If there are two more people in an organization, there is a culture and there is a language. Whether we like it or not, we have a company culture and it develops with ever action we take and word we speak/type. Simple things such as do people bring their lunch or do they consistently eat out? Do people respond to email immediately or do they let emails linger or batch them? Is there a combative feeling that everything should be challenged or is it there one clear direction and the flow is always smooth? Our cultures can be shaped around a number of things, things that we don’t even realize are significant. So if company culture is so elusive and so mysterious and free flowing, how do we create the company culture we want our organizations to have?
1.) Leadership
2.) Moment of Crisis
The first part of the equation is leadership, no surprise here. The formation of company culture is not through words, although verbal and written communication are paramount, but through actions. Encouragement goes a long way to new people struggling with processes, it doesn’t necessarily matter what is said, it’s the action of uplifting them that counts. Do our company cultures exemplify what we want it to embody? Or has t spun out of control on it’s own tangent? If we keep a clean desk we set the expectation for new people to do the same. If we focus on our actions and be concise in what we do, people will take note. And if what we’re doing is admirable, it will get noticed by those unsure of themselves and they’ll begin to do as we do to build that culture: one action at a time.
Leadership sets the pace and everyone looks to that person or people to exemplify what do to in crisis moments or times of uncertainty. In those times when there is not a precedent and the lead must be taken, we have the opportunity to define the company culture with our actions. How would we handle a problem customer, calm and patient or smug and uncaring? What happens when people are in need of our decision making, do we stop and give them our full attention or do we brush them off with delegation? (They came to us to make the call, otherwise they could have handled it) When the company is faced with departures, do we downsize the issue hoping nobody will ask about it or do we attack it head on and show transparency to build trust in our remaining team? How we handle ourselves in moments of crisis define our culture. It gives people around us the opportunity to learn and to have something to strive for.
Culture is about actions, not about words. How would weconduct ourselves if we knew everyone was watching our every move? Act as if they, are and see how our actions change. Define the culture, don’t let it define us.
