Francis Wade | Choose your own corporate culture

Your company has been striving for extraordinary results. But each time, the corporate culture interferes. Should you try for more? Or are you stuck?

As an executive, you have worked in a range of environments. Perhaps you have also seen some toxicity first-hand, and understand how a poor corporate culture ruins performance.

As a result, you may be unsure whether to focus on this aspect of organisational life.

Your mixed feelings are understandable. ‘Culture’ seems to be amorphous and impregnable. Rather than risk the disappointment of yet another failed attempt to change staff, should you give up now? Here is a definition you could find useful: The way we do things around here, as said by Edgar Schein.

You have probably defined corporate culture in this practical manner. To make matters easy, I urge clients to think of repetitive, habitual behaviours which operate without conscious deliberation. They don’t require direction; they just happen on their own.

For example, do meetings start on time? Are late arrivals treated equally, or does it depend on their rank? Do they end in a timely fashion? Why?

When you add up all these automatic habits, big and small, you arrive at the equivalent of a corporate culture.

Micro intervention

In terms of instigating a change, approaches vary. At a macro level, the kinds of practices outlined in a business process management project drive the activities which create value. The methods for improving them are well known.

However, at the micro level, things become murkier. Why? There are few established standards for how folks collaborate in meetings, communicate via email, or interact in everyday conversations.

These pursuits are often left to evolve without guidance.

As such, anecdotes, rumours, and gossip fill the grapevine as people search for ways to engage effectively. The ‘way things are done around here’ develops haphazardly.

Fortunately, you can do something about this chaos.

One of the best levers to use in an intervention is that of recurring conversations. You may have noticed upon changing companies, or living in a different country, that there may be a dramatic shift in the things you talk about each day. Some topics and tones disappear, while others start.

For example, in The Trinidadian Executive in Jamaica study, we found that foreign executives were surprised by the formality of local workplaces.

Most locals don’t notice it, but we tend to elevate or ‘big up’ our leaders with titles like ‘general’, ‘boss lady’, or ‘Sir Francis’.

By contrast, for Trinidadians in our analysis, such honorifics are seen as separators. To them, the introduction of an unwelcome hierarchy flies in the face of a cherished ‘all ah we is one’ ethic.

This simple example is just one of many. Once you can see a full range of such behaviours you gain a real choice. With the right tools, one may work on shifting parts of the “network of conversations”, according to Dr Fernando Flores. Let’s take a look at a critical element present in all companies.

Literacy in new futures

Every organisation looks towards the future. As mentioned in my prior columns, the way individuals perceive tomorrow influences their immediate experience.

This explains why folks are happier on a Friday afternoon, still in the office, than they are on Sunday night, at home.

However, managers aren’t trained to manage the future in discussions with staff. Consequently, many fall into a habitual negativity and fatalism.

Dr Riel Miller, an expert in the emerging field of Futures Literacy, argues that we are more effective when we openly discuss and understand the following features of the future.

1. The future is open to invention: It’s not predetermined by even the most pessimistic among us.

2. It has an immediate effect: Some are energised by their future, others are depressed.

3. Leaders can engage staff in pursuing realistic futures, even as they confront a wide range of possibilities – wanted or unwanted.

Therefore, the way leaders talk about the future matters. For example, leaders often make the mistake of crafting vague vision statements they pretend are energising. Another common error is proclaiming unrealistic goals that no one –not even the managers themselves – believes in.

A better option is to create a long-term vision and a strategy to go with it.

The next logical step is to continually follow Miller’s advice, and therefore use the future to transform the culture of the organisation. Nothing else has its power, especially when fear is running rampant.

In these perilous times of high and unstable tariffs, a culture which is fit for purpose can maintain your company’s connection to its unique vision and strategy.

Over time, you might develop practices which keep momentum going, inspiring all who engage with your company.

Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com