Culture is NOT a Foosball Table

I have run into business owners who felt that having “culture” meant having the symbolic foosball table, and a fun social club. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Culture is the way people within an organization interact and make decisions. These interactions and decisions are based on the values, beliefs, norms, and systems and practices that occur within the organization. Not all employees are right for all cultures. There are people that might thrive in one culture and wither in another, therefore leading to this misconception that a “good culture” is easily defined.

I think it is important for the business owner to recognize that they have two choices (1) let the culture occur organically which could result in a culture that doesn’t support growth or your vision or, (2) my preferred method, which is creating a culture by design. Business owners that intentionally design the frameworks, the method of communications and the acceptable interaction between all stakeholder (employees, leadership, suppliers, customers) as well as the way business operations work including how decisions are made, will find they have created a great foundation on which to build a sustainable business.

Whether you are a small business owner or a the CEO of a company defining culture starts with defining your vision of the future and your business values. When defining your business values and I would suggest taking it a step further and define how those values translate into the behaviors and interactions you expect between all the stakeholders.

Now the work begins - designing an intentional culture requires work and discipline. Every process, every system, every interaction will eventually define your culture.