Neglecting your company culture and letting it evolve without intention or ambition can leave you in a tricky place. It’s possible that you may get lucky and the culture you have may grow into exactly the culture you need.  But most companies don’t get lucky. Unplanned cultures evolve to an overplayed set of strengths. Instead of enabling an organisation, they do as much harm as they do good.

Having a great culture isn’t just about having a cool workplace. Culture is not dictated by slide in the middle of the office, the foosball table, the free drinks bar, all-day coffee or sweets.

A culture is defined by the cumulative set of behaviours in an organisation. It is the collective energy and normalised actions of the employees that make a culture, not any poster on the wall.

Do you know the behaviours which will underpin your future success? Are they aligned to the values your hold dear? Or is there a disconnect between your aspiration and the reality of day-to-day actions? 

Organisational cultures require a clear vision of where you want to go and relentless accountability.  From top to bottom, big meeting to hallway chat, aligned behaviours need to be reinforced and rewarded. Conflicting behaviours, and the root causes behind them, must be addressed.