Tag Archives: culture

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Code of Conduct

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Organizations of all types frequently choose to create and communicate to various stakeholders groups (sometimes all stakeholders) their behavioral expectations relative to interactions with the organization.

The code of conduct is developed by, or at a minimum – endorsed by, the board or senior leadership of the organizations.  The code is  strategic in nature providing direction for development of guidelines and procedures which are contextually specific.

Personal Values

Organizational conduct codes are necessarily in sync with the enterprise values, mission and vision.  This alignment is critical to build support for expected behaviors by those acting for and associated with the organization.

The organizational behavior expectations, grounded on expected values, work best when they are in sync with the personal values of those individuals that make up the organizational whole.

Thus the organizational code of conduct can be a filter both for selection of stakeholders as well as for the stakeholders themselves to determine if this organization is a good fit.

Developing a Code of Conduct

An interesting question for organizations is how to best develop the enterprise wide conduct expectations.  Is this a collaborative exercise among all stakeholders or should it be top down.

I believe there is no simple answer to this question and like many things (e.g., conservative vs. liberal, nature vs. nurture) in fact the answer lies with creating an optimal balance.

The organizational leaders both strategic and operational (i.e, the board and executive) play a key role in developing and issuing the code but to be effective it must take the expectations of the broader stakeholder group into account.

How to do this is very much contextual and dependent on the overall make-up of the organization but drawing on the existing culture, strategy and values at the core of the organization can often be an efficient way as opposed to the broader consultation processes often used by large and ineffective bureaucracies.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

It’s all about the People

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Throughout our lives we both belong to and interact with many different organizations ranging from government through corporate, small business and non-profit.

The public’s opinion overall for some organizations is a strong positive sentiment (e.g.,  like 100% for a good movie on rotten tomatoes) while others are disliked or badly thought of.

It is often the way the organizations people behave that is the first place this opinion becomes formed.

Who is the Organization?

For all these organizations how they operate is key to their success, regardless of their product or service, although the nature and quality of the products and services do matter.

People make organizations great, nothing more, nothing less, it is all about the people.  An organization, regardless of it’s purpose, is basically first the people who are part of it and secondly what it does.

Sadly, I find this simple fact, that is your organizational identity is formed by those who are work to achieve it’s objectives.  I find this basic truth  is often overlooked by a focus on the institutions financial viability.

Less People More Profit

Cutting costs to get more done with less is admirable whether the organizations main purpose is financial profit or just to improve the quality of life.  Less cost mean more resources to allocate, grow and get better.

Typical salary costs are most easily reduced (and often the largest cost) However, fiscal benefit can be outweighed by reputation  costs and this impact should be carefully weighed when deciding to affect your organizations human resources.

Remember your brand opinion will not be positive if the people that make up your organization are not viewed positively both by those who avail themselves of your products and services as well as their colleagues.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Being Polite

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The definition of politeness is behaving in a way that is respectful and considerate of others.  Unfortunately determining what is respectful and considerate is subjective and there is the rub.

Considerate behaviour should align with expectations.  Individual expectations can vary considerable and group expectations are formed from cultural bias.

What?

In English the expression what can be associated with body language indicating incredibility.  That is, the observered behaviour is considered outlandish or outside the norm.  

Such an expression, used about some action that is a  behaviour norm in another culture will fall flat.  Perception and expectation drive the interpretation of politeness.

Picking up the Garbage

In North America there are public garbage receptacles everywhere.  Still there is garbage randomly cast aside everwhere, just check your local park.

In Japan there are virtually no public garbage receptacles and despite this there is virtually no garbage in public places.  

In Japan, it is considered impolite to dispose of your garbage anywhere but home and the main deviation from this is the by foriegn tourists. 

The cultural norm of the country very much drives behaviour.  Of course that is not to say there are some impolite people but their occurance is rare.

Practicing Logic

While individual expectations and cultural bias is a reality the benefit of polite behaviour is the pleasure it brings to others, and so to yourself.

Understanding the context of behaviour norms  is valuable but most important is self awareness about the impacts of your beviour on others.

In the moment reacting to and meeting their needs and expectations can and should be more of an exercise in applied logic than guessing what the expectations are.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Foundations of Culture

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Many cultures exist around the world.  That is, a particular people or society develop their ideas, customs and social behavior which apply to the group as a whole.

