With all the buzz in recent years about “Culture,” perhaps it is time to revisit exactly what culture is in the organizational context. When asked about culture, most people will say something akin to the following:

“Culture is people working together.”

“Culture is about diversity”

“Culture change is the new imperative!”

“Culture eats strategy for lunch.”

“Our culture is____________” (Great, Dysfunctional, Unique, etc.)

“So-and-so fits/doesn’t fit into our culture.”

However, when asked to say more about culture, people exhibit blank stares typically. Like the terms “Empowerment” “Engagement” “Disruptor” etc., people tend to use such loosely without much understanding about what they really mean, much less their use in organizations.

Rather than attempting to oversimplify culture (as in pop media simplistic assertions), here are a few thoughts to give us some idea of what such is about:

First, all organizations have cultures – whether functional, dysfunctional, innovative, inclusive, results-driven, quality-focused, diverse, etc.

Second, “Fish discover water last” – most of us in organizations adapt and become part of the ambient culture we are members of. Only when we go elsewhere do we “See” that culture ion clearer terms.

Third, culture can enable, inhibit or be neutral in its effect on organizational performance (often without our understanding of these effects).

So, before we examine what culture is, let us consider an array of differing organizational cultures. How might we characterize the cultures of the following organizations? How are they different?

-Apple -Toyota

-McDonald’s -Denny’s

-Catholic Church -Bank of America

-US Marine Corps -Disney

-Starbucks -Warner Brothers

-United Airlines -Internal revenue Service

-Harvard University -Exxon Oil

If we spend 60 seconds pondering these companies, we see that each likely has a dramatically different culture, yet arguably, all of them are successful in their core purpose, mission, and corresponding results. By doing this, we begin to describe cultures in terms of mindsets, behaviors, interactions, focus, priorities, approaches, etc. Right?

Edgar Schein in his book “Culture and Leadership” defines culture as underlying assumptions, espoused values, artifacts (i.e., what does the lobby look like?) as components of culture. Underlying assumptions are described as “What everybody knows without it being discussed.” In the military, such refers to power hierarchy, high focus on rapid results and competent application of expected skills. At Warner Brothers, underlying assumptions are that talent is everything, ideas are king, perfection of acting expected. At McDonald’s, underlying assumptions are that procedures are to be followed, speed is mandatory, etc.

So, we can start to see culture in some specific attributes. Let’s explore a few.

First, culture is based on the deep assumptions about expectations in the workplace – it defines how we should think, behave, act, how decisions are made, power relationships, openness to ideas, in short – what matters and what doesn’t matter and how one should behaviorally align to such.

Second, culture is the visible manifestation of these underlying assumptions. In the military we see saluting of officers to indicate expectations of power alignment. At the IRS we see distrust/questioning of all “Customer” returns. At Toyota, we see a fierce intolerance of errors, mistakes, and quality issues that deviate from the perfect car.

Culture is not “Taught” in a seminar, a company proclamation about diversity or “Quality is job one!” memes.

One typically assimilates into culture through on-boarding, observation, learning about what matters, what is encouraged, what is not, what is overtly disapproved and how one should think, act, behave.

Cultures arise from the historical embedding of what leaders and followers deem to enable success. In effect, “This has worked, so we will continue doing such.” We know that competitive environments can and do change, necessitating culture change, yet we resist and often pay a price for cultural erosion or failing to change.

Some basic questions we can ask to “see” and understand culture:

-What matters around here?

-How are decisions made? By whom?

-How are ideas managed? Are they even encouraged?

-What is the role of power? How does it play out?

-How are people expected to behave?

And (thereafter) how do these affect organizational performance?

So, there you have it – knowing WHAT culture is, how to “See” it, how it manifests itself and how it defines, helps, hinders the organization is a prerequisite to the “Change” everybody wants to have happen. Whether improving diversity, quality, speed, decision-making, becoming data-driven, empowering people, engaging innovation or any of several “We need to be more______” attributes, understanding the current culture becomes a critical requirement before such change. In effect, where are we today before we attempt to change.

So, let us try to understand more of what culture is, how it expresses itself and only then question its efficacy before sending everybody to “Diversity Training” for example.

Next: How cultures change – approaches that work.

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