Have you ever stepped back to think about what the culture really is where you lead or work? Culture is those unspoken expectations and habits that are formed within a group of people. For example, some families have a culture where there is no cursing. Some organizations are very positive and creative while others may be negative and rigid.
Why is culture so important? Culture establishes your standards and expectations. Culture creates your team’s daily environment. Culture is like the personality of your organization and as the leader it often is a reflection of you.
In his book How to Build and Sustain a Championship Culture, sports psychologist and author Jeff Janssen provides a definition for eight different types of cultures. As you look at this list ask yourself “what is the culture of the group or organization I lead most like?”
- Corrosive culture – this is a culture that is dominated by conflict, frustration, negativity, gossiping, selfishness, distrust, and cliques. People are not working together, but instead are constantly battling. People become apathetic or resistant to achieve goals because of a lack of respect for the leader.
- Country Club culture – the priority here is to look good and have a good time. Championships do not matter and coasting through is acceptable.
- Congenial culture – the priority is that everyone gets along. People don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Most likely there are no candid and honest conversations occurring. Although there are positives to this culture, results are not a priority.
- Comfortable culture – comfort is key here. People want to accomplish big goals and have depth to their relationships, but only if this is easy. Being out of one’s comfort zone is not acceptable.
- Competitive culture – if results are very important but people are not as important, then this is your culture. This culture has a strong focus on results and not a high focus on relationships.
- Cut-throat culture – results are all that matter. If your character flaws such as selfishness or outside issues are overlooked because you get results such as wins or lots of sales, then you are part of a cut-throat culture.
- Constructive culture – a balanced focus on both results and relationships. People are willing to work hard toward common goals and develop solid relationships.
- Championship culture – this culture has a strong and clear sense of their mission and purpose. They have very clear goals and have a strong desire to achieve them. Both members of the team and the leaders are intentional about building strong relationships with one another to the point of being lifelong friends.
I have shown you Mr. Janssen’s definitions which are focused on a sports environment, but can easily translate to another environment. Where is your culture now? Where do you want it to be? What needs to change in order for you to get there? Most likely, if you are the leader the first changes must happen with you. What steps will you take today in order to create the culture you want tomorrow? It starts with one step. In the words of NIKE . . . Just Do It!
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