The behavior associated with the cultural norms likely derives from many factors,  both environment and genetic.  That is the temperment of a people can be bred, learned or a combination of both.

Human Inhumanity to Human

One key aspect of culture is how people interract with others .  From politeness to predudicial brutality unfortunately the societal norms do always lead to equal treatment for all.

Like typical animal behavior, observed in many species, the pack mentalty applies.  The larger pack (the in group) can treat the minorities with distain and even worse.

How Culture Develops

Cultural develops and changes over time with the group psyche.  This is influenced by historical events (e.g. war and and famine), geography ( e.g., nearness to others,  natural bordr protection, isolation).

Population density, weather, availability and type of food are among the many other things that drive cultural development.

For Example

I have visited Japan often and can cite my observations as to drivers of their cultural development.  First, isolation (it’s a collection of islands) has led to self reliance and associated operational efficiencies.

The population density (the islands are full of people) has led to an extreme politeness and powerful national pride.  Being a Japaness citizen is an honor, dual citizenship is not allowed.  Who would want to be be anything else?

Earthquakes and typhoons occur often and has led to a very resilient culture.

Culture is real and very powerful and as a whole people of specific regions adhere to the values and behavioral norms passed on historically, changing with time as the historical events and geographic isolation morphs.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Fait Attention

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Language can be a mirror to culture.  In English we say pay attention.  The implication is there is a cost of your concentration.  In French the term is fait attention.

The literal translation is a command.  Make attention.  Although subtle these slight nuances in terminology can be very telling indications of the associated culture.

Another interesting example is from Japan.  Jidoshu no joshu seki is the Japanese term for the passenger in the front seat of a car.  Literally this translates to the assistants seat.

The concept of passive passenger versus reactive assistant is very noticeable when you are the driver traveling with a Japanese companion.

Multi-Lingual Advantage

Being able to move freely around the planet and interract through direct communications with the inhabitant of any geographic region is obviously a benefit.

The real reward though is the insight it provides to the local culture.  Understanding the local perspective in this way can provide an enhanced ability to fit in.

The Challenge

Unfortunately learning another language is not always an easy task.  I am sure there is  some genetic proclivity associated with this ability, that is some individuals can pick up other languages much faster than others.

Regardless of your ability to learn or speak a variety of lingos, most importantly though, whatever culture you are imersing yourself within, stay in the moment and make attention.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Entertainment

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Everyone has a unique individual perspective.  Sometimes peoples perspectives match closely and sometimes that is not the case.  The more consistently multiple perspectives align,  the higher the level of agreement.

During our daily activities, work or play we observe, analyze and conclude.   To clarify, I am using the terms work and play broadly.  While not absolutely correct, for ease of broad classification I mean these two terms to cover everything you do:

  • work are all activities you do for someone else for compensation (whether monetary, personal satisfaction or other)
  • play is everything that is not work, although some of these things that don’t conform to the definition of work, are not always associated in our mind as play because this term has a connotation to some degree of being fun.

Entertainment at Work

Entertainment is typically an event, performance or activity intended to provide amusement or enjoyment.  Typically most do not expect to be entertained at work.

An exception to this might be an usher in a theatre or stadium where the job could include the opportunity to watch the event or performance.

Entertainment should provide pleasure, which in turn can be a motivation to do a better job.  By this logic, encouraging and creating an entertaining work environment where the general overriding perspective is positive, could lead to better outcomes.

Workers regularly observe, analyze and conclude about the things occurring around them.   Shaping these perceptions toward the positive can be motivating.

Uplifting your Workplace Culture

Give some thought to altering the workplace perspective and increasing the entertainment levels within your organizational culture.  You may be surprised by the outcomes.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Cultural Atmosphere

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Non verbal activities, things like body language and other visual queues coupled with actual behaviours ( how people act) can tell a comprehensive story.

It is a normal and natural human trait to sense the nature of the environment.  We feel fear, become uncomfortable or sense this is not a happy team or group unconciously.

Conscious versus Unconcious queues

Probing with questions, getting to know others through general feedback or just consciously observing can provide data to enable conclusions about organizational or team culture.

This conscious assesssment needs to be combined with what your non verbal senses gather.  How you feel about a situation is often ignored at your peril.

Feel the Energy

Typically organizations document their vision and mission.  They promote their culture actively through written and spoken word.  The message describes how the organizations expect their human resources to act.

