 When I was working with an organization and discussing its culture, one of the staff members said, "What is culture anyway?" A few other people nodded their heads indicating that they also needed an explanation. To develop the concept of culture, we listed the words Practices and Values at the top of a chart and then asked the employees for their observations of common workplace behavior and actions. Long-term employees led a discussion of changes in the workplace since they began working at the organization. The newest employees described what they noticed about employee behavior when they first started.
The next step was to review the mission of the organization and evaluate the practices and values to see if the workplace behavior and actions supported the mission. We discussed how to develop a plan that included the positives in the current culture; how to correct behaviors that were no longer in alignment with the mission and values; and how to choose and add new desirable behaviors.
Some of the important elements of a positive culture, in addition to the mission and values, are:
- Employee commitment, empowerment, development, and retention
- Trust and integrity
- Effective leadership, knowledgeable on best practices
- Clear accountability and standards
The final activity was reviewing strategic goals, ensuring strategy and culture were aligned.
Successful leadership teams talk about culture often, building common understanding and taking steps to keep the culture aligned with mission and strategy.
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