Culture can be a confusing concept to many, because much of what makes a culture comes from unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns.
Culture can be defined as the personal values, drives, and needs, that are accepted or rejected amongst a group of people. Company culture intern sets the context for everything a business should or shouldn’t do.
Ultimately, because a culture will form whether your company focuses on it or not. Building a strong company culture will also take hard work but companies that don’t focus on culture almost always have weak company culture. Weak company culture can cause a string of problems down the line for any company.
Strong culture:
A strong company culture can help achieve change and build organizations that will thrive in even the most trying times. A strong company culture is one that focuses a team’s effort toward a shared purpose or goal. A strong company culture is a sustainable competitive advantage left to companies of any size.
Weak culture:
An ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong culture can negatively impact the bottom line.
HBR did a great job identifying eight culture style commonalities that apply to all organizational cultures.
Care
Focuses on relationships and mutual trust.
Purpose
Exemplified by idealism and altruism.
Learn
Characterized by exploration, expansiveness, and creativity.
Enjoy
Expressed through fun and excitement.
Results
Characterized by achievement and winning.
Authority
Defined by strength, decisiveness, and boldness.
Safety
Defined by planning, caution, and preparedness.
Order
Focused on respect, structure, and shared norms.
Can culture be created? Yes, company culture will form whether you want it to or not. This could be for good or for bad. The bigger question is can a strong company culture be created? That answer is, No. Strong company culture, like a strong relationship, cannot be created. It must be grown and fostered over time.
A strong culture is only built when the people in the company care enough to build it. Successful companies live their cultures and go out of their way to communicate their cultural norms to the world. Like Tony Hsieh says, Don’t focus on brand, brand is just a lagging indicator of culture. Focus on culture. Culture is the advantage.