Unfortunately their can be disconnects between the aspirations and reality.  When you enter a office, factory or other location, the first thing you feel is the atmosphere.

You can feel the energy of the place.  Positive energy and excitement or negative energy, neither can be hidden.  Typically the atmosphere is sensed rather than materially catalogued.

This measure is more subjective than objective but it exists.  A question I often hear is “How do we know when we are a high performing team.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is a combination of feeling it and results.  The feeling is a leading indicator.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Determining the best course

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Today a collegue and I had an interesting philisophical discussion about how things should be done.  Is there a right way and a wrong way?

If the outcomes are good does it matter how they were arrived at?  The challenge is, arguably there are  grey answers to these questions.

Consider Basic Behaviours

Most would agree to take another humans life is wrong, however; taking anothers life in defense of your own or accidentally contributing to a loss of life seem to logically mitigate the seriousness or even if it is wrong.

So, the basic statement “Taking anothers life is wrong” could have many qualifiers making the ultimate conclusion of wrong or right not so clear.

Group or Organizational Behaviour

It probably seems logical for groups to practise clear and open communication.  For there to be rules or at very least guidelines outlining accountabilities and responsibilities.

For multi layered structures (i.e., heirarchical) it seems obvious documented organizational structure is of great value. But, like the murder example, what seems obvious might not be.

Unstructed cultures, where anyone can do anything can exist and be intentional.  Clear guidelines, responsiblities, even unambigous communication might not fit with this culture.

And the answer is

What is the key to success is not declaring what is right or wrong, but rather as a group or team collaberatively determining the culture and then fitting the behaviour standards to conform with that culture, in a fully supportive manner.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Centralized or Decentralized?

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Medium to large organizations can centralize some operations ( or even all of them) or they might be totally decentralized.  Or there could be some balance between the two concepts .

My own preference is a balanced approach focused on the goals (What is the purpose of the structure, what do you want to achieve?) Unfortunately the organizations culture often dictates the preference.

Rather than design the operational approach for effectiveness it defauts to the cultural bias.

For Example

Consider the six main Canadian Financial Institutions.  Their reputation for having risk averse conservative bureaucratic cultures is definitely a stereotype and a bit of a broad brush .

That being said, on the whole most would agree there is some basis of truth to that characterization.  Conservative, risk averse organizations tend to have  strong central governance tied to underlying operations with some autonomy, but limited.

Those familiar with the Canadian F.I.’s operational structure know this is exactly the case for these organizations.

Similarly, post secondary educational institutes generally have cultures espousing academic freedom and individual initiative .  In turn this often equates to decentralized operational structures.

Culture or Goals

Operational processes aligned primarily with the organizations culture can serve a valuable purpose (supporting and reinforcing the culture), however, there may be some disconnects with alignment to the corporate goals.

Operational centralization and decentralization impact cost, service quality and overall efficiency.  One size does not fit all and alignment with organizational goals, versus culture is often more effective although can be harder to implement.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What state are you in?

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Regardless of what you do every day (e.g., work for money, pleasure, charity, retired etc) you can classify how you feel about the surrounding culture/ environment into one or more of four categories.

Each category defines your behaviour and motivates your actions. These are:

  1. unsatisfying/ does not meet your needs
  2. a good match that inspires you
  3. not perfect for you but presents an opportunity to influence change
  4. not to your liking but you accept it

Recognizing your environmental category is an important skill (self awareness) .  It helps you conciously act on the unconcious behavior drivers associated with the culture you are emeshed in.

Self awareness is an empowering skill that allows you to ensure your behaviour is appropriate to the circumstances.  That is, control how you act separate from how you feel, to ensure positive outcomes.

Unsatisfying

Typically you would be motivated to leave this environment as soon as feasible.  This is not usually a happy place for you.  Don’t let your feelings drive bad (inappropriate ) behaviour.

Good Match

Embrace the environment.  That is, embrace how things are and thrive.  Should not be hard.  In this case, you are fully comfortable with the culture.

Not Perfect

There is a real opportunity here to create an environment you would consider a good match and it’s worth trying to do so.  Impact and influence behaviours are key.  Have fun with it.

Not to your liking

This situation is the hardest to take and can morph into deciding to leave.  Normally there is some real motivation to stay (e.g., need the money and cannot readily find a replacement).  Usually you feel trapped, unhappy and stressed.  This is a category you want to move away from as quickly as possible.