Take a minute and think back to some of your previous jobs. They could be fairly recent or go way back into your teenage years. What do you remember most? I could venture a guess that one thing would be your role, what you actually did. My first job was as a tour guide and I can still remember parts of the script I had to memorize in order to do my job effectively. Maybe it was the people you worked with...whether they were liked or not! I can still remember, 15 years later, some of the wacky, cool people I met.
Many of the memories we carry from our previous jobs concern culture, a growing area of study within organizations. 'Culture' is a pretty complex thing and it's more than just the sum of the tasks employees perform. It is the processes, procedures, habits, relationships, values, norms, and unwritten rules of your organization. In short, it's how your people and workplace...work! Your culture impacts everything from costs and morale to efficiency and safety. It affects every part of your company, and no one is immune to its effects, from the entry level to upper leadership.
Though every employee can feel their culture, it is a difficult and slippery concept, what theorists refer to as a 'soft' aspect of an organization. Almost everyone can feel the magnetism of a positive culture and, conversely, the chill of a negative one, but the root causes of either pole can be hard to identify. Part of the responsibility of a leader is understanding your corporate culture. Taking steps to create a positive culture pay huge dividends in profits, efficiency, and employee engagement.
The most important step is to gather data. At PG&A we like to say 'you can't manage what you don't measure': concrete, hard information is critically important. Assessments and surveys are key pillars to this approach, and provide access to the ideas of your people and other stakeholders. If you're serious about your business, be serious about your culture.
--Tyler