Creating Organizational Culture

The accepted behaviors, values, and atmosphere in a company combine to create the culture. The culture of an organization has a large influence on employee performance and it is influenced by the expectations and attitudes of management. Or if there is a lack of awareness as to what those expectations are, that will also create a culture by default.

 

The Ken Blanchard Companies discuss this topic in their April 2008 newsletter, Ignite!. They write that culture will drive success. But culture is intangible and vague by nature. Somehow management must figure out a way to successfully communicate the desired culture to the organization along with the desired actions that perpetuate the culture. 

 

Chris Edmonds, Senior Consulting Partner at Ken Blanchard Companies, asks clients, “What are the behaviors that you want to see from a standpoint of productivity, performance, and values?” He follows their response by asking them to label the behavior as attitudinal or observable. If it is attitudinal, then he continues to probe until the manager discovers the observable action that is driving the attitudinal behavior. Now that the vague and lofty idea of the desired culture has been equated to observable actions, they can be as measured and tangible as any other goal that the organization has set.

 

Edmonds’ big takeaway is that culture doesn’t develop nor is it changed on its own. And everyone from senior management down to the front lines needs to be in the flow of communication regarding organizational expectations. The actions of senior management cannot contradict the words being communicated and everyone needs to be accountable for doing their part. Management must be proactive in developing a culture and it will take time and money. Both of these costs can be managed through incremental changes, baby steps. This method will also make the change process easier for the workforce to handle. Edmonds’ final quote from the article sums it all up, “The trick is if you’re not getting what you want, then it’s time to change those expectations.” Click to read the entire article or explore more from The Ken Blanchard Companies .