What is company Culture?
Pre-pandemic company culture meant snacks and parties. But once those things stopped it revealed what company culture actually is. Interpersonal connections.
I have had so many conversations about and experiences with good, bad, and ugly company cultures. However, in my opinion, it is often hard to put your finger on it when you ask someone about the culture of their company or even look at your own.
As with many things these days, company culture is evolving. The way we work and how we work are also evolving. So it is only natural that company culture needs to evolve as well.
Check out my thoughts in this video
Recently, I've had a lot of conversations about company culture. As we continue to evolve into a hybrid environment and how we start to work together now that we've progressed past the need to work 100% at home and come back into the office, company culture is more important than ever.
But what is company culture?
At the end of the day, I believe company culture is actually interpersonal connections.
We may think that it's parties or having lunch in the office, or the amenities, or all these fun little perks that have really driven company culture over the last several years, I would say. Until we got to an environment where those things disappeared. We were all working virtually. And that meant that having coffee, or snacks in the kitchen, no longer had any value because we were all at home.
So what is company culture, then?
Well, it always has been and always will be how we interact with each other.
Do we show up to meetings on time?
Do they always run over?
Are we short with people?
Or do we like to do small talk?
Do we ask them about their day?
Do we hold people accountable for the things that we've asked them to do?
All of these things, small things every single day, are what add up to actual company culture.
So it isn't as easy as adding some snacks to the break room or giving people an hour off on Friday, all those things are nice and are valuable. If they all add up with the small things that you do every single day.
As a leader, you actually have the ability to impact company culture every single day.
How do you interact with your team?
Are you getting to know them?
Do you know what they're interested in?
What do they want to do from a career perspective?
How things are going at home?
Are they happy?
Are they frustrated?
Are they overwhelmed?
Are they tired?
What's happening there?
What are the frustrations that they have at work every day?
It may not be something huge. It may be…”We have this meeting every Friday and by Friday, I'm exhausted. My brain doesn't work anymore. I want to stop. I want to be productive in this meeting, but it's just not a good time for me.”
You can change that. You hearing them, listening to them, and changing it, is what is company culture.
If you never asked. If you ignored it. If you heard it and said you were going to do it and then never did it. All of those things are what create a company culture.
So I empower you today and every day to think of the small ways that you can actually improve your company culture because those are the things that get noticed by leadership.
It's how you find success. It's how you cultivate and create a great team environment.
No matter what's happening from an overall company perspective. You can have an impact on the people you interact with every day.
So next week, come into the office, and think about company culture and how you can make a difference today.