What is Company Culture?
Your company culture is your Company’s personality based on a set of assumptions, values, and beliefs. Ultimately, your culture should support your market position, your long-term strategy and your business goals. As your business grows, your strategy adapts, or your position shifts, you may need to review your culture to ensure that it aligns with the new landscape.
Why is Company Culture Important?
Your company culture significantly influences how your employees work, behave, dress, and treat each other. Your staff are fundamental to running your business, so they must have a firm grasp on what you expected of them. Sharing this information during the interview process can go a long way to identifying those who will live up to your expectations and support your vision. Communicating this information clearly and exhaustively is critical to building a healthy company culture and a well-integrated and high-performing team.
A Defined Culture will Help You to:
- build and increase competitive advantage
- attract and keep the people your business needs
- create a sense of belonging
- make people feel good about working with you
- demonstrate expectations
- motivate people to perform better at their jobs.
What Affects Culture?
I hate to break it to you, but you significantly influence your Company’s culture. How you lead and manage your team, your values and behaviours, your Company’s history and who you hire all directly affect the kind of culture that exists or establishes itself within your organisation.
As mentioned above, your business goals should align with your culture, both long and short-term. While setting goals is your domain, the industry within which you work will determine their nature. Industry regulations, competitor behaviour and advances in technology etc., will influence the goals you set. How you respond to these external factors will have a direct effect on your company culture.
The Four Culture Types:
Essentially culture is either people-focused or process-driven or a mix of both. In a people-focused culture, employees value human relationships; this extends to their workmates and clients or customers. A process-driven culture is less about pleasing people and more about getting the job done. Both cultures have their advantages. Depending on your team and your industry, you can switch between these two variants, placing more or less emphasis on one or the other as the market dictates.
The Networked Culture:
A Networked Culture is more people-focused and less process-driven; this is great when your business depends on sharing knowledge, troubleshooting and working together to meet deadlines.
Pros of a Networked Culture:
With relationships firing, employees are comfortable generating ideas over group discussions, and because they value these connections, they are more tolerant of workplace frustrations. A Networked Culture is also great for staff retention!
Cons of a Networked Culture:
The very relationships that bring out the best in a Networked Culture can also be its undoing. Cliques can form and quickly become political; this can be difficult for a new person to join. Promotions or opportunities may be awarded based on friendship, not merit. At the same time, others will prioritise people’s feelings ahead of delivering constructive feedback, allowing poor performance to go unnoticed. It only takes one rotten egg to upset the apple cart in a networked culture and dismantle the culture that you’ve worked hard to create.
The Go-Getting Culture:
A Go-Getting Culture is low-people and high-process. In this culture, employees are there to get the job done; competition between colleagues is the norm. Conversations occur but are often laden with a plan – trying to get ahead of the game. The Go-Getting Culture is perfect in a sales-driven environment where the industry is fast-paced and competitive.
Pros of a Go-Getting Culture:
As a Go-Getting culture is performance-driven, employees will readily look past personal differences, motivated instead by the pursuit of delivering outstanding results and earning the benefits that come with meeting or exceeding the standard. By default, a Go-Getting Culture will flush out the deadwood.
Cons of a Go-Getting Culture:
In a competitive culture, employees are more likely to become blinded by the thrill of the chase and the rewards that result, leading to a dog-eat-dog mentality that does little to foster an inclusive environment. Employees can become guarded and reluctant to share information unless there is something in it for them; this reluctance to share can also negatively impact the creative or troubleshooting process.
The Communal Culture:
A Communal Culture is high-people and high-process, often underpinned by a robust set of shared values. It’s not uncommon for colleagues or employees to be friends or family who are personally invested in each other or financially invested in the Company or both. The team lives and breathes the business, sharing the risk and rewards equally. A Communal Culture is commonplace in small businesses or start-ups. In these environments, it’s crucial to have a cross-functional team willing to roll up their sleeves, work together, and get the job done; this is an inherent trait of the communal approach.
Pros of a Communal Culture:
As the name would suggest, a Communal Culture supports a thriving environment, one where people are supportive of each other and work together to honour the company mission.
Cons of a Communal Culture:
A communal culture requires a strong leader who can focus on people and processes in equal measure or assign someone in charge of each – if not, it can be difficult to sustain long-term. In such a close-knit circle, people can become dependent on each other, making them less likely to seek results or initiate action proactively. In addition, such a tight circle can make it challenging to introduce new team members or instigate change.
The Fragmented Culture:
The fragmented culture is both low-people and low-process and is more a consequence than an actively implemented ideology. A company with a contracting or freelance workforce will most likely have a fragmented culture. In this instance, team members are both skilled and motivated and enjoy the autonomy of working in this environment. A fragmented culture can also develop after a company restructures; this can be a disruptive period, during which the culture will settle, or a new one will emerge.
The Cultural Evolution:
Change is a fact of life, and as such, you will need to adapt your company culture as your environment dictates. What is important is that you are dynamic in your approach. Check in with your team regularly and keep a close eye on market trends. If change is required, act accordingly, remembering to allow sufficient time for the tide to turn and a shift in culture to settle in as the norm.