What's your company culture?

Culture, or the way we doing things around here, can make or break an organisation. There is no one definitive workplace culture. There have always been a variety of cultural norms to choose from. Unfortunately, most of the traditional cultures have been less than desirable. Here are some examples:

Hard work culture: Work needs to be difficult and unpleasant. People should not have a good time at work. They are paid to do things they dislike. If they seem to be enjoying themselves then we had better change things so they don't. In this type of organisation there is no place for social interaction and staff benefits are limited.

Be seen culture: Also called the "present and busy" culture. It doesn't matter what you are doing as long as you look busy. This is the culture that encourages people to work long hours just to be seen. You need to spend lots of time complaining about how busy you are as though it is a competition to see who is the busiest. But are you really doing any valuable work?

Don't question culture: People leave their brains at the door and don't question anything for fear of rocking the boat. This breeds a reactive organisation where staff don't use their initiative. They wait for management to tell them what to do. The result can be lots of mistakes and a lack of innovation.

Us versus them culture: The us and them can be management versus unions, head office versus the branches or the sales department versus everyone else. In this type of organisation one group believe they are more important to the organisation than everyone else and they let them know it. This culture can also develop when separate business units are created and have to compete for limited customer dollars. Suddenly the other business units become competitors.

Old school culture: Typical of the well established organisation that has dominated its market for a long time. It is like a family and management are the parents. They don't want to change anything for fear of upsetting the winning formula. But times change and so should organisations.

The new culture

The new revolution in the workplace is all about developing the right culture. Experts say that changing the culture of an organisation is like steering an oil tanker. It's a long, slow process and you don't see results immediately. So let's have a look at some of the features of the new workplace culture.

Results not effort: The new organisation rewards people for the results they achieve, rather than simply for the effort they put in. This might sound unfair but in practice it is extremely fair. After all, what keeps an organisation going is usually its ability to make a profit and results mean profit.

Feel at home: The office doesn't look like an office anymore. People are wearing comfortable clothes, having meetings over coffee in the company café and working surrounded by comfortable furniture. Since we spend 8 (or more) hours a day at work a new culture of the home away from home makes sense.

Work anywhere, anytime: Technology has allowed us to take work out of the office and on the road, into the air and into the home. The idea of working anywhere at anytime has flow on effects. Less travel time, reduced stress and less absenteeism as people are able to care for sick children and run personal errands while still getting the job done.

A happy person is a productive person: Work is allowed to be fun and the organisations that are realising that happy people work better are seeing amazing results. So how do you find out what makes your people happy? Simple - ask them! Remember, this is the new, flexible workplace so don't try to find a "one size fits all" solution to the question.

Further information

For further information contact your nearest Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland regional office.