Culture Building in the Real World
Culture is mortar, not bricks. Culture building is laying a bed of mortar on bricks. Culture binds people together. Culture is expressed by the way people treat each other while they do the work.
Culture building is about people. Rules and regulations express culture, but culture is built with the tools of influence, not coercion.
Four channels of personal influence:
- Attitudes.
- Words.
- Actions.
- Responses.
Attitude is your habitual disposition. For example, are you primarily disposed to complain or celebrate?
Words influence behaviors. If this isn’t true, why are you talking so much? You invite people to take initiative when you ask, “What are you learning,” after responsible failure.
Consistent actions shape culture. You can tell people to take initiative but when leaders avoid making decisions, initiative goes out the door.
Responses express values and shape culture. Leaders who quickly spout answers without asking questions, put an end to collaboration, for example.
Culture building questions:
Suppose you desire a culture where people love coming to work. Here are some questions to ask top leaders.
- How much do you love coming to work on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How would strangers know you love work if they heard you talking?
- What are you doing that gives you energy? What makes that energizing for you?
- What is the most meaningful thing you can do today? Or you did yesterday?
- Brag to me. Tell me something you got done that makes you proud.
- What’s your latest happy customer story?
- How much enjoyment do you see on faces around you?
I plan to explore a simple plan to scale culture building any organization can adopt in tomorrow’s post.
I define culture as the way we treat each other. It’s mortar. How do you define culture?
I believe culture building is a top-down and middle-out activity. What are your thoughts?
