Company culture is an elephant

In an ancient parable, when people encounter an elephant they cannot see, they each touch a different part of the animal and then describe what an elephant is like, based on their personal experience of it.

For example, someone touching only a tusk says elephants are smooth, hard, and pointy. One who touches only a leg says elephants are like tree trunks. Somebody touching only the tail says “elephant” must be another word for rope. A person who touches only the trunk says elephants are a type of large snake.

Company culture is like an enormous elephant, and employees each experience their own, local part of that elephant.

Townspeople, Who have Never Seen an Elephant, Examine its Appearance in the Dark — 1663, Bharat (Walters Art Museum)

Image source

Nine lies about work

The book Nine Lies About Work, by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall (2019), explores nine ideas that many people take for granted as true:

1. People care which company they work for
2. The best plan wins
3. The best companies cascade goals
4. The best people are well-rounded
5. People need feedback
6. People can reliably rate other people
7. People have potential
8. Work-life balance matters most
9. Leadership is a thing

One chapter per idea, the book argues why these ideas are, in fact, not true.

Company culture

This blog post focuses on lie #1: People care which company they work for. Marcus and Goodall argue that employees care less about which company they work for than about their personal experience of the company culture.

At work, culture is a word used to describe the way people behave within an organization, and the attitudes and beliefs that reflect those behaviors. It’s the way people communicate, interact, and in general, work with each other.

Before Saying “Yes” to a Job, Consider Company Culture
Shanna Hocking ( hbr.org, 2021 )

In “Nine Lies”, Marcus and Goodall discuss survey- and interview-based research that asked employees at many different companies about their employee experience. For example, the surveys asked employees to indicate how much they agree with statements like “At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me” and “I have great confidence in my company’s future”.

Results of that research showed a great amount of variability within companies. The authors conclude:

Local experiences — how we interact with our immediate colleagues, our lunching-on-the-patio companions, and our huddling-in-the-corner partners — are significantly more important [to our experience of company culture] than company ones.

“Blind monks examining an elephant” by Hanabusa Itchō — 1888, Japan (United States Library of Congress)

Image source

Cultivating a high-performance culture

Marcus and Goodall found that members of particularly high-performing teams agree with the following statements (among others):

• At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me
• I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work
• My teammates have my back
• I know I will be recognized for excellent work
• In my work, I am always challenged to grow

Senior leaders play an important role with respect to company culture. Their words and actions define and support company-wide employee experience initiatives. And they should be modelling desirable day-to-day interpersonal behaviours.

But first-line manager, teams leads, and individual team members have a tremendous influence on the culture of their own team. Consider what everyone can do to cause their fellow team members to answer “yes” to the above statements:

• Communicate clear expectations for people we are collaborating with
• Set team members up for success by tapping into their unique strengths
• Pitch in when someone is struggling and never abandon a teammate
• Recognize and reward excellent work
• Help team members grow their career

Every member of a team can do those things according to their role, their networks, and their other resources. For example, when it comes to helping team members grow their career, it’s true that managers are uniquely positioned to advocate for someone to be promoted. However, team leads are in an excellent position to help someone join a project that would be career-building or to connect a team member with someone who can expand their network. And any team member can give someone’s work a signal boost and increase that person’s visibility to management.

Conclusion

If your company’s culture is an elephant — one so large that it’s impossible for anybody to see the whole of it — how would someone on your team describe that elephant, based on their local experience of it? And what are you doing to influence that?