How do you actually change company culture
List what gets rewarded and what gets tolerated. Put both next to the values on the wall and mark the gaps.
Culture is a way of life of a group of people: the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols they accept, generally without thinking about them, passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. In a company, generations are not grandparents and grandchildren. They are the waves of employees who come and go, and the habits a new manager picks up straight from whoever promoted them.
Which is why culture is so hard to change. Bad management does not survive by accident. It survives because people at the top keep promoting whoever reminds them of themselves at that age, rewarding the exact behaviors that got them there, whether or not those behaviors still work.
It is still fluid, though. You can start shifting it from anywhere in an organization with enough focus and persistence, and leaders have the most leverage. This audit is where that starts, because you cannot change what gets rewarded until you have written down what actually does.
What you get
- A list of the behaviors that actually get rewarded here, and how
- A harder list of what gets tolerated, and who it gets tolerated from
- A gap table putting both lists next to your stated values
- A commitment line for the first gap you close
Where should we send it?
One email with the worksheet. You can unsubscribe from anything else in one click.
On its way
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Adapted from the Culture chapter of The Mindful Product Company by Sam McAfee.