make. But they beg, yet fail to answer, questions like these: What is the definition of "culture"? And "Please describe for me the culture in existence now at Acme Corporation."
I regularly find that senior leaders and human resources people can't answer these questions.
To be fair, culture is a woolly, obscure and difficult topic. Lots of very different definitions can be found. Here are a couple of the more helpful ones:
From gothamCulture: "Organizational culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization."
Richard Perrin: “Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organization.”
But the simplest and most powerful definition of culture is this one: "It's the way we do things around here."
An organisation's culture is everything you see, hear and do in an organisation. Everything. What people wear. How the office is decorated. How the organisation is structured. Working hours. Typical behaviours around meetings, email, phone calls, use of Slack or WhatsApp. The "hero" stories that embed themselves in the company's narrative. How often the managers yell at their people. The kinds of celebrations that go on. The list is endless.
The people who use the word "culture" a lot are correct in thinking that it's a critical factor for an organisation's success. It's an internal resource that is difficult for competitors to imitate and, if it's effective, it can help you to retain high quality talent and to create genuine distinctiveness that your clients will value. To improve its usefulness, we need better articulation around the meaning of "culture." Everyone who uses the word also needs a clearer understanding of exactly what your company's culture is and how it is (or is not) helping you.
Comments