In a work context, almost everyone has used the word “culture” from time to time. But ask people what they mean by it, and they’ll struggle to define it. Which is problematic when you consider how seriously businesses are starting to take culture.
It’s also problematic when you consider that, in many businesses, so much of culture is unconscious (and, consequently, often unhealthy). It’s hard to start examining your company culture when you don’t have a shared understanding of what culture is.
So it’s useful to look at different ways that culture can be understood. Here are four, ranging from more unconscious and superficial to more conscious and substantial:
“Vibe”
Vibe is the atmosphere or mood of a place. It is sensed or felt, and is therefore somewhat vague and not explicit. It may be a first impression, or how people describe an establishment after spending a few hours there. Or it may be a couple of words that people who work there might use to depict it – for example, “relaxed” or “driven” or “chaotic”.
This understanding of culture has some value because it articulates an overall feeling. But it’s also the territory of ping-pong tables and pilates balls; it’s limited, and often betrays what’s really happening under the surface. A “relaxed” vibe might appear welcoming and comfortable, but if you look closely you might find an organisation that’s unproductive or afraid of conflict.
Culture, therefore, needs to go deeper.
“The way we do things around here”
This is a popular definition of company culture, and for good reason: it’s easy to understand, and acknowledges the truth that it’s what we do, not what we say, that defines us - actions speak louder than words.
The problem is that many organisations don’t know or even ask why they do things the way they do. Habits develop and become entrenched unconsciously; processes are put in place without the context or consideration of whether they support or hamper an organisation to become what it wants to be.
To build a strong culture, a business must have good, fundamental reasons for doing things the way it does them. Actions and behaviours must serve the business’s purpose and be faithful to its values.
Values X Behaviour
Simon Sinek’s articulation of culture is as simple as it is thoughtful:
Culture = Values X Behaviour
This definition says that the more closely aligned values and behaviours are, the stronger the culture. And businesses that take it seriously are less likely to suffer from a problem many do: they have a way of doing things but without context or knowing why; or, they have beautifully crafted values but their real, lived behaviours contradict those values; or both. In a sense, our values are how we want to be, and behaviours are how we actually are; too often, there is a vast gap between the two.
If you aspire to having a strong culture, values and behaviours must reinforce each other. And for that to happen, they must be made conscious. You need to examine: Who, and how, do we want to be? Who, and how, are we in truth? And how aligned or distant are they?
Character
Character is the combination of qualities that makes a person or organisation distinct. It’s what makes you you.
Like vibe, it’s hard to articulate – but not because it’s vague or superficial. Rather, it’s because character is so substantial – meaning, literally, that it has so much substance.
To define our character, we must know the answers to the most essential questions: Why do we exist? What is our purpose? What are our hopes? What is most important to us? Who, and how, do we want to be in the world? How do we want to be known and remembered? In the toughest situations, what are the things we turn to to guide us?
Answering these questions helps us to “get real”; to get to the truth of who we honestly are, not who we think we should be; to explore and discover our makeup with thoughtfulness and authenticity.
Because this kind of self-examination is so comprehensive, it can be difficult (but not impossible) to articulate character. The businesses that manage to do it (and do it most simply) are the ones that know themselves best, that have the strongest identity. And that extends to everyone in the business.
If defining your character isn’t an end in itself, it can be a valuable means to an end. Even if you don’t want to use character as a definition of culture, you can use it as a process for culture. Examining questions of character can get you to your values, or to “why we do things the way we do around here”.
Seen in this light, character is nothing less than what we’re made of. And how can you really know what you need or what to do if you don’t know what you’re made of?