Over the years, I have had lots of conversations about ‘corporate culture’ and in particular ‘what to measure’. I must confess I am rather sceptical of culture surveys because they usually presuppose a specific model behind them that you have to marry (or at least romance) before any survey. I am more interested in what I would look for through the lenses of organizational anthropology. I did publish this list some time ago but I bring it back now because it is still so relevant:
- Not what is written in procedures but what is not written in those pages
- Not how people behave in meetings, but in the cafeteria
- What people can get away with and nothing would happen
- What happens in the long breaks, not in the mesmerizing looking at screens
- The noise in the corridor (yes, noise as in noise) or the deserted feeling
- The recognized elephants occupying all the room that nobody talks about
- What the employee manual does not tell you
- The percentage of people doing emails when pretending to listen to a conference call
- The things you never do here, what you are not supposed to do
- The phrases or expressions that surprisingly everybody uses in almost epidemic style
- The things we never talk about. The topics that are never on the table
- The number of people who work from home but don’t really work
- The terms, themes, phrases you don’t use because they trigger bad memories
- Not what is said in a meeting, but the unsaid
- Not what people say but what they do
Upcoming Events
Join my team and I for these forthcoming webinars:
THERE IS A BETTER WAY WITH THE CHALFONT PROJECT
Join my team of organization architects and I, as we explore the future of organizational life. We will explain how the 3 Pillars of The Chalfont Project’s Organizational Architecture – smart organizational design, large scale behavioural and cultural change and collective leadership – work together to create a ‘Better Way‘ for organizations to flourish in the post-COVID world.
- Webinar 1: “A Better Way to…Design your organizational structures to create a Remarkable Organization for the future.”
27th May, 1730 BST/1830 CET
- Webinar 2: “A Better Way to…Create sustainable large scale behavioural and cultural change across your organization.”
3rd June, 1730 BST/1830 CET
- Webinar 3: “A Better Way to…Build and enhance your collective leadership capabilities.”
17th June, 1730 BST/1830 CET
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