How to align your corporate culture towards business success?

A strong organisational culture is the key to a successful business to many leaders in business. Therefore, corporate culture plays a key role in supporting business strategy. Organisational culture is, simply put, “the way we do things around here”. It’s about the ways in which a company conducts itself as a whole, including all it’s unique ways. Organisational culture is not static, it constantly develops as it constantly needs to motivate it’s employees in a way that speaks to them at that moment. Organisational culture is also about relating. Relating to each other within the organisation, to the outside world, to your product or service, basically to all stakeholders, both internal and external. That makes it a collection of norms and values and expectations, some visible to the outside, some only to those who work with them. That means that your organisational culture sets you apart from the others.

There are many models that you can use/apply and implement to understand, unravel and set up your desired corporate culture. Some of my favourites are:
Schein: Three levels of culture
Bennett: Intercultural sensitivity
Handy & Harrison: Corporate culture
Hofstede: Cultural dimensions
Cameron & Quinn: Competing values
Trompenaars & Hampden Turner: 7 dimensions for culture

You might want to know what, besides the organisations mission and environment, influences and contributes to your organisational culture. First off, (and probably no surprise) the leadership style (Hackmann & Johnson). Leadership is all about the way the company is managed and how decisions are made. Secondly, the way people communicate, how transparent they are, how they share information, how hierarchy becomes visible in communications. Lastly, what are the priorities of your business? Is the focus on the people, the function of the task?

There are different approaches to organisational culture: you can approach it organically, which means it develops naturally over time or you can approach it actively, in which case the management takes the lead in proactively establishing an optimal culture.

If you think your company can benefit from a more active approach to organisational culture. I can help you make this possible. This can involve training sessions, consultant guidance and more. We work together to enable you to align your corporate culture towards business success. All backed up by academic theory. Interested? Schedule a free discovery call.