What is company culture?
Let's start at the beginning: what exactly is company culture? The official meaning according to Van Dale is: Com·pa·ny·cul·ture (the; f; plural: company cultures): the way in which the employees in a company interact with each other and with third parties.
You can see the company culture as a collection of unwritten rules, norms, values and cultural aspects that are known to every employee in an organization and that are applied in daily practice. Examples of company culture are the way customers are helped, how breaks are spent, whether it is customary to have a drink together on Friday afternoons, the extent to which managers are approachable, and so on.
Factors that influence company culture are the sector in which an organization operates, the structure of the organization, the norms and values of the people who work there, and the style of leadership. Company cultures that are generally perceived as positive have, in almost all cases, a flat organizational structure, little hierarchy and a great deal of individual responsibility for employees.
Why is mapping the company culture important?
Behind every successful company stand involved employees . Only when your people feel at home in your organization, are valued, and do their work with enthusiasm and motivation will you achieve what you want to achieve: respect from customers and colleagues, increased revenue, and a solid, future-proof organization.
To keep up in a competitive market where it’s difficult to find customers and good staff, you will therefore have to take that extra step. Creating a pleasant company culture is an important part of that. You may already have a sense of what you would like to change yourself, but the same applies here: measuring is knowing. First get a clear picture of your current company culture, then you can take the right steps to improve it.
Mapping company culture: here's how to do it
As we already said, mapping the company culture is quite tricky. But it is certainly not impossible to make the culture in your organization concrete. The following points will help you with this:
1. Ask your employees
One of the most important actions to start with is to talk with your employees. They are the ones who can best describe your company's culture. By listening to them openly and honestly you get a good picture of the values and norms within your organization and you also immediately know where the areas for improvement are.
2. Use the Straathof model
A useful method to make the different cultural aspects in an organization visible is to use Straathof's Culture-Arena model. This model consists of three factors that describe how the relationships within a group of people are structured. These factors are mindset, arena and behavior.
Mindset is about the norms, values and beliefs that people in a group share. In the arena, power relations and hierarchy are central. Ultimately, all of these things influence factor three: the behavior of the group.
3. Remain in continuous dialogue
With a single survey of employees you can't accurately map the company culture. It's important to continuously keep a finger on the pulse and record your findings. That way you always know where you stand, what effect certain improvements have had, and which challenges remain.
4. Keep going but focus on the long term
A change in company culture doesn't mean that everyone suddenly arrives on time. Or becomes friendlier to customers. We're talking here about a total change of an organization's DNA. What is your strength? What do you and your employees stand for? How is the level of engagement? And what unwritten rules are there? Getting all these things clearly in view and then optimizing them takes time. So make sure you measure, analyze and improve. Continuously. Keep going but don't expect miracles. A change in culture often takes years. So make sure you have a clear vision of your ideal future and work toward it slowly but surely.
