Describing Culture Gets Easier Once You Understand
What is the culture of your organization or team? Is it well defined and can you easily explain it to others? Describing culture may have its challenges, but if you can’t identify what it is no one else will understand either.
People often want the short version. The short story. Sum it up for us because we don’t have much time.
Yet we would seldom laugh at a joke told if we were only told the punchline.
Interests and Understanding
People seem to be most interested when they like something.
They’ll discuss their hobbies, their quest for a new or remodeled home, a new car, or an elaborate vacation. They’re interested because they like it.
Not everyone may like what they like. Someone may believe you buy a car and run it until it does, a different person may believe that you should always trade it in within a two-year window.
It’s true for hobbies, vacations, and the choices made for what you call home.
Not everyone agrees, yet most people can respect why it might be important to someone.
What about your workplace culture, can you describe it?
Describing Culture
It isn’t always about trying to make someone believe what you believe. Sometimes it is about making them see what you are seeing.
Once others see it, they have a new choice. A choice to believe. Even if it isn’t their thing, they may be able to feel it. That is where the belief begins.
Shaping a culture is visionary. It is often fluid; it twists and morphs across time. It’s probably not exactly what is written in the strategic plan, it is probably not exactly what is illustrated in the company video.
You can tell it to everyone. Tell them what it is and how it will be.
Yet, what they feel will become what they believe.
If you’re going to have the culture that you desire, you’re going to have to work on understanding what the people of that culture feel. What they feel begins with what they see.
It’s not about the formal description. It’s not some fancy words, some clever jargon, or the video on the website.
You can suggest a joke is funny. Telling someone to laugh at the punch line doesn’t mean that it is.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
