5 Misconceptions About Workplace Culture

How you can make a difference

Workplace culture is both a “hot” and important topic in the world today. Companies, organizations, and government agencies are all struggling with the reality that they have seriously unhealthy workplace cultures. Yet many people (including leaders) have significant misconceptions about what creates “workplace culture” and whether or not (or how) it can be changed. Frequent results of these misconceptions include: a) individuals within the organization giving up trying to improve the culture because they view the situation as hopeless; b) they want to do something to make a difference but don’t know where to start, or c) their attempts to change the culture are so misguided that their efforts are totally wasted.  (Some of the approaches are analogous to trying to fix an overheated car engine by changing a tire on the car.) 
 

Let’s look at these misconceptions and then address what individuals within an organization can do to start to make a difference.
 

Some individuals (especially in larger companies and organizations) look at the current life of an organization and feel overwhelmed with the complexity of the problems. They conclude the problem is too big to be addressed for the organization to be able to change. This is clearly not the case. Huge organizations of various types have taken a self-assessment, seen that there are significant problems that need to be addressed and started on a path to successfully change.

People sometimes reach this conclusion because they observe companies and organizations changing significantly after they have had a significant event (for example, a bankruptcy) which requires them to totally reorganize and reformulate the organization.  Other times, they see that a new company is birthed after a formerly large unhealthy one dies, and “out of the ashes” comes a new renovated variation of the former company. While this can be a way that a workplace culture can change, we obviously don’t want to essentially amputate major parts of the company in order to make it healthy (although this is occasionally needed).
 

This belief is held by some because of the incredible “staying power” that an existing culture has. Many cultures can feel almost immovable. This conclusion is also reached because individuals believe that “culture” is an external entity that essentially happens to an organization.  The reality is: workplace culture is the result of the combination of thousands of individual interactions between hundreds or thoughts of individual employees. 
 

While leadership at the top may need to be changed, doing this single action in no way guarantees any type of change will occur within the corporate culture. This is evidenced by the large number of companies who have recently had toxic cultures, changed their leadership, but the cultural patterns continue (usually because the leaders underneath them have the same values and approaches the senior leaders did).
 

There are also people who simplistically believe, “all we need to do is be more positive” and a negative culture will magically transform. Culture is complex and, in many cases, is difficult to change. But, when the people within an organization understand what comprises culture and then start a systematic approach to changing those factors which help shape culture, change can happen. 

As indicated above, the first step is to empower people to change their individual behavior.  If each individual employee, supervisor, manager, or executive takes responsibility for themselves to make small, but consistent, changes in their behavior over time, an organization’s culture can begin to “morph” to a healthier state of being.

Secondly, culture is also highly influenced by structure (communication patterns, decision making styles, expectations for daily functioning), as well as repeatedly proclaiming the mission of the organization along with the priorities and values by which that mission will be obtained.  A company may have a mission to “serve their clients” and “provide a reasonable return on investors’ investment” but how that is accomplished (and the values on which the actions are based) will significantly impact what the corporate culture becomes.

Third, there are a number of other critical elements that leaders often forget—the need for community, the power of visual symbols, how music, food, and celebrating organizational successes. Rituals (those actions which are done repeatedly without thinking) and traditions fill in the remaining parts of what an organization’s culture looks like.

If you are interested in trying to help refashion your organization’s culture, start to reflect on how your daily actions may influence the aspects of your workplace’s culture you don’t like and see what ways you can start behaving differently that could begin to make a difference.  You can influence the interactions around you, and ultimately, begin to affect change in your overall organizational culture.
 

Paul White, Ph.D. is the co-author of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, a sought after speaker, psychologist, and leadership trainer who "makes work relationships work". For the past 20+ years, he's worked with numerous businesses, non-profit organizations, schools and medical facilities. Visit www.appreciationatwork.com Follow @drpaulwhite Connect Paul White