Culture is Not Just About Opera or Yogurt
I was just participating in an online discussion about “openness” and how to create it in organizations. Those of us who have survived corporate culture changes know that the culture of a company is its pallet of values with which it operates in the world. Cultural change may be as basic as a new CEO, or as significant as a multi-billion dollar acquisition like InBev’s purchase of Anheuser Busch, which mandated a monumental shift from a Midwestern to an International culture. The original question in the discussion was how to create a climate of openness where one doesn’t exist. We have to begin several significant steps back. Openness is but one aspect of a broad cultural universe.
Much has been written and studied about the difficulty in changing a culture (from what to what?) and the importance of leadership from the top. In my opinion and experience, it is a sine qua non that the owner, president, or top local management must embrace in a most profound and comprehensive way any change in a company that alters expectations about behavior for the change to gain any traction and permanence.
To create openness, this really first means creating and maintaining a climate of honesty and an absence of a cult of punishment. How many times have we seen companies solicit employee feedback, only to ignore it or even worse, find a way to passive-aggressively punish employees who bring to managements’ attention problems that they really want to pretend don’t exist or are unwilling to actively address?
For openness to thrive, people need to feel safe emotionally and secure in job retention to offer ideas and question decisions. Think about it–if an employee sheds light on an existing policy that is counterproductive, for example, why hasn’t management seen that or if aware, done something to fix it? Managers must be secure enough and open enough to accept that they don’t always know the best answer, or are not close enough to some operations or customers to possess the awareness necessary to sense and understand that a problem exists.
One needs to build an underlying environment of honesty, trustworthiness, safety and willingness to learn and grow to provide for a successful atmosphere of “openness.” If management doesn’t comprehend how those values positively impact productivity and customer satisfaction and buy in to that culture, openness is merely window dressing. Effective and secure managers understand this and value their subordinates’ input.
So what does a brief lesson in corporate culture mean in terms of career dynamics? Understanding the corporate culture in which you work can hardly be over-emphasized. One of my favorite former bosses once told me a story about a hapless manager who typically wore short-sleeved dress shirts to work. During a particularly broiling summer, the home office put out a memo stating that because of the extreme weather, it was now OK for men to wear short-sleeved dress shirts rather than long-sleeved. The manager lamented, “Now I know why my career has gone nowhere!” He was unaware that he was not following the unwritten dress code. A seemingly minor indiscretion with a major impact on how he was viewed.
If one is in transition and searching for a position, it is important to understand what kind of culture surrounds the company one is targeting or to which one is applying. What kind of energy is displayed by the interviewers? How do they reveal key values they hold that influence almost everything that happens in that organization? Look for clues and listen to what they say.
For example, are there hints in the position advertisement that indicate the type on individual they seek? Does the ad describe a “fast-paced environment,” or seek someone who can “think on their feet?” Someone wrote these words with intention, although we can’t always be certain that they apply they way we think they might. But they are valid clues. Here are some more…
- Is there a reserved parking space (or several) with a sign for officers’ cars?
- Is the lobby welcoming or uncomfortable and sparsely decorated?
- Are people in the office smiling and cheerful or appear tense?
- What does it feel like in there? (Trust your feelings to be on target most of the time)
- Are there awards posted or other indicators that employees are valued?
- Are the interviewers well-prepared to ask you about what you can do to help them succeed, or do they prefer to talk about themselves or the company?
- Do they answer your questions directly and pleasantly?
These are just a few more obvious indicators of what the culture or environment is like. Although in these tough times many of us might be inclined to accept any reasonable position we feel we can fulfill just to get a paycheck again, at least make an effort to evaluate what you are getting into and adjust your expectations. If you understand what you are in for, then you can make a choice to accept those conditions and work within the culture (maybe helping to shape it in the process) or hold out if you can for what may be a much better match.
