Recently I have been spending some time exploring the issue of organizational culture and looking at it from a range of perspectives. It still astounds me that some C-level executives feel that it is their sole responsibility to "set the culture" of their organization while others leave it to organically grow within the organization.
I would suggest that it is much more like creating a new garden than setting a firm stake in the ground and walking away from it. Executives help lay the foundation but have to leverage their people in order for a culture to define itself and become sustainable for the long term.
Creating an Organization's Culture - laying the foundation with guiding principles
Guiding principles, articulated by a senior leadership team are critical in setting an organization's culture. This is critical during the start-up and early stage years of a growing company. Some may call these "values" but frankly, an organization could have tens of values to live by. Setting guiding principles and rules of engagement may better suit a smaller firm in their early years and create a solid foundation for cultural growth. The catch is that the leaders themselves have to follow the principles they set. They, along with employees, must have mechanisms to be held accountable for adherence to these principles. Just like gardening, creating a nutrient rich environment, clear boundaries and spending some time in thoughtful planning will help ensure a long-term, thriving environment for growth.
Nurturing the Culture's Growth - an organic process
People are the center of your organization's culture and as such, it will organically morph over time. As an organization morphs, or as new departments or groups are formed, the cycle starts over again. Leaders must ensure that the right people are brought into the organization to continue positive growth of the culture. Over time, the guiding principles get worked out and may even change or become more clearly defined. As this begins to happen, employees will begin to help define the culture. Leaders need to watch, but not interfere with this activity. I've seen some organizations embrace this beautifully and even encourage the ongoing growth of the culture, with the guiding principles in mind. At times however, "weeding and pruning" may need to happen, but choose wisely who does this. Weeding allows the organization to fine tune the culture and provide more space for growth. Pruning allows for further shaping of the culture. But gardener beware, too much or too little of either may have disastrous results or unintended consequences.
Merging Two Cultures - the garden expands
If your organization is lucky enough to experience a merger, and most successful ones do at some point, there is a lot of attention required, and more planning and weeding/pruning to do. Bu t the basics remain the same - communication about the guiding principles has to be frequent and often, and it is more important than ever that the dominant culture is strong and well maintained. Again, choose wisely who is leading the cultural merging efforts of the organization. And to continue with the gardening theme, the timing may be key. Your "culture gardeners" need to actively weed and prune, but they must do so with significant care and thoughtfulness. Respected members of both cultures should be tapped to help with this effort. Keep in mind that those people are not always members of the leadership team.
Linking Culture to Performance
Forward-thinking organizations are wrapping their heads around this concept. Once the culture, values and guiding principles are defined, how do you hold everyone accountable? How do you link the culture to individual and organizational performance? I was recently discussing this very topic with and EVP of company in the southwest. They had just spend some time working with employees to figure out this exact issue. Employees drove this effort with great success. They came up with performance evaluation metrics, behavioral indicators and proficiency levels to demonstrate an employee's "buy in" to the culture through observable behaviors. Those behaviors rolled up to team and department goals, which supported the organization's business objectives. Through this bottom up approach, the organization's leadership has been amazed at the results thus far. Although its too early to get the quantitative results, employees are active in the ongoing dialog and seem to have bought into the evaluation process at a whole new level.
In summary, culture is critical to all organizations and your people are at the center of it. While the foundation of successful cultures are seeded by the initial founders and perhaps the leadership team, the employees themselves foster the longevity and fruitfulness of the culture itself.
