“What is culture? What does it mean to you?” This is the question I often pose at the beginning of workshops and speeches. It’s a crucial starting point because culture, increasingly, is recognized as the cornerstone of success for any team or organization. While “culture” might have once been vaguely synonymous with “teamwork” in the pre-2010 era, where managers simply dictated tasks, the modern workplace demands a more nuanced understanding. Employees today seek respectful environments where they feel empowered to contribute their best.
Recent data underscores this shift in perspective. A study revealed that nearly 70% of senior leaders now prioritize culture, a significant jump from just over 50% in 2013. This heightened awareness is a positive step, but its impact hinges on several critical factors:
a) A clear and comprehensive understanding of what culture truly entails.
b) A genuine commitment to invest the necessary time, resources, and finances into cultivating it.
c) A willingness from leadership to actively embody and model the desired cultural behaviors.
The Gap Between Prioritizing and Truly Understanding Culture
While the prioritization of culture is encouraging, a deep understanding of its complexities often remains elusive, even among senior leaders and HR professionals. Many organizations initiate culture change initiatives with enthusiasm, yet often fall back on superficial approaches. A common pitfall is relying on engagement surveys to generate lengthy lists of action items, often delegated to senior leaders who are removed from the day-to-day realities of the workforce. These well-intentioned but disconnected actions often lose momentum, inadvertently signaling to employees that their feedback was not genuinely valued.
Another frequent scenario involves organizations launching ambitious culture initiatives at the start of a new year, filled with promises of investment in learning and development, and buzzwords like “growth,” “evolution,” and “transformation.” However, all too often, budgets for these crucial culture-building initiatives are the first to be cut, or worse, were never truly allocated in the first place. This sends a clear message to employees: culture is not a genuine priority, and leadership is resorting to wishful thinking and hoping for the best.
This lack of genuine commitment and understanding has tangible consequences. High-potential employees, those who value a positive and supportive work environment, are likely to seek out employers who demonstrably prioritize culture, where they are recognized and rewarded for their positive behaviors and attitudes, rather than their compliance with outdated processes or tolerance of poor leadership conduct.
Defining Culture: More Than Just a Buzzword
So, returning to the initial question: What Does Culture Mean to you? Is it:
- “The way we do things around here?”
- “Putting values into action?”
- “The behaviors observed when leaders aren’t present?”
- “The behaviors consistently demonstrated by leaders?”
The truth is, culture encompasses all of these aspects and much more. This multifaceted nature, this resistance to being neatly categorized, is often why leaders struggle to address its root causes effectively. They often revert to familiar but ineffective strategies: large-scale transformation programs, expensive consultants, or endless data analysis – none of which have proven to guarantee lasting cultural change.
Empowering Employees: The Key to Culture Evolution
The most effective approach lies in educating employees, equipping them to actively participate in evolving their own culture. While initial guidance and ongoing support may be necessary, fostering internal capability around culture building is crucial to avoid organizations becoming trapped in a cycle of ineffective “culture initiatives.”
My work with organizations globally focuses on creating experiences that empower managers not only to grasp the definition of culture but also to learn practical strategies for building and nurturing it over time. One organization, for example, witnessed a remarkable 30% surge in employee engagement within just three months. This wasn’t due to top-down mandates, but because employees gained a deeper understanding of culture and, crucially, felt empowered to take ownership and drive positive change.
In writing Culture Fix (available here), my aim was to provide leaders and managers with the essential knowledge required to cultivate a thriving environment. Without this foundational understanding, organizations are prone to implementing culture initiatives that fail to produce meaningful and sustainable change.
To further assist organizations in understanding their current cultural landscape and identifying the necessary steps to bridge any gaps, I offer complimentary 40-minute calls (book one here).
Conclusion: Culture as a Shared Responsibility and Priority
Ultimately, meaningful cultural change is contingent upon senior leaders not only seeking to understand what culture signifies for their organization but also demonstrating a steadfast commitment to building it in a way that empowers employees and maximizes their potential for success. Only then can culture truly be recognized as a top priority, where every member of the organization takes pride and ownership in maintaining and nurturing it.
