How slippery is culture for you?
The culture of Organizations, the Corporate culture, gets more and more attention. And the topic can be pretty annoying. It is in that area where things are hard to grasp, hard to measure or put a number on. There is no such thing as “Our culture has grown by 60%”.
We like things to have prices, values, weights etc. It makes it easy to report on, put in targets and KPI’s. Culture is not in that area.
According to Peter Drucker, Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Recently I read the book ‘Trailblazer’ by the Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. According to him Culture doesn’t only eat strategy but it eats everything. Slippery and hungry!
Another thing is that culture is something that is grown over time. You cannot get it fast. Result driven as we are, we like to have things instantly.
Many reasons to ignore the culture thing. Usually there are more pressing issues that need our attention and do give tangible results. Much more satisfying and feels like it is more needed too.
Corporates with a great culture grow much faster. In turn over, in market share and in profits and value. They are usually great places to work at. That is where culture kind of slips into a measurable list.
As many of you probably know, there are some concrete ways to measure culture and actively build them and if you like, measure them again to see if this culture is improving.
Values create value
I like that statement ‘Values create value’ and it is at the core of what culture is. If you consider values as not very tangible too, here is what they are; it’s what’s important to you in life, what you want. When you do things that are in line with your values it feels good and you feel happy. If you act or are forced to act against them, it is energy consuming and draining.
That should be much more concrete, right? It is what you want in life and also what is important to you.
If you do not know exactly what your values are, this is where you can find out. With the values you get a nice description of what kind of person these values make you and it is a tool for self-development. You will find out that there are values that work well for you and others that actually limit you. Working on these will open up new possibilities in life.
The interesting thing is that almost in the same way the values of an organization can be defined.
Before I continue, imagine the following;
You work in a place where you can do exactly what you like to do most. And not only you but everyone around you too! It even gets better. Not only do you do the things you really want to do but also organized in the way you like best. How energizing and fun would that be?
This happens when company values align with employee values. It is one of the important ingredients why these organizations get very successful.
Measuring is knowing.
As mentioned, the values of an organization can be measured more or less in the same way as your personal values. This can be done with the Barrett Values assessments. You will know what it is in your organization that holds it back. The perceived limiting values. They start as something positive; for example ‘organizing well’ can become ‘bureaucratic’, ‘getting things done’ can become ‘short term focus’. When things are experienced in a certain way, it is peoples reality and will cost energy, time, money and more importantly cause, loss of opportunity.
Once you have the limitation clear, you can address them. This is the low hanging fruit.
Getting clear on the company values that align with your co-workers, will engage them. It will help you find the right people and keep the talent that brings the organization to the next level.
Want to know more about the many other advantages? We are happy to tell you all about them. Culture is one of the four tenets of a Conscious Business. Conscious Businesses are successful for all the stakeholders related to them. By doing better than their peers and doing good, they improve the world. Only Conscious Businesses remain in the end. Interested? Do contact us.