Ducks In A Row: Introduction To Company Culture
by Miki Saxon
Any organization with more than one person has a culture.
Ask Google “what is corporate culture” and in less than half a second you’ll have 12,400,000 responses. Read a few and in less than half an hour and you’ll end up with conflicting information and a headache.
As with every other person, pundit or not, I have a definition to offer and some insights, but, hopefully, no headache.
Let’s start with the definition, culture is a group’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™).
Notice I said ‘group’; culture isn’t limited to the company, it exists at every level as either an active or passive product of that particular manager.
Think of it like multiple sets of nested dolls, each department makes up a nest of dolls from VP though team leader, all fitting into the biggest doll that is the overarching culture of the company.
Ideally, the overall culture sets the guidelines for the subcultures—but that ideal only happens by design.
It’s important never to lose sight of the fact that managers, no matter the level, will interpret the company’s culture through their own MAP—and modify it accordingly. That’s why cultural synergy is so critical when hiring.
Culture is, or should be, important to you, since you’re probably responsible for creating one of those dolls. For that reason, I thought we’d spend the next few Ducks In A Row learning
- how to create a culture in both friendly and hostile circumstances;
- the what, why and how of IBBs (infrastructure building blocks);
- the importance of retaining flexibility so the culture can grow and change with the needs of the organization; and
- the differences, pros and cons of active, passive and benign neglect in cultural propagation.
Along the way I’ll answer any questions you have; feel free to email or call me if they’re too sensitive to post in the comments.
See you next week!
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Image credit: flickr
