In her book ReCulturing, Melissa Daimler uses systems thinking as a backdrop to managing culture in … [+]
When Melissa Daimler, Chief Learning Officer at Udemy, and an expert on developing positive and productive company cultures, sat down to write a book on the topic, she had already reviewed every book, article, and research paper she could get her hands on dedicated to the subject. One thing that stood out to her was a growing frustration building as she read the many definitions of “organizational culture.” Too many treated it as a nebulous, undefined thing that sat solely in HR’s domain.
In her view, there was not enough that existed on the topic of intentionally designing culture in a workplace—and, as if to mirror that desire for intentionality, she went out and wrote that book herself. The result is ReCulturing: Design Your Company Culture to Connect with Strategy and Purpose for Lasting Success.
Daimler uses systems thinking as a backdrop to managing culture in an organization, positing that culture isn’t just a one-off initiative but is deeply and intrinsically linked with an organization’s operational system and greater purpose. (In layman’s terms: it’s what drives a business forward.)
In her book, Daimler shares some practical know-how on taking a systems approach to designing company culture at organizations large and small.
What IS culture, anyway?
While culture can be a hard-to-grasp concept when it comes to the day-to-day, Daimler breaks it down pretty cleanly: “Strategy is what we’re working on. Culture is how we’re working. And purpose is why we’re working.”
Designing culture from the top-down with careful attention to what you’re trying to achieve is something she’s seen directly at work great cultures like Twitter and Adobe. At the same time, that lack of focus and intention is a missing piece at places like WeWork, where she previously served as SVP of Talent.
“I would often sit down with a business leader and talk about where we were going strategically,” she said. “But that conversation would naturally link to organizational design and structure, what skills its people needed, and how these would help the company achieve its purpose. All the pieces are interconnected.”
How company cultures go awry
Of course, for all the examples of positive workplace cultures out there, there is no lack of examples of cultures that are less than ideal. Daimler sees this, in part, as a reflection of the lack of understanding of what a culture really is.
“I think people tend to define culture as just a list of values written on a wall or website. That it’s a project to define those values, and once it’s done it’s never reviewed again, and simply relegated to HR.”
The path toward a healthy company culture starts with linking their values to an active set of behaviors, which is an important step that many organizations fail to take.
“Culture is more of a verb than a noun,” she explains. “The development of culture goes beyond defining your values—it’s codifying them in behaviors and how you make them show up in processes and practices.” Companies with cultures that are lacking often don’t take this next step, which can be instilled across the organization, from hiring and onboarding to promoting and giving feedback.
It’s never too late for a company to right the ship, Daimler points out (using sailing metaphors in her book to help describe systems thinking). Awareness is often the first step—we all make mistakes, and leaders identifying that they were made goes a long way toward laying down a new foundation.
Book cover of ReCulturing
From values to behaviors
That might sound easier said than done, but the process of transferring company values to the behaviors of its employees is very doable, even in a larger company.
Culture is something that should be reviewed regularly, Daimler suggests, especially during major shifts that are likely to impact that culture. This goes for times of leadership transition, mergers and acquisitions, and even the move back to in-office work like we’re seeing now.
“These key moments are opportunities to say, are these still the behaviors that we want to see in our company? Are there things that we want to evolve?”
In practice, this looks like being focused on the areas you provide feedback on to employees, and how they’re evaluated. Set expectations and establish guidelines or criteria on how you want people to work with each other.
“It’s easier to give ongoing feedback when we know the behaviors that we’re supposed to be giving feedback on,” she points out. “So, they have to be observable behaviors, and positively framed—rather than naming things you don’t want, hold up what you do want to encourage.”
How to shape a culture from the outset
Not everyone will have this option, but if you’re able to start building a culture from the onset—for example, as a startup founder who wants to get this part of the business equation right—starting off on the right foot is a lot easier than undoing an unhealthy work culture down the road.
The first thing to do, Daimler recommends, is to get the leadership team onto the same page about what culture means for the company as a whole and making sure each leader knows they are responsible for it.
Define the company’s values, and from there you can dig into what behaviors would reflect those values. Stay focused, though—Daimler recommends no more than three to five core values, and 15 behaviors. This breaks down to about three behaviors tied to each value. “If you have too many and you can’t remember them easily, it becomes more of a memory exercise than something you can put into practice,” she says.
Once the executive team has this blueprint for a culture, you can bring this plan to your employees. “Talk to them about what’s important, how you want to work together and evaluate each other. It becomes easier and easier as the conversation goes on. You start to see those behaviors; they come to life pretty quickly.”
Daimler also suggests iterating and refining the process over the course of several months. Collect feedback from leaders and employees via focus groups. Some behaviors will rise to the top, others will fall off. After it becomes clear which is which, start embedding the chosen behaviors in the actual process of work.
“So many companies stop short, even when they get so close and have defined the behaviors,” she warns. “The whole point is to have them show up in the very processes that happen day-to-day, because that’s where they will have tangible impact.”
Culture keeps evolving—guide it along
Daimler points out that you can never rest and let a culture sit unattended. Even after years and years, there are always opportunities to iterate and improve.
“As leaders, you have the opportunity to intentionally design a culture that you want to be part of every day. Every employee is responsible for co-creating and actively making sure that that culture is alive on a daily basis. The ways we communicate and connect are all opportunities for culture to be strengthened or weakened, depending on if you seize the moment or not.”
You can passively let culture happen, but you probably won’t like the results. ReCulturing offers a straightforward guide to being intentional and taking a systems approach in designing your organization’s culture for enduring success.
