I am a huge NY Knicks fan. I was on a sports board the other day, reading an article that asserted that the Knicks are finally starting to develop a culture. The guy who wrote the piece was one of my favorite writers, and is a terrific guy and a superb analyst. But the use of the term culture reflected a super common mistake people have about cultures.
It’s not his fault, of course. Most of the people writing about cultures are similarly imprecise in their language of what a culture is and how they work.
So let’s examine and then put to rest a few myths about group, team, and corporate cultures.
Myth #1: We have no culture
This is, in the vast majority of cases, impossible. If you have a group of people who have hung out with one another for more than about 10 minutes, a rudimentary culture has already started to form.
Ideas and behaviors about who is the leader of the group; who is the emotional center of the group; who is the expert in the group, who’s the cute / handsome one, who’s the loud one, etc. – all these are elements of the culture that is forming within the group.
I can point to a ton of studies on this subject, but let’s introspect for a moment, to make this really clear.
Have you ever been out with a group of friends that included a few people you did not know? Do you recall that sort of awkward moment where the introductions have all been completed and the conversation starts to lull? What happened next? Who picked up the conversation, or suggested we get another round, or suggested we go get a table, or whatever? How did the group react to that suggestion? If you changed locations, even if just to go to a table, how did the group move? Who led? Who walked next to whom? And perhaps most of all: how long did it take you to begin to feel: “I’m comfortable with this group;” or “I want to get the hell out of dodge as quickly as I can”?
You were reacting to the culture - the unwritten rules of behavior and thinking and reacting - that was forming within that group.
This is why the myth that “we have no culture” is so dangerous. If you think you have no culture, you’ll not be alert to the subtle cues that indicate that a culture is forming, and you risk conforming to those unwritten rules, even if those rules are hurtful or counter-productive.
Remember: cultures are a) powerful because they affect behavior so profoundly, often without the knowledge of the members of the culture that’s forming; and b) dangerous because they can be formed so quickly, usually without the conscious knowledge of the members of the group comprising the culture.
So you have a culture. You may not like what it is, but the nature of your culture is in the behavior of the people around you. People in a group act the way they do because the culture part are part of suggests it, encourages it, even enforces it.
Myth #2: We have a weak culture
Again, unless your group or team has been together for about ten minutes, you do not have a weak culture. What you have is a very strong culture that enforces undesired outcomes.
In other words, the elements of your culture are easy to detect: just look at what’s happening all around you.
In any group, if the outcomes of that group violate the cultural rules of that group, that group will react with swiftness and precision. If you are in church and you stand up and start swearing imprecations at the presiding minister, the reaction will be swift and precise. The cultures present inside most churches are pretty strictly enforced. Same is true for a corporate “Town Hall” the meeting, where the senior executives are speaking to their teams. If you were to stand up and start hurling F bombs and swear words and crude comments, etc., the entire crowd would be appalled, and it’s a fair bet that you won’t get the opportunity to do that twice. Part of the definition of a culture is that a culture fights for its own survival. It enforces the rules that make it what it is.
And here’s the key: the thing that makes everyone feel outraged by inappropriate behavior in a particular setting - a church, a library, a movie theater, a Town Hall meeting - is the culture of that setting. It is the unwritten rules of thought and behavior that are specific to that setting that drive the unwritten “list” of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Cultures are, in many ways, common to us all: if you walked into a large room full of people you do not know, one of the first things you would do would be to look around and see how everyone else is acting, in order to understand what is and is not appropriate there. What you are doing in that moment is feeling out the culture, the rules, the “game” associated with that place.
So when a person joins your team, whatever they detect as acceptable, and encouraged, is your culture.
There is, admittedly, a competing school of thought, which says a weak culture is one in which the values of the organization are not widely adopted. But this is not evidence of a weak culture. A better, more useful description is that this is a strong culture of individuality and rebelliousness against “the center” or hierarchically established “higher ups”. This culture is not weak. It is in fact extremely strong, although quite possibly in behaviors the leadership team does not want. To put it bluntly: if you think that culture is weak, try changing it. See what happens.
Finally, it’s interesting and important to note that the way people respond to inappropriateness within a culture is also a function of that culture. In some cultures, if you misbehaved in a corporate or religious or other setting, people would wait politely while the appropriate security forces escort you out. In other settings, someone nearby would punch you in the mouth. Different cultures facilitate different rules of enforcement.
Myth #3 Our culture is our strength
This is a little bit of a misnomer. Your culture can be your strength… until it’s not.
The reason is that cultures must evolve, and evolving a culture might be the hardest part of managing one.
Think about what the business or workplace landscape must have looked like 70 years ago, in the 1950s. Then think about what must have been like in the 60s. The 80s. The 90s. After 9/11. The 2000s, when phones got cameras and the world of selfies gradually emerged, and Twitter was born, and Facebook became a thing.
The world has changed enormously in the past 70 years, or 30 years, even 10 years, and team cultures have to keep up. While a team or company doesn’t want to change its culture every 10 years, there is a balance that must be struck between retaining “who we are” and investing in “who we are becoming.”
Ancient civilizations expressed the need to achieve and master this balancing act in varied and interesting ways. The ancient Chinese developed the Taoist Symbol, more commonly referred to as the Yin / Yang symbol, to illustrate the need to balance seemingly opposite objectives. Ancient Egyptians developed the now-famous scales image to illustrate this need to constantly manage this delicate balance.
It’s a smart and advisable thing to relate to your culture as that makes your organization more attractive than your competitors’. Just remember that it is absolutely vital that part of your culture is the flexibility to constantly evaluate your culture and evolve it as necessary. It might, therefore be a good idea to work the concept of flexibility into your culture’s DNA; i.e., balancing the need for stability with the need for change. Cultures that don’t evolve belong to failing organizations that end up on the wrong side of commercial history.
Okay, to summarize. The rules of thumb are:
ª Cultures are everywhere. They can form in as little as ten minutes. Just be aware.
ª There are no weak cultures. A somewhat more controversial point of view, this rule of thumb suggests that whatever results your team is achieving, that is what your culture is strongly and emphatically reinforcing.
ª Always remember: evolving the culture is just as important as designing one. Make sure to include a keen understanding of flexibility – i.e., when is flexibility okay vs what things will remain non-negotiable - in your culture design.
The world is a much better place when it is full of teams with extremely humane, well-designed, well-thought-out cultures. The rewards are tremendous – who doesn’t love working in a place with a wonderful culture?
Steer clear of the myths about culture and you're well on your way to creating an excellent, healthy, and extremely fun culture for yourself and your team.