Company Culture—Laws
Studies and Reports Will Not Develop a Company Culture
Studies might actually make things worse. Culture is not a problem. Action is essential.
Developing a culture, or merging cultures, is
not like solving an operational problem, or improving a work process. To begin
with, culture is not a problem. Culture is like a person. People do not see
themselves as a problem, and if they are approached as if they are they will
probably resist.
Like a Person, Culture Is Not a Problem to Be Analyzed
Imagine a person writing a report about you. It describes your physical features, your biological systems, your speech, you're known skills, how you approach work, and perhaps—if the writer interviewed you carefully—something about why you do what you do—your desires, goals, hopes and fears.
But you know that such a report would not really capture who you are—how
you experience life. More particularly it could not predict what you will
do in a situation. Words cannot capture the experience of being you, or much
about why you respond in your special way to situations and people.
It is the same with a company culture. You understand a person or culture through interaction, through dialog, by doing things together. The issue is synthetic, not analytic.
Develop a Culture Through Actions
Developing a company culture is something you do, rather than something you analyze. When it comes to the people side of business, it is our actions, how we do what we do, that makes all the difference.
only
5% of what is important can possibly be captured, in even the best analytic
study or report
Psychologists say that 80% of our communications are non-verbal, and of the
verbal part only 25% is rational. That means that at most, only 5% of what
is important can possibly be captured in even the best analytic study or report.
The reasons we do what we do are largely hidden to us, and even more so, hidden to others. As an employee, I am prepared to work with you to build the trust that will lead to openness and a strong relationship. Then we will each bring enthusiasm, creativity and energy. The process of building that relationship is not a looking-backwards-and-analyzing activity. Relationships require engagement, that responds moment-to-moment to our interactions as we move forward together.
Treat People As Subjects, Not Objects
Engagement will not happen if people are treated like an object—a description in a report, or a survey statistic. It will only happen when people are engaged, valued, and involved, where the workplace is open to what people would like to bring. The challenge is getting rid of the cultural blocks to engagement. You learn about these blocks through action, by starting the culture change process.
Culture Change Is Simple, Difficult, Satisfying
A company culture is its personality. But changing a culture is vastly more difficult than curing a dysfunctional personality, or putting a failed marriage back together. Changing a work culture involves the complexities of people and large groups. It is the most difficult action a manager will ever undertake.
Managers who develop their work
culture admit to the difficulty, but all say it is the most rewarding and
satisfying action they have ever undertaken. Rewarding because the gains are
so significant in operational areas. Satisfying, because the change in the
quality of work life, for themselves and everyone else, is so profound.