Company Culture
At its core, company culture is a reflection of an organization’s mission, vision, and values. It is the shared understanding of what the company stands for and how it operates.
When well-established, culture drives how people think and act under pressure when the boss is not watching. When employees feel connected to the company’s mission and values, they are more likely to be engaged, committed, and passionate about their work.
Most companies have spent the energy to articulate its mission and values, print it in posters and display it in the reception lobby. Some might have reviewed its processes to align them, and consider cultural fit in the hiring process and training programs. All that is necessary but not sufficient to achieve cohesive behavior across the organization over time.
In this article, beyond the basics, we will explore management of symbols and company mythology through practical examples .
Leadership , Transparency and Trust
Regardless of style, culture can only be established if people in positions of power exercise leadership and create trust through consistent authentic behavior. A leader not only needs to be honest, they need to look honest and provide behavioral examples on how the organization faces challenge.
So, we argue, beyond doing what every company does, in order to establish a strong culture, leadership needs to provide the symbols and stories that create the company mythology. For culture to be reinforced beyond slogans and posters, there should be vivid symbols that constantly and organically support the culture with examples of values expressed in practice.
Example of Company Mythology
You might have heard this anecdote. When Apple was designing the original iPod, Steve Jobs was looking at one prototype and wanted it to be thinner. After engineers guaranteed that was not possible, Jobs tossed it inside a fish tank. As the shocked group watched their creation sinking into the water, air bubbles came out of the prototype. “There is empty space inside. Make it thinner”.
This might be an unusual action by a company leader. Exactly because of their unusual and memorable character, it become a powerful symbol of the culture and are repeated across the company (and in the case of Jobs at Apple, outside the company too) as a shared story, providing examples of how Apple employees should commit to the relentless pursuit of perfection in user experience and pay constant attention to detail. That is how culture survives its leader, through the company mythology.
In another popular example, Elon Musk sleeps under his desk next to the Tesla assembly line to exemplify his “hardcore” culture. That is probably not a practically necessary display, but it is a strong symbol of the culture he wants to implement.
Perhaps those are extreme examples, but any company leader must not only consistently act according to the company culture but also provide memorable stories that will be told beyond people who can directly observe those leadership behaviors.
Conclusion
Company culture is a powerful force that can either propel an organization to success or hinder its growth. To manage company culture, to keep it from diluting as you bring new people, or developing new desirable values, you need to do all things you know you need to do: hire with culture in mind, implementing training and mentoring programs, explicitly articulate your values and implement policies and practices aligned with them.
But as or perhaps more important, you need to collect stories (make them interesting and memorable by highlighting some of the aspects if you have too) and cultivate a mythology by repeated storytelling. That process has to be authentic, but can also benefit from a bit of deliberation. The leadership must provide the symbols, the validation points for that culture. Occasionally, leaders need to go against common sense (those are the stronger memorable symbols) to make a point that lets people know how important that is.
About the author
Culture has always been a topic of interest to me. At Cyclades, we arrived at a very successful and resilient culture and I don’t think any of us consciously knew what we were doing at the time. What I learned is that, as long as leadership live the culture, cares about the team, and provides the examples, the organization will follow. I occasionally engage as a corporate consultant to work both on leadership or technical projects.
Marcio Saito 