 Bridget Behe |
Recent economic events may have shaken our work culture to change us in ways we couldn’t image. Even if our work climate or culture changed very little over the past few years, we should think about how our work culture influences us, how we interact with customers, what we sell and to whom we sell and how we handle complaints. Culture is more than policies and procedures. It is a large part of the “look” and “feel” of a company.
Influences on culture
We work in a place, a building, a location. We also work with people. Our preference for work culture isn’t defined solely by our personal background, but shaped also by how we choose to live, work and play. Culture is also influenced by our personality and the ways we prefer to act and make decisions. These ways or conventions make us more comfortable. Different people are attracted to different business cultures, based perhaps more on their level of comfort than their level of productivity.
A personality inventory assessment like Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory helps in understanding how people prefer to consider information, how they become more or less energized, how they prefer to make decisions and how they prefer to interact with the world. Quite often the assessments see the downside (potential manipulation) before the upside (better understanding of coworkers or colleagues). Still, it is in seeing benefits or downsides to even the use of a personality profile that helps shape business culture.
Business culture
Nearly everything comprises business culture. Culture is reflected in what we wear to work, where and what we have for lunch, where we sit at meetings, and whether we challenge our supervisor and how.
Some businesses make safety a part of the culture because it reduces injuries and costs. Other businesses make product quality a key part of their culture and nearly everyone works to deliver that standard. Some businesses value technology and make a deliberate choice to invest in technological advances.
Culture shapes what is acceptable behavior, but also dramatically influences the course of a business. Business culture shapes not only what we sell, but also how we think about what we sell.
Good and bad culture
Knowing the cultural norms of a workplace helps speed up processes and can help to accomplish a lot of work. But culture can stall creativity and change. The answer may lie partly in your business’ culture.
Is it acceptable for employees to make suggestions and are they rewarded for ideas that work? Imagine how many more cost-saving ideas your company would have if the culture cultivated them.
Are owners and employees encouraged to contribute to the community and is service to others a part of your culture? Imagine how much more beautiful your community would be if it were.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration dictates what must be worn, but how strictly is the dress and safety codes enforced? Is yours a culture of safety consciousness that goes beyond what workers wear and extends over into safety meetings and measures?
Do you have a culture of delivering quality service, providing customers the very best possible products and services? Exceeding expectations can improve customer loyalty and repeat purchases. Cultures that cultivate a strong sense of excellence throughout companies are often top performers that give employees a lot of autonomy and empower them to fix things when they ultimately do go wrong.
Culture pervades all levels of companies. If company leaders aren’t customer-focused, the employees won’t be either. Culture is both a walk and a talk from those on the front line and those who may infrequent the front line.
Information sharing
What is your company’s culture of information sharing? Is financial information shared with employees? Is it a good idea to share some financial benchmarks within your business?
How do you think this information might change the attitudes and behavior of employees if they knew how well or how poorly a business was doing? It makes many of those with the information uncomfortable to share it with employees, even the best and most loyal ones.
How would you expect employees to react to bad financial news? Might they be inspired to dig deep down, pitch in and help right the ship? Might they be more responsible with resources? Imagine how a culture of information sharing might improve the attitude of stewardship at your company.
Some in management might say that not everyone can be trusted with this information. But what is the culture of trust if a company can’t find even 10 percent of its key employees who can be trusted? What if they’re all family and can’t be trusted?
How is information delivered to decision makers? Is there a culture in the workplace of doing another employee’s job for a day? It is important for those who don’t interact with customers and workers to do this on a regular basis. Imagine how much different information sharing would be if employees traded jobs once a year for a week to see what really goes on. Then, when employees are asked to provide input or share information, their co-workers might listen more closely to really understand what they are saying.
Impact on decision making
Culture also extends to decisions and how (if) opposition is voiced. How are decisions made at your company? There probably isn’t enough time to seek input from everyone, but are the key management team people asked to provide input before a key decision is made?
The culture of how and if dissention is handled may be the most critical one. Dissention can save a business from going under, but too much dissention gets in the way of progress.
How does your company encourage or discourage dissention? Are differences of opinion heard and used in the decision-making process or are they considered disrespectful impediments that stand between the boss and progress?
We need some stability in our business culture to help us get things done, focus on the important, and move us along. But cultures are slow to change and sometimes a good shaking is the best thing.
Culture shapes us so implicitly that we may not be aware of its presence. Once in a while, perhaps semi-annually, we should talk about our culture and what is working and what isn’t. Having that conversation itself might be culturally enlightening.
Bridget Behe is professor, Michigan State University, Department of Horticulture, (517) 355-5191; behe@msu.edu.
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