Is your company deluded when it comes to culture?
Yesterday, I was chatting on the phone with my friend Kevin, who happens to be an Executive in a large corporation. As it often does, our conversation turned to work. Here’s what Kevin had to say…
‘I’ve been with Company A for 5 years. I’ve known I don’t fit the culture for most of that time. Think of me as an orange — a driver of innovation and change, big, freaking hard, transformational change. People and leadership are at the heart of everything I do. I know most people say that — but in my case, it really is true.
Where I’m an orange, Company A is a lime. In other words, “not very good at delivering a desperately needed cultural transformation”. They said they wanted another orange to join the team when they recruited me. They said, “Company A is an orange”. They lied.’
Kevin and I started talking about whether the lie was an “informed” one. In other words, did they recognise themselves as a lime but pretended to be an orange? Was this an example of “if we say it enough times, it will be true”? Or, did they not even realise the difference between an orange and a lime masquerading as an orange?
It made me wonder about the idea of “culture dysmorphia”…
the idea that an entrenched culture could be based on a flawed self-perception. Imagine the implications for companies that see themselves as one thing but are something else.
Let’s start with the easy one — hiring and retaining key talent. Nothing is more disappointing or disillusioning than accepting a role only to discover that the company culture wasn’t what was promised. Living with the pain of disappointment and feeling like a misfit clearly isn’t a good recipe for productivity, engagement or tenure. The likely turnover that results is expensive — in terms of direct hiring costs and the opportunity costs of lost momentum.
While the talent issue is significant, the more complex problem is rooted in the link between culture and strategy. If you believe, as I do, that culture is an asset that enables strategic advantage, then failure to see and understand your culture will inevitably lead to flawed strategic decisions. While those flawed decisions are likely to have significant consequences, cultural dysmorphia will make them hard to unravel because you cannot accurately see the inputs to those decisions.
Talking to leaders in a broad range of organisations, from early-stage startups to ASX20, has led me to conclude that confusion between actual and desired culture is a common problem.
In particular, it’s common to see leaders actively choosing to anchor internal rhetoric with aspiration. This is designed to clarify the team's target state— a worthwhile endeavour. There is a but here…unless the sense of aspiration is explicit — ‘we strive to be…’ rather than ‘we are…’ — it comes with the risk that dissonance is created between a team’s day-to-day experiences and the rhetoric. And that dissonance makes it hard for people to know how they should behave. Should they do what they see or do what they hear? If the team does not believe that leadership understands the difference between reality and aspiration in culture, it will likely erode the organisation's trust and commitment.
Culture should provide a consistent, instinctive shortcut or compass to the “the way we work here,” — but if the messages are mixed, confusion and mistrust will reign supreme.
So, if you’re looking to join a new company and want to put the culture rhetoric to the test, or you’re feeling like things might be a little out of sync with your current team, here are a few questions you can ask:
What part of the <stated culture> shows up most frequently here? How does it show up?
When you say the company is <an orange>, what do you mean by that? How do customers experience that (and what do they tell you about it)? Where is that driven from within the company?
How can you see the <stated culture> in the behaviour and decisions of the leadership team?
What is the biggest change needed for the company to be 100% true to its values?
What are the signs that tell you that the team is ready to accept (and leverage) <an orange>? What were the last 3 most significant hires for the company?
When you think about people who have voluntarily left the company recently, what did you notice about how they think and behave? Was there anything consistent about either?
The question of fit is often talked about — particularly in the recruitment frame regarding companies and new employees. Answering that question depends on whether you can get a true read on the culture, one that goes beyond hopes and provides that shortcut to understanding the essence of the organisation and the way they get things done.
Originally published on Medium in May 2020