After 11 years of working on organizational culture, I’ve discovered that these five culture-busters are the most typical signs of more serious organizational problems.
Organizational Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion.– Brian Chesky, CEO, Cofounder, Airbnb
- Discreet Actions at the Top
Employees will rapidly imitate senior leaders’ and intermediate managers’ failure to uphold brand principles. Even worse, they’ll develop a mistrust of authority and cynicism since senior executives are immune from the norms everyone else is expected to observe.
Senior executives should set an example by imitating and enforcing brand standards. The promotion of a positive culture that accelerates trust-building conveys equality, and raises brand values will result from holding all employees respond to the same set of standards.
- Inverse Energy
Sideways energy is wasted organizational energy that is poorly targeted, misdirected, and unfocused. It is the most obvious sign of a poisonous and damaged culture. Employee productivity may be stolen from our clients at rates of 33% or more depending on the individual or department due to employee drama, silos, and trust gaps.
Even though sideways energy can never be completely eradicated, organizational methods and structures that guarantee the proper people are employed, developed, and supported in distinctive and varied ways informed by the brand values will help to considerably decrease lost productivity.
- Triangulation
Triangulation is a type of manipulation that places unhealthy levels of dependence on a third-party rescuer in an effort to resolve interpersonal problems through indirect communication. Triangulation frequently starts off innocently enough, but if the victim and their alleged attacker cannot come to an understanding, the situation can swiftly deteriorate into poisonous communication and gossip.
Employees should get training on how to handle unfavorable comments without retaliation or rumor. Over time, your employees will be able to successfully bring problems into the open if you provide them the tools to provide and receive criticism in constructive and healing ways.
- Absence of Cooperation
Silos are more of a management challenge than an issue to be fixed. Because the majority of employees spend the majority of their working hours in particular departments carrying out particular tasks and because only a small number of senior leaders are compensated to manage across the entire organization, they are an unavoidable reality for the majority of organizations. When organizational cultures become toxic, trust falls to dysfunctionally low levels, divisions widen, and employees become less able to connect, communicate, or work together.
Encourage workers to look across the organization so they may better grasp how their roles and responsibilities support the group’s objective by breaking down organizational silos through strategic meetings and management practices that proactively address business culture.
- Risk Aversion
Innovation and risk-taking cease to exist when trust is low and conflict fear is high. Organizations stagnate and lose their competitive edge when innovation and risk-taking stop.
Fostering a corporate culture that values and supports fresh thinking and taking risks will encourage risk-taking. Find useful and appropriate methods to test out new concepts within your company, and be open about the inspiration and important lessons that these risks offer. Be aware that at least 75% of these ideas will probably fail or perform below expectations, but that the process of testing out new concepts is more crucial than the success or failure of the ideas themselves.
A positive corporate culture does not emerge overnight. To see health cascade down and influence the entire business, senior leadership must invest time and intentionally focus on the issue. However, given the obvious link between performance and health and how easily dysfunctional behavior can spread across even the greatest organizations, senior leaders’ responsibility for cultivating a positive organizational culture has never been more crucial.