Jump Back
As I look back on my professional career and the companies I have worked for, I can easily see the different cultures and environments I have worked in.
I now see how that landscape framed not only the working environment but also the sense of purpose that work gave me and the personal motivators.
And what I realise is 2 things:
- The purpose and motivators that I needed were different at different times in my career (which is critical for leaders to understand about their workforce); and
- The culture and environment were absolutely set by the tone from the top. In some cases, it was intentional; in others, it was unintended and accidental. But in all cases, the culture and tone were driven by the top. And let’s be very clear – it should not be accidental.
I reflect on this a lot now as I can look at companies through a different lens, as an independent.
The more I research, the more I am surprised by how often discussions on culture, purpose, and the environment leaders want to create are not held at the leadership table. To me, that is baffling – it is not an HR issue; it is not an operational issue, it is 100% a board and a C-suite issue, which should be clearly decided on.
Why?
Because your culture will ultimately define your ways of working, your ability to diversify or not, your reward and recognition policies and structures, and ultimately your attractiveness to talent, be that new or retained.
And hear me when I say – there is no “one size fits all”.
Your culture will depend on your size, your ambition, your sector, your journey to date, your target market – it will depend on many things, but it should be defined and transparent rather than falling into an unintended pattern or type.
From reading about this, I believe that business professors Robert E. Quinn and Kim Cameron came up with the clearest definitions of culture for an organisation. Nearly 40 years ago, they did some foundational research on company culture and came to the conclusion that no culture is as straightforward as being “good” or “bad”, just distinct. They identified 4 types of culture. – clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, and hierarchy culture.
I have experienced all of the above at different times in my career and the personal motivators and purpose/reasons to stay are my interpretation of how a culture can influence the motivations in your team.
- To me, this is why a CULTURE is crucial for a company to consider and overtly define.
- THIS is what ultimately drives the sense of purpose teams feel when they walk through the door.
- This will be the reason they stay, or they don’t.
- And this will dictate the TYPE of teams you will build around you.
So this is a message to leaders and to talent.
Be very mindful of the culture, as this will define the purpose and the atmosphere in your workspace. This will prove to be the stickiness that people will stay for or leave because of.
And a final word – culture can change during a company’s growth journey. I witnessed this personally. And each time it was because of the ultimate leader.
So a culture is not set in stone – it will morph and change – but like all powerful vehicles, it needs to be driven: as if left with no one at the wheel, it will go in unintended directions and can cause huge damage to those in the vehicle and those impacted by the vehicle.
Where is your driver bringing you? And… do you like the destination?
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