Corporate culture at its most basic
is how a company does what
it does. A business's culture is made up of shared values,
beliefs, habits and
goals. A business's location, its
employees and even customers all have a hand in forming a
culture. Most corporate cultures are created organically, which
is a nice way of saying that they are left to chance. Sometimes
though, the leadership of a company realizes that their culture
is one of the best selling points of the company; sometimes they
see that their culture is dooming them.
Your business's culture is as important as your business plan
and should be included in your thoughts as such. On a
superficial level, a culture is how you're seen and what you
do. This includes your building's layout, your equipment, the
dress code, the organizational structure, your company policies,
how you treat employees, and how you treat customers. Beneath
all of this at the core, your culture is made up of the shared
beliefs and values of the majority in the company.
Not all businesses are created equal or the same, but they all
have a corporate culture of some sort. Identifying which culture
they have isn't as easy as looking at the size of the building
or how many employees there are. A small business could have the
same culture as a multi-national corporation; it all depends on
the mindset. When it comes to understanding the best way to run
your business, there are two important things you must do:
identify what kind of culture it has and know the best way to
communicate within that culture.
To better understand the differences, we look at the culture
studies of Fons Trompenaars who identifies four main culture
types and how to navigate within them.
Guided Missile A guided missile culture is objective based and
organized to accomplish specific projects or goals. Managers
feel a higher sense of ownership and are able to move their
projects forward easily. Results come faster, the company is
more agile, and there is plenty of flexibility for the
employees. While this can be effective for getting things done,
it isn't as beneficial for communication to the company as a
whole. Communicating in this environment is more tactical than
anything else, but you should hold on to the big picture to help
keep these dynamic, but separate projects all heading in the
same direction. Keep your global message based on the top
priority project to get your audience's attention.
Eiffel Tower This culture focuses on the relationship employees
have with their immediate boss. Someone's position in the
hierarchy vastly dictates what information they are receiving or
able to give. While this is a strong culture, it is very slow to
change. To communicate well, you need to have bottom-up and
side-to-side communication channels in addition to the top-down
information trickle. Make sure you have a solid and objective
feedback process. A top managerial communications champion will
be essential to make sure your information flows smoothly.
Familial Like the name suggests, this kind of culture is similar
to a family atmosphere. Loyalty, collaboration, and
communication flow through relationships that are between people
at any level. These relationships are driven through honor and
respect. How much one can get done is dictated by who you know,
how well you are liked, and how much of a fit in the company you
are. Communicating in this culture is a more indirect process.
Use celebrations and events to speak to the company as a whole.
Direct criticism and confrontation will most likely backfire, so
use stories, anecdotes, and non-personal examples to get your
point across.
Incubator Incubator cultures are a byproduct of the dot.com era
and generations x and y. With the technology at hand, they get
their information from almost every source except top-down
communications. Once they have it, information billows out
around them as they post on message boards, IM, and
blogs. The
best way to make an impression is to break them out of their
normal, day-to-day atmosphere. Get them out from in front of
their computers and into an auditorium. Make sure to include
some moving around and good food. You'll make them pay
attention when you go through the senses they don't normally
use for work.
The culture of your business dictates how well your people will
try to do the things that will make your business succeed. If
you know what kind of culture you have, you can better
understand how your employees think, how to communicate with
them, and how best to use your culture to improve your company.
By David Byrd
Get more information for a confe
rence call or about video
conferencing services from David Byrd at
TalkPathConferencing.com.
