Ducks in a Row: is Culture What or Why?
by Miki Saxon
Discussion on company culture usually center on what a company does with regards to its people focusing primarily on perks and attitudes.
There’s recognition that in addition to the corporate culture there are dozens of subcultures, since every manager, no matter what level, shapes/tweaks the culture for her subordinates.
If managers want to hire successfully they need to understand that culture is a direct result of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and no two people’s MAP is identical.
Simply put, culture is the ‘what’, while MAP is the ‘why’.
It’s relatively easy to know the ‘whats’ of your culture.
Understanding the ‘why’ takes more effort.
But if you don’t understand your MAP, the ‘why’ of your and your company’s actions, there is every chance that you’ll have great difficulty implementing the kind of culture that’s attracts and retains great talent.
That’s because the ‘what’ needs to be, at the very least, synergistic with the ‘why’, whether it’s your MAP or the candidates, otherwise performance and creativity will suffer.
Knowing your MAP is like knowing what size clothes you wear—it keeps you from hiring people who would have little chance to succeed in the environment you provide.
Flickr image credit: lennox_mcdough
