Culture: The core member of the team
What thoughts spring to mind when you hear the word ‘culture’?
If you look it up in the dictionary, Culture is described as “the ideas, customs, and social behaviours of a particular person or society or group”.
And whilst a dictionary definition is helpful, we each carry our own dictionary to define words and what they mean to us. We have a personal perspective on them. So, I’ve recently been reflecting at depth on what culture means in the workplace and in particular, what it means in leadership and in the context of the over-used (and quite frankly, boring but true) phrase “leading with authenticity”. When I reflect on what culture means and where it exists, it's clear to me that culture exists EVERYWHERE
There's personal culture, company culture, team culture, spiritual culture, artistic culture, neighbourhood culture and many other perspectives on culture.
It’s everywhere.
So what?
People talk about culture like it’s a given, it’s something that just exists and somehow everyone knows what it is, without having talked about it or acknowledged what it is and how they’ve got it.
Culture has a bit of a tough gig in companies. When it suits, people use company culture as an excuse for their behaviour or and when it’s all ‘happy clappy’, they cite it as the reason behind their success. Culture always has its neck on the line.
But here’s the thing, it needs work. It needs focus and attention because culture can be complex. It gets even more complex when cultures mix. Take an individual for example, they have their own culture but then throw them into the workplace and BAM! Now you have a different dynamic to deal with.
When cultures collide
Company Culture can be defined as a set of values, goals, behaviours, attitudes and practices that characterise the organisation. You’ll generally hear the same common words used to describe company culture such as fun, collaborative, transparent, nurturing, supportive and so on.
Companies have great intentions to do the right thing when it comes to culture but despite this, many leaders within the company struggle to execute on many of them in the workplace, it becomes difficult to uphold. Take, for example, transparency - both employees and clients/ customers want transparency but when it comes to key information and decisions, transparency has limits and boundaries. In some nationality cultures, transparency is the norm and in others it’s uncustomary.
Another common example of cultural conflict is in Collaboration. A collaborative culture requires deliberate action, it doesn't just happen by bringing people together once or twice a month. It's a regular occurrence which forms part of the processes, the way of thinking and behaviours instilled in the individuals. With the best intentions, in reality this is difficult to do. Not least because time is a self-inflicted barrier for many, but also because when you bring diversity of thinking together, it can either nurture creativity and innovation and reach solutions quicker or it can some become resistant as a response to detecting some sort of threat. There is another camp, of course, as we have observed in teams we’ve worked with, which is that the individual just simply doesn’t want to collaborate.
So, when I hear or read about leading with authenticity and company culture being key to the success of organisations, I ponder on what happens when cultures collide?
Leading with authenticity through the lens of culture in leadership includes a style that means leading with all of who you are and being aware of what that looks and sounds like to the people you interact with.
But in reality, how easy is this to do?
How easy is it for leaders to genuinely be their authentic self without upsetting or offending someone else, or coming across as too harsh or too soft? Of course, the opposite is also true when being themselves brings others closer to them, they inspire loyalty and gain trust.
But more often than not, in the workplace we see cultures colliding, rather than collaborating.
Think about it, in some cultures it’s normal to speak loudly but in others it’s considered aggressive. In some cultures chewing food loudly is acceptable, it’s a sign of enjoying a meal and in others, it’s offensive (some might even say disgusting and annoying).
I've worked in companies in which culture was consistent, clear and well understood by all, which meant behaviours were aligned across the board (although, you could argue that perhaps many people weren’t being their authentic selves, but I’ll leave that for another time). I’ve also worked in other companies in which it wasn’t consistent, it was confusing, the expected behaviours didn’t seem to apply to management team members as they did to other employees. Behaviours were overlooked at the C-Suite and Director level and yet strongly held to account at the team level.
I've worked with a global client which, at the company level has a very strong presence of the HQ culture throughout the entire global business. For many years, the culture didn’t allow for adaptability and growth through collaboration, it was directorial or worse dictatorial at times meaning the individuals in other offices with different local cultures felt handcuffed and self-censored which sabotaged motivation and innovation.
What matters
So how do you build successful multi-cultural teams and still maintain an agreed culture within the team that is acceptable and well understood by all?
Textbook leadership is great but what’s even better, is a more adaptable, consistent and personalised approach to leadership. Understanding your own cultural context as a leader is the first step towards the team goal.
For example, I consider myself multicultural. I'm of Iranian heritage (Persian as some still call it), born and raised in the UK. I have travelled around the world a lot, I have a diverse group of friends, I have worked in global organisations with highly diverse teams (diverse in culture, gender and thinking). I have a set of values, customs and behaviours that are unique to me through my upbringing, my life experiences and my learned and inherited habits and biases, all of which have formed my mindset. As they will be for everyone in their own context.
My strengths are built on multicultural existence, I make decisions based on the nature of multicultural existence, the way I interact, my actions and communication with others is based on multicultural existence. Having this context is key to knowing how I approach any opportunity or challenge that crosses my path.
Leading with authenticity through the lens of culture is, for me, a critical success factor for any leader (or any individual for that matter).
Creating the culture in a team and getting the balance right is no mean feat, especially in today’s working environment where the “great resignation” continues to mar the great endeavours of leaders with employees demanding their own new working patterns and conditions, as opposed to doing what they’ve contractually committed to do. Once established, maintaining the culture then becomes the new goal. Being aware of the cultural context in which you operate is key to leadership success, then understanding the cultural context others, i.e. your team members, operate in is key to team success.
I like to think of culture as the additional player on the team (or maybe the first member); in a netball team it would be the 8th player, the additional band member in an orchestra or the 6th member of a work team of 5. It’s the additional team member because it too is unique to the team, it needs nurturing and development, it has its strengths and weaknesses, it needs to adapt to changing environments.
As Peter Drucker, management consultant, educator, and author, said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!”
So, which culture do you lead with when it comes to leading a team?
In what cultural context are each of your team members operating?
We, at Captivate Coaching and Consulting, support leaders with team development and culture transformation within teams and an organizations. Contact us for more information on how we can support you to avoid the collision and increase collaboration.
You’ve read this blog and have no doubt collated some thoughts. We’d love to hear your views and experience on the topic of culture and leading with authenticity, so drop us a comment on our post on our social media platforms or like and share this blog with your network.
Marjan Mahoutchian, co-founder