The way we think and operate in groups is quite interesting. Recently in a training program I popped a question, “what inspires us to move ahead?” and immediately there were a lot of responses. Lot of people shared that working as a team inspired them. This somehow resonated with me quite a lot. How does it inspire a person so much when he or she is working together with people?
What comes to my mind is that when collectively people believe that working as a team inspires them, that team will operate as a tight-knit group. What I like even more is that such a thing had come about in a group of individuals who represent a cross section of an organization from various departments. Thus it must be the effect of the culture of the organization that has strongly influenced the employees to get this type of a mindset.
This brings me to an important aspect in organizational dynamics and that is culture. Culture is multi-faceted and has various forms, just like emotions in an individual. It cannot be touched, nor be measured easily and accurately by any scale. However, incidents such as a random assemblage of employees sharing that working in teams inspires them gives me an assurance that this aspect plays out in their culture.
Culture vs Strategy
Once I heard a person say that Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Only as I probed deeper did I realize the enormity of the meaning. In society, to maintain order we may have laws, rules and regulations. Most countries have more or less similar rules to govern themselves. We also see that crime, breaking laws and adherence to the code varies in reality from one nation to another. The difference lies in the culture of the people. This gives an indication that culture is what is closer to reality than a set of rules. A deployed strategy is only as effective as the culture allows it to be.
In organizations, management could start out with an agenda to develop appreciation. However a plan to start appreciation cards will not translate to a culture of appreciation in the organization. That’s why the focus on culture is much more important than a focus on strategy. At the outset, strategy is driven by process and culture is driven by people. Another look at the difference between culture and strategy can be understood by looking at how few countries are now moving towards Gross Happiness Index as a better reflection of quality of life compared to Gross national product. While GNP is fleeting, momentary, changes every year and depends heavily on external and internal factors; GHI is residual, more permanent, and cumulative and relies on sentient factors rather than aspects like currency exchange value. Similarly strategy is short-lived while culture endures.
With all the things brought to light, we may now have developed a more appreciative view of culture. To add to this view, another thing that can be said is that though Culture is unstoppable it isn’t immovable. What this means is that one can’t create a mightier force to control the culture in an organization, however one can work with it rather than against to shape it in a desired way. The question that now emerges is how?
The word culture is used widely in biology to represent the growth of microorganisms. One can’t play god with creation, but a scientist can provide the right environment to foster growth. We can derive lessons from this understanding and apply it to organizations with far reaching benefits by evolving an environment where employees would themselves engage in the creation of the emerging culture. This environment can be created in a multitude of ways.
Leadership Styles Affect Culture
To secure a desired behaviour there is no path-breaking formula which can be channelled in a syringe and injected into people neither can one infuse culture to drive behaviour like a drive-by stop at a gas station. We need to take a relook at how one learns or modifies his or her behaviour. As children we learn behaviour from our parental figures and similarly in organizations, behaviour is learnt from the leaders who are the parental figures in the organizations. We are less likely to follow what we are told and more easily led to act according to what we see. As human beings we naturally resist change and when we are told what to do we may most likely respond either by rebellious rejection or by submissive compliance. At the root of it, behavioural change arises out of a self generated choice. And our choices are more influenced by our own experiences than what we are asked to. This choice is more greatly influenced if there is congruence between what the leader says and what he or she does. It is easier to follow if shown the way than just be told about it. Change in culture cannot be punched through; it only permeates and is most effective when it is done top-down.
Leaders also have to be mindful of how their decisions impact culture. Culture is a long term phenomenon whilst making decisions is usually done with a shorter frame of reference. We know that decision making becomes easier when the variables are lesser and usually decisions in organizations a short term view is all that is seen as the horizon when making decisions. There lies a potential minefield in this practise that could cause a set-back to an organization’s culture. When a company in an effort to cut costs, decides to reduce the training budget or shelves its training plan altogether, it doesn’t realize the dent it causes to the culture with this short term decisions. Whatever was built in to the culture of learning is easily eroded by that action. On the other hand there are other companies who have continued to focus on the learning and development of their employees even under the rough weather of recession and when they have come out of it, their people have emerged out of the storm, confident of braving challenges. A culture of learning in an organization helps their people to develop an attitude of learning from their mistakes as well thus making them better poised to handle any downturn in the future.
Culture is beyond labelling. One can’t pronounce a culture as good or bad. Culture is the existential reality of an organization. The thoughts, feelings and actions of every individual contribute to an organization’s culture. Though our behaviour which is mostly seen in actions, our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes, we can play our role in shaping the culture in the context that we are in.
