How to create the right culture in any organization
Consider cultures as spices. What will you create?
The word culture is being heavily used in the business world in recent years — but what does it really mean and why is it an important factor in any digital transformation journey?
Culture refers to the shared beliefs, attitudes, customs, art, and social structure of a specific group. The Corporate culture is reflected in the way that employees and management interact, and it is moulded either deliberately or naturally, influencing all aspects of the organization.
The emergence of digital technology as a new layer of infrastructure is certain to bring about a transformation in the fundamental values and culture of corporations. Each organization has its legacy and vision for the future, and a corporate culture is a recipe that requires being developed, built, and invested in.
Found.ation has identified five different versions of digital cultures, which should be viewed as elements of a corporate culture rather than separate entities that an organization must blindly adhere to. These should be considered as examples and practices that can be used to create a customized and effective corporate culture for any particular organization.
Spicing up the organization
- The Digital-First Culture
Businesses in a Digital-First Culture operate in a technologically advanced environment, where employees are adept at utilizing both established and emerging digital tools. The organization seamlessly integrates remote work into its internal policies, without distinguishing between physical and digital presence, as most work is conducted using appropriate technologies to keep everyone connected. Despite the importance of technology, human workers’ contributions should not be overshadowed. Technology should instead be utilized as a support system behind the scenes, and organizations should refrain from becoming excessively fixated on it. The driving force behind the company’s success remains its employees, who continuously evaluate their actions to ensure they align with the organization’s strategic objectives. - The Growth Mindset Culture
A Growth Mindset Culture within an organization acknowledges the inevitability of change and the increasing prevalence of digital advancements. Failing to keep up with these concurrent developments can jeopardize the organization’s viability. This culture places a strong emphasis on continuous learning, encouraging the acquisition of new knowledge, and supporting the development and enhancement of skills and abilities. It recognizes that investing in employees is vital to the organization’s success and sets high standards for individual development to keep up with the latest Digital Transformation trends. While the adoption of technology and DT are not the main focus of a Growth Mindset culture, they are a natural outcome of this way of thinking. However, it’s important to balance the emphasis on employee growth with other responsibilities to prevent overworking or unintentionally driving employees away. Finally, it’s essential to note that while a growth mindset has similar goals and values to an educational institution, a business’s primary objective is its prosperity. - The Culture of Proactiveness
A Culture of Proactiveness within an organization may seem less rigid than what one is accustomed to. The perceived looseness arises from the trust placed in employees to deliver work and results. Here, the emphasis is not on obeying commands from higher-level managers, but rather on employees being proactive, committed to the organization’s products or services, making accountable decisions, and possessing a clear understanding of business objectives and KPIs. The organizational processes are designed to fix errors rather than punish, and managers serve as mentors to their team rather than imposing authority. In this culture, individuals thrive in teams, regulate their workload based on deliverables, and solicit input from various departments to achieve common business goals. Despite being results-driven and goal-oriented, this culture puts the adage “people are our greatest asset” into practice. - The Culture of Performance
A company that adopts a Culture of Performance can leverage digital technologies and big data to gain real-time insights into various measurable aspects of work, such as customer interactions, feedback, acquisition costs, employee performance, and adoption rates. To enhance decision-making, the company can use numerical indicators to establish clear annual goals for each department and monitor their progress in real-time, provided that an agile mindset and a reliable system for incentivizing performance and achieving targets are in place. Nevertheless, it is crucial to strike a balance between the culture of performance and the overall corporate culture, as some people may find it stressful. Moreover, if unforeseen events, such as market fluctuations, occur, the organization must promptly re-evaluate its performance metrics to avoid operating out of context and losing employee motivation. - The Culture of Innovation
A Culture that prioritizes Innovation fosters an attitude of trial and error, freeing individuals from the fear of failure and encouraging experimentation with complete or incomplete products and services. The aim is to learn from mistakes and failures before they are incorporated into shipped products or services. Collaborative, multidisciplinary teams work together towards common business goals, pooling their expertise to develop cutting-edge insights that are shared across the team. In this culture, there are no barriers between departments, and T-shaped employees work collaboratively to deliver results. Processes are in place to enable cross-departmental collaboration, and employees are encouraged to participate in projects that fit their skills, with the necessary breathing space and appropriate tools to understand the context and needs of the product or service’s users. Through prototyping, tinkering, and testing, ideas and original assumptions are validated, and a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data is used as input for the organization. Advanced thinking and tech tools are employed to translate this data into meaningful insights that are used to develop novel propositions. These propositions are repeatedly tested before being incorporated into the organization’s regular line of products or services.
So, which one is the right culture?
As noted before, corporate culture is not a “one-size fits all” recipe. Each organization and business, depending on its legacy and vision for the future, has and cultivates a different culture. Corporate culture is a recipe that requires being developed, built, invested in, and does not change overnight. That means that a successful outcome may come from different combinations and proportions of the “spices” depicted in the picture above. Create your own mix and experiment!
P.S. If you are curious to know, most Greek companies we surveyed said their prevalent culture is the one of Growth Mindset with Innovation and Proactiveness following closely. Yet, as there is no right or wrong, it should not be taken as a rule for success.
Original text concept, survey and edits by Costas Bissas and Maria Kokidou. Adapted for Medium by Christine Kitsati and Maria Kokidou. Original illustrations by Costas Bissas and Yannis Mazarakis. Opening image from Unsplash.
Read more about the most up-to-date trends in Digital Transformation and how they can be applied by Greek businesses in the “Digital Transformation in Greece” report, which has been released annually for the past six years by Found.ation in collaboration with EIT Digital. This year’s edition is supported by Deloitte, the Retail Innovation Hub by Cardlink, and Stanton Chase.
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