3 Culture Helpers and 3 Culture Wreckers

Lately, I’ve been getting questions about how to improve Company Culture. I don’t know why the sudden influx on this topic but it’s been on my mind a lot and so I thought I’d share with you a few high-level points about what makes a culture great, and what destroys it. And for what it’s worth, I’m also going to throw in my 2 cents on how give yourself a better perspective on America’s polarizing political culture, but if you live outside the U.S., you can apply my 2 cents to own country’s cultural issues.

Culture is one of those amorphous things. You can feel it but you can’t always put words to it.

Culture is a mindset with corresponding behaviors. Mindsets and behaviors can be changed, and in fact, a culture is always being shaped – proactively or unintentionally.

Culture is often the difference between good and great companies. There are exceptions to this of course: companies with icky cultures that do extremely well; companies with “feel-good cultures”(which isn’t necessarily a great culture by the way) that aren’t successful, so I’m not saying that Culture predicts success… just like Strategy doesn’t predict success… but there’s a correlation. You’re most likely to find that a truly great company has a truly great culture.

3 Things That Help To Make A Company Culture Great

1. Safety - physical safety for sure because without that, forget the rest. Also, safety to state your point of view especially when it’s contrary to what everyone else or what the boss is saying.
I worked with 2 companies years ago where anytime there was an offsite meeting, they started the meeting with saying where the emergency exits were and how to proceed in case of emergency. At first, I was kind of like “Do we really need to do this every time? Aren’t people smart enough to read the signs?” But I’ll tell you what, that repeated message, at the beginning of each of those meetings, told people that the company’s leadership cared about them, that Safety really is #1, and it showed in their results. Their safety metrics were top tier in the industry. 


2. Alignment with words and the actions - starting with behaviors that match the company’s core values. This is especially key for anyone in a leadership position because leaders are in the spotlight.  When leaders are seen upholding the company values, or at least consistently striving to uphold the company values, people feel like they can trust, and can be confident in, the leadership of the company.
It’s kind of like in sports. There are rules for how the game is played. When those rules are followed and upheld, you can have a great game. Sometimes players push the rules and try to get away with not following the rules but do the players get away with it too much? If they do, the game is cheapened, not trusted.
At work, people’s behaviors need to match the company’s core values, and while no person or culture is perfect, the important thing is that people – leaders especially – are visibly striving to uphold the core values. Otherwise, the culture gets cheapened, ways of working lose trust, and confidence erodes.

3. Belonging – people feeling like they belong and that their perspective are valued and heard. This is major for employee retention, and for people wanting to go to work and be productive.

3 Things That Wreck A Company Culture

1. Belitting. I worked with a company years ago that was known for their unique, exceptional customer service. But within the company culture, anytime someone made a mistake (even tiny, easily fixable mistakes), there was a lengthy and belittling conversation from management about what went wrong and why. (Let me just say here that I’m all for getting to the root cause of a problem or mistake. I’m really not okay if it’s done in a way that people repeatedly feel belittled). The dynamic made people afraid to raise issues or account for mistakes, which resulted in a lot of hiding and cover-ups, which negatively affected productivity, quality and employee retention.


2. Gossiping. If you are a leader or want to be a leader, You Are Not Allowed To Gossip. Gossip swiftly ruins reputations and it has a far-reaching ripple effect of destroying colleagues’ trust and confidence in one another. It also makes The Gossiper look really bad & untrustworthy.  
Gossip isn’t always like the stereotypical scandalous whispered, “Did you hear….?” Gossip at work is sneaky. It is often couched in a seemingly innocent question like “I’m a little concerned, do you think she knows what she’s doing?” or “I’m worried about him… he doesn’t seem on his game… you know that comment he made in the meeting… do you know what’s going on with him?”  These not-as-innocent-as-they-seem innocent questions plant seeds of doubt about someone when really, if you’re that concerned about someone, go to them discretely, genuinely ask if they’re okay. Maybe even how you can help, but for sure, put on your big person pants and address it directly with them. Be a mature, emotionally intelligent adult.


3. Yelling. OK, so sometimes people yell, and sometimes we need to yell to get a point across - but if the yelling is happening frequently, it becomes noise and it loses its impact. The people getting yelled at stop taking it seriously and stop listening. If yelling is happening frequently, people won’t feel safe to raise issues; they won’t feel safe to present contrarian, innovative ideas that could actually give the business a leading edge. People won’t stay long in an environment where there’s regular yelling. Sure, they might stay a little longer if they love the mission or the brand or if they need the money, but then they’ll leave and work someplace where they can feel respected and be productive. 


So – in short, DO these 3, and be proactive:

1. Make it a safe work environment

2. Align behaviors with the core values

3. Let people know they belong.  

DON’T do these 3, and when you see it happening, intervene and redirect it:

1. Belittling

2. Gossiping

3. Yelling

Alright… I also said at the beginning that I’d talk about navigating our political culture in the U.S. (or whichever cultural challenges your country is dealing with). This is my best advice at the moment:
 Be mindful where you’re getting your information from. As human beings, we like to hear information that validates our point of view, and we tend to dismiss information that opposes our point of view. I highly recommend reconsidering where you’re getting your information from. See graph below.

I recommend getting information from the middle, and if you’re willing to be open-minded enough, watch the news from “the other side” - but only do this if you are going to seek to understand. (Psst… this is likely harder to do that it sounds!)

Also, watch “The Social Dilemma” documentary! Among other things, it illustrates how social media’s algorithms are a major player in how divided we are right now as a country. Those little scrolls through Facebook aren’t helping us navigate this political culture. The algorithms are actually breaking us farther apart, which makes me mad, and sad. I used to love seeing what my long-ago friends were up to but my feed is flooded with posts that reinforce my point of view, and it’s not healthy to have that much reinforcement.

…something to think about.

Are you ready to lead with confidence, clarity and freedom? Contact me today to learn more about how I can help you become the leader you want to be. https://bit.ly/37dogH