What is culture?

AIM The Power of Culture 2005

Culture is what is created from the messages that are received about how people are
expected to behave in your organisation.

We are tribal animals; we are hard-wired to fit within our tribe. We read the signals about
what it takes to fit in, and we adapt our behaviour accordingly. If we absolutely cannot do
this, we either leave the tribe, or the tribe throws us out.

These signals—the messages we receive—come from many sources, and most are
non-verbal. To get a sense of how messages are picked up, imagine a little boy born in
Italy. By the time this child is five years old, he is unmistakably Italian—his gestures, his
expectations, his expressions, how he treats women, how he treats food, what he thinks
about his home and his possessions. How did that occur? Somehow, along the way, this
child picked up signals about how to be, and these signals were different from those
picked up by, for example, an English child. This process is beautifully described in a
book called An Italian education, by Tim Parks, an Englishman writing about watching
his son, born in Italy to his Italian wife, emerging as an Italian.

So culture is about messages sent and received. These messages demonstrate what is
actually valued, what is important, and what people do around here to fit in, to be
accepted and to be rewarded. People pick up these messages, adapt their behaviour
and, in so doing, further reinforce the culture by sending messages themselves. Here is
an example.

A company says that it values customers, but when it comes to allocating scarce
IT resources, the company invests in a system that will help employees track and
make more sales, rather than one that makes it easier for the customer to do
business with the company.

This decision says that, although the company values customers, it values
winning them more than satisfying them. In addition, there are often very long
meetings to review sales figures, but no meetings to evaluate causes of
customer dissatisfaction.

The message bank about the value of customers is filling up.

Finally, a recent key promotion was given to a strong sales person who has a
reputation for stopping at nothing to make a sale.

Now the picture is clear. When smart employees are trying to figure out how to
spend their scarce time, they know what to do to get ahead in this organisation.
Culture is about messages. so, culture management is about message management. To
change a culture you have to recognise the sources of the messages your people
receive about what is valued and then change them. This task is a logical and
systematic process, but not an easy one.

Messages come from three broad sources (outlined in table 1.1):

• Messages from behaviour. The management team and those people considered
important in your organisation are watched by others. They are role models and
their behaviour is carefully observed. Their actions send messages to your
people about 'what is expected around here'. These messages are much
stronger than any spoken messages from the management team.

• That is why it is important for leaders to 'walk the talk'. Cultural messages are
picked up from the 'walk', not the 'talk'. Your people will watch the decisions their
leaders make, how they spend their time and the quality of their interactions with
others. Since your organisation has rewarded these individuals with positions of
importance, it is a reasonable assumption that their behaviours are the ones
required to succeed.

• Messages from symbols. Symbols are actions, decisions and situations visible to
a large number of your people and to which those people attribute meaning.
Often the attributed meaning goes far beyond the scope of the individual
circumstance.

• Highly visible symbols, such as how time and money are spent, where priorities
are placed, who gets promoted and how office space is assigned, are seen to
represent the deeper value set about 'what is important around here'. Symbols
provide an important leverage point for culture change, because small events
can send big messages.

• Messages from systems. Your organisation's systems reward, measure, manage

and communicate what has been deemed as important up until this point. They
direct a lot of focus and effort, and thus send cultural messages about what the
organisation values.

• A lag time between changing culture and changing systems means that there
may be a hangover from a previous value set. Business, financial and HR
processes set a cultural framework for behaviours and values. Therefore,
managers such as the Chief Financial Officer may control important and often
unrecognised levers for changing culture.
Table 1.1 Cultural messages

Source How the cultural message is delivered

Behaviour • 1-on-1, in teams, in larger forums

• senior managers and key influencers
• relationships with peers, internal customers and suppliers
• what is said and what is done
Symbols • where time is spent
• where resources are invested
• physical environment
• what and who is rewarded, promoted, Dismissed
• who is involved in what
• use of values statements
• rituals
Systems • goal-setting, planning and budgeting
• reporting and measurement
• reward
• performance management process
• communication processes
• career development
• feedback and correction mechanisms
• structure

Carolyn Taylor The Power of Culture: Turning the Soft Stuff into Business
Advantage AIM 2005