The Chameleon Culture

Everyone would probably agree that the success of every organization is dependent upon the people that it chooses to employ. People make the difference and are solely responsible for the direction of the organization. Decisions about strategic business initiatives, such as product development, budget allocation, market segmentation, hiring, marketing, distribution, and leadership are made by people in key positions. The people making the decisions and doing the work either lead to high performance or lack luster results.

People are the separating factor between good and great organizations, as much as they are the determining factor of bad and merely average ones. Many times, it’s the little things that sometimes go unnoticed or are not seen as important that tip an organization to head in one direction or the other.

Organizational culture is probably the most influential factor when it comes to performance. Most leaders know this. The problem is that many leaders don't truly understand what culture is, how to develop it, and how it impacts results. Many leaders also fail to put in the time necessary to nurture organizational culture.

Many organizations just let culture happen. Sometimes they happen to become great. Other times they become very bad. Many times, organizational cultures can shift with the wind because of a strong personality. An inconsistent culture creates inconsistent results and leads to customer dissatisfaction, low morale, employee turnover, poor product quality, inefficiencies, and discontent.

What Is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture is how people within an organization behave, interact, and embrace the values of the organization. How people embrace and adhere to organizational norms contributes to the social system and psychological environment within which they work.

Organizational culture includes the following:

• Expectations - How people interact and treat each other on a social basis. How work is done. How people communicate ideas to those with greater authority. How and what information is shared with the organizational community. How people are developed and evaluated. How people are held accountable.

• Past Experiences - Those things that are not said but done. What people have seen and felt is their reality and shape what they expect will happen in the future.

• Organizational Philosophy - Directs people in their quest to understand why and how, so that improvement and growth from an organizational and personal level can be achieved. If the philosophy is truly about continuous improvement, then there will be systems in place that support the passing of knowledge and wisdom.

• Organizational Values - Values encompass it all and drive expectations, philosophy, experience, and include those things that are based on shared beliefs, shared customs, shared attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time. Values are demonstrated by the way business is conducted, how employees are treated, how customers are treated, and how the organization treats the greater community within which it operates. The extent to which authority is given with responsibility so that the best decisions can be made, and new ideas developed is a critical part of value validity. A values driven decision making process and how power and information flow through its hierarchy support the extent at which values will be taken seriously. It will also determine the level at which employees commit to organizational initiatives and seeing them through to completion.

Culture is unique to every organization and contrary to popular belief, is one of the hardest things to change. Hence the reason why leaders need to focus on its development and continually work at making it what they truly hope it to be. Leaving it to chance will lead to a culture that is much different than the one that is desired. Unfortunately, many times the realization that the organization's culture has gone off the rails happens after it is too late. Efforts to restructure culture take years and cost more than the time it would have taken to keep it headed in the right direction from the start.

Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open

Keep your eye on the little things and ears tuned to the water cooler banter. If inconsistent behaviors are allowed and inconsistent accountability for organizational values is permitted the organizational culture will become inconsistent and lead to confusion about what the real organizational values, beliefs, philosophy, and expectations are. This will lead to bad experiences and a chameleon type personality at the organizational level.

Customers, employees, business partners and the world in general want to know who they are dealing with and what they can expect each time they interact with the organization. Consistency leads to trust, confidence in the relationship, and a clear understanding of what one can expect from the experience. Inconsistency leads to loss at all levels within the organization.

Remember, every organization has different values, different beliefs, and ultimately a different culture. It's leadership's responsibility to define the culture that works for their organization, nurture it along, consistently communicate expectations, and hold everyone accountable for making that culture reality.

Randy Stepp is a Principal with Renaissance Leadership Group. RLG is a full-service business and franchise development company whose purpose is to help business owners realize their dreams of independence and freedom.

Visit Renaissance Leadership Group at www.renaissanceleadershipgroup.com to learn more about business development