Peter Drucker once famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This often-cited quote from the legendary management consultant explains how an organization’s best plans will fall by the wayside if it is faced with a negative company culture. In other words, ignore the culture and you can kiss success goodbye.
Harmonizing A Positive Organizational Culture With Success
Peter Drucker once famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This often-cited quote from the legendary management consultant explains how an organization’s best plans will fall by the wayside if it is faced with a negative company culture. In other words, ignore the culture and you can kiss success goodbye.
Some of you may remember when companies brought in things like ping-pong tables, beanbags, and Friday happy hours to prove how cool the work culture was at these places. They suggested that not only was the company a great place to work because of its benefits, pay, or purpose, but it was also a FUN (all caps!) place. You can imagine the pitch: “Sure, you have to drive an hour each way into the office, but hey, free lunch! And you can throw darts on your break.”
Then Covid hit. Work offices became home offices. Dust settled on the ping-pong tables. And Friday happy hours turned into everyday occurrences. Company culture took a hit, too, because how do you define a culture when people aren’t around? But maybe culture is defined by the organization and not the people. Is this a chicken and egg thing? Let’s see.
What is Organizational Culture?
Much like how pop culture shifts over time, the definition of organizational culture can change from company to company and from person to person. Basically, though, organizational culture relates to shared beliefs, norms, practices, and values in a company and how they all affect employee/employer attitudes, behavior, and interactions. Sometimes, the work culture is written down (e.g., Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto), but often the corporate culture forms from unwritten rules and group interactions over time. These work culture rules influence everything from how people communicate with each other to decision-making to day-to-day behavior in the workplace. When you hear someone say, “That’s just the way we do things around here,” then you’ve just heard about the company culture.
The philosopher Will Durant once wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do.” For some organizations, work culture is defined by habitual practices that become standard over the years. These things may include how meetings are conducted, how management resolves conflicts, how employees are recognized and rewarded for excellence (or how they’re coached to be better), and how communication is expressed in the company. The consistency and predictability of these norms help everyone in the organization understand expectations and how they can succeed in the company.
Employee attitudes and behavior are other aspects of company culture. In fact, they are probably the most in-your-face examples of organizational culture. By observing how employees interact with one another, how they do their work, and how they respond to challenges, you will immediately see what kind of work culture is underlying the company.
Leadership also plays a role in defining organizational culture. Managers may find themselves laying the groundwork for culture through their behaviors, communication styles, and decisions. Employees will be looking to them to see how to conduct themselves while at work and to understand what the company values most in its culture. For example, if a company values collaboration, then leadership would encourage things like team-based projects, open communication, and inclusive decision-making.
What are Good Examples of Organizational Culture?
Now that we have defined it, let’s look at some samples of organizational culture. But first, let’s review some types of company culture you may find in these companies.
- There is always the old-school hierarchy culture where the CEO makes all the decisions. There’s a chain of command and everyone knows their place in the organization. This type of work culture isn’t particularly popular anymore, especially with younger generations.
- One popular type is the team-first work culture. The goal at these companies is for everyone to work well together, and leadership will often organize team building events or activities.
- The opposite of a hierarchy culture is a horizontal company culture. At these organizations, everyone is on equal footing, whether pitching ideas, making decisions, or taking on multiple roles. This is also sometimes called a start-up culture.
- Another type is the elite corporate culture. At these places, only the top talent in the company’s field is hired so that the organization can stay ahead of its competitors.
Not every company is just one type of work culture. More often, they are a mixture of two or three. But some of the samples of organizational culture have commonalities, such as clear communication, strong benefits, positive feedback and coaching, workplace flexibility, and a fun environment. Like, these six companies, for instance:
- Adobe — Leadership trusts employees to solve problems themselves. The company also offers good benefits and perks.
- REI — This outdoor gear and clothing company mixes elite and team-first work cultures. They want employees who are passionate about outdoor activities.
- Southwest Airlines — If you have ever flown Southwest, you know that this company values fun, humor, and its employees’ well-being. They believe that a positive work culture leads to happy customers.
- Squarespace — There is not a lot of hierarchy culture at this company. It’s more of a horizontal culture where employees contribute to decisions and the company’s direction.
- Warby Parker — This company’s culture is team-first. It sometimes schedules random workers to lunch together so that everyone can know each other.
- Zappos — This is another team-first work culture. Leadership strives to hire people who fit their culture before anything else. The company also clearly communicates its values to its employees.
How do You Improve Organizational Culture?
You may be saying, “My company isn’t like any of these! It never will be.” That’s where we disagree. Any company can have a good work culture. Some just have to put more effort into it than others. And there are good reasons for creating a positive organizational culture.
For one, corporate culture plays a role in employee job satisfaction. Company culture can affect employee engagement, well-being, productivity, retention, and organizational revenue.
Before working on your organizational culture, though, you should evaluate what your current culture is. Survey employees, leadership, and customers/clients to get a sense of what people think about the company values. If there is a disconnect from your stated values, dig into that and find out where that disconnect is. Once you’ve figured out what kind of work culture you want to improve, build on, or establish, here are some ways to create a positive organizational culture.
- Face-to-Face Time
With many companies offering hybrid work environments, finding time for face-to-face communication is often hard. Sure, it’s easy to send a quick email to someone and mark that task off your to-do list. But email isn’t always the best option. Sometimes, things just need to be discussed in person, or over a video call. Organizations that purposely make time for in-person meetings and events find that their employees bond more easily and more quickly. There is less of a chance for miscommunication when you see someone’s face. Since clear communication is a hallmark of good corporate culture, make time for face-to-face interactions. - Walk the Talk
If you want to build a positive work culture, you need to model what that looks like. As the saying goes, it’s not what you say that matters, it’s what you do. Leadership should exemplify the behaviors they want to see in the workplace because employees will be looking to them to see what is and isn’t appropriate. For example, if employees value a team-first culture, carve out time for some fun team building activities, virtually or in person. - Recognition and Celebration
Who doesn’t love to be recognized for their success? A positive work culture is one where people are frequently celebrated for the good things they have done. How you reward and celebrate depends on the type of organizational culture you want to foster, but public, company-wide recognition is usually viewed as a positive among employees. Develop systems for how leadership and co-workers can celebrate their wins. - Request Feedback
Another positive corporate culture trait is openness to feedback. Show employees that their voices matter and that you will act on their requests. When employees feel they have buy-in to a company’s decision-making, they will be more energized to ensure the organization succeeds. The DNA of a horizontal work culture is co-creation. - Address Employee NeedsAs Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” The working environment is constantly shifting, so if you’re not noticing what’s going on, you’re going to miss out on what’s important to your employees, new revenue opportunities, and ways to be more efficient. Workplaces are becoming more diverse, more reliant on technology for communication, and more adaptable to how work gets done. This means employees will look to leadership to provide them with the tools and technology they need to do their jobs. They’ll notice, also, if leadership is building a fair and diverse workforce. If they see that you’re investing in them, they will have a more positive view of company culture.
