When I was still an undergraduate student studying anthropology, my professor shared a story with the class. He described how, at the end of every work day, Soviet Union factory workers would be stopped at the gates and searched to ensure they were not stealing any of Mother Russiaās resources or tools. One particular worker, who had formed the daily habit of pushing a wheelbarrow home, would watch patiently as the armed guards searched through the wheelbarrow, burrowing through the work coat, thick wool vest and food basket it contained. Finding no stolen items, the guards would wave the worker on his way. After several years the worker suddenly stopped turning up to work. It was later discovered, much to the delighted amusement and admiration of many of his comrades, that he had been stealing wheelbarrows from the factory. He had then sold them to local farmers and in this way been able to save up enough money to bribe the appropriate officials and escape from the Soviet Union.
The professor shared this story to highlight to his anthropology students just how easy it can be to stare straight at something, even on a daily basis, and still not register or understand its true significance. He suggested that, as anthropology students, we would probably find ourselves in just this situation as we went travelling about the world looking for cultures to study. He was right. Learning to identify a culture is no easy task. It takes patience, depth of insight and an ability to appreciate the sub-text of the exhibited language (verbal, physical and symbolic). Learning to not simply stare at a culture without truly perceiving its deeper significance is a skill set that can take years to develop.
In my experience many, maybe even most, people inside an organisation find themselves in exactly the same situation as the guards at the gates of the Soviet factory regarding their own company culture. They are staring straight at the culture on a daily basis and yet still fail to register or understand its true significance. The company culture, just like the wheelbarrow at the factory gates, is passing before people in the organisation every day, but they are often too busy looking at other things to register its significance. So although, when you know what to look for, aspects of a culture are apparent in every meeting, production line, conversation with a customer, training and planning session, health and safety debriefing, induction program, interview and performance feedback, culture itself goes largely unnoticed.
Defining culture
It makes sense in a book about culture that we take a moment to define the word ācultureā. No doubt you have heard people in your organisation regularly use the word. But what is it we are referring to when we speak of culture?
Next time you hear someone use the word, stop and ask them what they actually mean. You might be surprised by the answers they provide. Many people use the word ācultureā without having any real depth of understanding of what the word actually means. This is completely understandable, because most people working in organisations have not studied culture in any formal manner.
It is important, if you want to inspire and lead a culture, that you first understand what culture is. It is also useful to hear how people currently define culture. I have learnt that asking people what they mean when they use the word ācultureā can provide insights into how they are relating to and interpreting the wheelbarrow.
The way of culture
The most common way I hear culture described is as āthe way we do things around hereā. Iām sure you too have heard people refer to culture in this way. So how does this definition of culture inform us of peopleās understanding of culture? Letās explore this.
To start with, āthe way we do things around hereā is a completely understandable description of culture by people who have never really thought about or tried to understand culture, because on the surface that is exactly what culture looks like. But if you take a closer look at the words āthe way we do things around hereā, you will realise that it better describes the delivery of a business strategy than it does company culture.
The use of the word āwayā places the emphasis on process. A process is a way of doing something and it is designed to deliver a final outcome. While process is a part of culture, it is only a small part. When we focus on the way of culture, we overlook the who, why, where and when of culture.
In other words, when an organisation describes its culture as āthe way we do things around hereā, it reveals a limited awareness of only a part of what creates a culture and makes it great. The part consists of the most obvious, observable, tactical and measurable aspects of company culture. However, to ignore the other parts of culture means we achieve only a partial understanding of the more complex and powerful entity that is culture.
In a moment we will explore and determine a deeper understanding of culture and reveal how much more there is to culture. In fact, you could accurately argue that the phrase āthe way we do things around hereā better describes strategy than culture.
The why of culture
Culture is not the way we do things so much as the why. āWhy we do things this way around hereā is a far better definition of culture. This definition captures the importance and powerful, motivating aspect of understood meaning. Put another way, when people know why they are doing something, they are far more likely to feel compelled to engage in their given activities with everything they have to offer. This is especially true if, once the why is contemplated and understood, the concept speaks to the individualās deepest personal values.
Understanding why the way is, as it is, is an essential part of culture production. Traditional tribes that have managed to maintain their cultures for thousands of years go to great lengths to ensure that all members understand the why behind the rituals, traditions and day-to-day processes embodied within their culture. When tribe members make this connection for themselves, they do not require any further micromanagement, 360-degree feedback or performance appraisals to ensure they are doing things the right way. Each personās conscience becomes his or her leader, guiding the way from the communal motivation of why. When people describe culture in terms of why things are done a certain way it signals that they understand that culture is not just surface level. Itās bone deep, blood deep, and includes and activates a powerful underlying sense of meaning and a source of great motivation. In modern organisations, to ignore or remain naive about this deeper aspect of culture leads to seeing the wheelbarrow as simple a way of moving things from one place to another, rather than coming to a deeper understanding by seeing the wheelbarrow for its real significance ā seeing it as currency.
My recommendation, then, is to ensure that, before you begin any cultural change or transformation program in or across your organisation, you first pause to check what peopleās understanding of the word culture is. Failure to do so can lead to your executives focusing the change effort on only the surface level of culture, which unfortunately will look as though it has been successful over a short period of time. The deeper, unnoticed and unappreciated aspects of culture will, however, announce their presence and influence before long, meaning that the shallower surface changes will quickly be jeopardised and the organisationās people will begin to revert to previous behaviours or begin to morph into unplanned-for and unexpected new behaviours.
A formal definition of culture
You will be hard-pressed to find a universally accepted definition of culture. Even anthropologists canāt agree on a definition. Whenever Iām pressed to provide a formal definition of culture I usually say something like this:
I will be the first to admit that that is quite a mouthful. If you are interested in understanding in more detail what this definition means and how, by understanding its various parts, you can quickly deepen your own insight into culture, then simply read through the following paragraphs and I will explain each aspect of the definition one at a time. If, however, you are happy with this definition and simply wish to move on, then jump ahead to the next section in this chapter, āA simpler definition of cultureā. In the meantime, letās review the definition I have just provided. Letās start at the beginning.
Culture is active and self-organising
To understand culture and to move far beyond the limitations of thinking of culture as being only āthe way we do things around hereā, you must grasp this point that culture is active and self-organising. Too often organisations relate to their culture as if they were dealing with a stationary object, or something that is fixed in time. For example, some years ago a CEO said to me, āOh yeah, weāve done culture. We did it last year. There it is on the wall.ā She pointed to a mission statement and a set of values that hung framed on a nearby wall.
The CEO falsely assumed several things:
- The culture was likely to still the same as it was when the wording had been completed.
- Culture is and can be captured as a set of words.
- Work on culture can reach a point of conclusion.
To assume a culture is static is dangerous. In fact anthropologists have noted that, when a culture becomes static, it is at risk, as it can fail to adjust to the world or environment changing around it. To accommodate a more agile view of culture, I encourage all of my clients to think about, and use, the word āculturingā instead of just using the word ācultureā.
Culturing
By culturing I mean that the people in the organisation are constantly and deliberately working with the culture to enhance their awareness of its role and the consequences for the business and customers. I have had a number of clients tell me that, once they began to think and speak of the w...
