“Company culture is the backbone of any successful organization”, says Gary Vaynerchuck. Do you agree?
We dare to argue that there’s truth to Gary’s argument; organizational culture can be a driving success factor for any business. And, on the other hand, cultural problems can cause the organization to suffer—or even fail. Here, we list 5 powerful ideas from top experts on how to develop a thriving organizational culture.
"Culture fit is good early, and it becomes problematic over time.”
– Adam Grant
Culture fit is a common concept in recruiting, but organizational psychologist and author, Adam Grant thinks that we should be more skeptical about it.
“Culture fit is a great proxy for groupthink.” This is why Adam suggests that when recruiting, companies should aim to bring in diverse backgrounds, skills, and thinking, rather than hiring based on who seems to get along with others in the company. He explained that a great example of this is IDEO. When asked by a client to reimagine their shopping cart, IDEO hired an anthropologist who could dive into the new environment and tease out its intricacies. The company continued to diversify its hiring choices with impressive results.
According to Adam, this concept of cultural contribution is a model for rethinking culture. As he puts it, the question in leaders’ minds should be “what is missing from the culture—and is this person going to enrich it, and contribute something that’s absent?”
"Employee freedom breeds innovation and process kills flexibility.”
– Erin Meyer
Netflix’s thriving culture is considered somewhat iconic in the business world. But what are the aspects of its culture that can be considered as the drivers of success?
According to INSEAD Professor Erin Meyer (who also co-wrote the book No Rules Rules with Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hasting), it is the combination of freedom and responsibility that resulted in this strong culture.
To cultivate this type of organizational culture, Netflix has taken three purposeful steps:
Some of it may sound controversial or at least unconventional, but at least for Netflix they seem to work.
You also need to ask yourself: Are you creating an innovation culture in addition to your execution culture? It’s not either-or—it’s and.”
– Alex Osterwalder
Innovation expert, author, and entrepreneur, Alex Osterwalder, emphasizes the power of organizational culture when it comes to innovation. “Culture is the key differentiator,” he said. So, how are things in your organization?
To get started, Alex suggests you assess the innovation culture readiness in your organization through three different aspects:
In brief, you can assess these aspects by answering the following questions:
“The core process of culture-shaping is done in interaction and decision making.”
– Jitske Kramer
According to corporate anthropologist, Jitkse Kramer, in our organizations, there are typically two types of interactions: bullet point meetings and campfire conversations.
Bullet point meetings are used to discuss day-to-day topics, organize, reorganize, and plan. These interactions are necessary but are largely ordinary. Campfire conversations, on the other hand, are the interactions in which real change occurs and culture is shaped. “Around a campfire, we share feelings, dreams, and create new storylines. In those moments, we shape and reshape our cultures.”
Therefore, Jitske encourages leaders to have enough campfire conversations in their organizations in order to drive meaningful interaction. She suggests that we need to have fewer but more meaningful meetings that:
“Psychological safety is a belief that the context is safe for interpersonal risk-taking – that speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes will be welcomed and valued.”
– Amy Edmondson
According to Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson, fear often stops people from voicing their ideas and opinions. As we don’t want to appear incompetent, intrusive, or negative, we don’t ask questions or share our ideas. This, however, prevents the organization from developing, learning, and innovating. Also, when holding back, people in the company will eventually start to disengage.
To avoid this from happening in your organization, you need psychological safety. In order to give honest feedback, voice concerns, and share new ideas, people need to feel safe.
So what does psychological safety consist of? Amy highlights that it amounts to beliefs about:
At Oslo Business Forum 2022 next September, we will dive deeper into the topic of organizational culture. Amy Edmondson, among others, will step on stage to share their wisdom. Learn more about Oslo Business Forum 2022 on the event website.