The word culture is one that (perhaps) has become overused?
Frankly, I am not convinced ‘most’ employees and/or employers understand what culture mean. In fact, I feel that most employees and/or employers utilise the word to tick a box and treat the word and meaning in binary terms.
What do I mean by this?
I mean that I truly think that employees and employers look at their culture and think it is good or it is bad. I think there are very few environments where both parties are looking at culture as a moving part of their business.
It is my opinion that culture should not be defined as good or bad, because there is always a bigger picture and there will be microscopic areas of all workplace cultures that excel and that lag, you just have to notice them!
Having worked in local government, global corporates, and SME’s, I can confidently say that many organisations simply do not understand their own culture, and I apply this to not just the organisations but the employees too.
We all know that organisations are more successful (in a multitude of ways), when there is a focus on performance and health as a combination but how do you achieve that? What defines a high performing culture? What does it look and feel like?
Well, there is a remarkably simple answer.
You identify what needs to change!
Ultimately, high performing cultures come down to alignment between the employer and the employee. So, if you figure out what is not aligned and what needs changing, you can work towards a shift. Of course, this takes time and the application of dedicated effort but it is merely two small actions that we all have the ability to apply.
Having said that, I do feel that whilst you could assume the ownership of company culture (particularly high performing cultures) is solely down to the Leadership, I fundamentally disagree. To ensure best practices can be achieved, employees not only contribute to the culture around them they are equally responsible to developing and creating it.
Company culture is everyone’s responsibility and a strategic priority that directly impacts the bottom line. It is therefore my believe that there is no big secret to a high performing culture, and that identifying culture as good or bad, is part of any culture problem.
Simply, identify what needs changing and act on it! So if you want a big top tip on how to answer the title of this blog, here it is:
Embrace the change, and approach culture with a toolkit of equal employer and employee input.
