Why You Should Create Your Own Team Culture

There’s a school of thought within many organisations that every team culture is the same. That the behaviours required in finance are the same as those required in IT. That the principles of collaboration are the same in the contact centre as they are in the sales team. And that the vision for HR is the same as that in Marketing.

All that’s required is one view of the culture — often driven ‘top down’ — and to put up posters around the office reminding people what it is and bingo, you have a great culture.

This approach is known as ‘one size fits all’ and comes from the same people that brought you the open plan office (‘It will improve collaboration!’), innovation hubs (‘It will give us a competitive advantage!’) and a ‘mandated’ process for managing projects (‘It will improve consistency!’).

Taking this approach to culture assumes that everyone in every department is the same. But of course they’re not and never will be. Key differences include:

1. Goals — the business strategy will determine the specific goals for each department, team or project. For HR it may be about reducing attrition or improving engagement, whilst for marketing it may be brand awareness or reputation. Project goals will center around usability, safety, budget, time and outcome delivery. No two teams have exactly the same goals
2. Challenges — from how data is gathered and used, the customer experience, time to market for new products, adherence to legal frameworks to maintaining service levels and risk exposure, every department has a different set of challenges to be met and managed
3. Leadership — each department or team will have someone different leading it. That person will have different ideas, motivations, aspirations, experiences and expectations. They will communicate in different ways to their peers, want to put their ‘stamp’ on things and often behave differently too.
4. Personalities — and of course, the people on each team are different too. Different backgrounds, cultures, experiences, skills, stories and of course personalities. Some of these people will work well together, some won’t. Some want to transform the way things get done, whilst some are happy with the status quo.

All of which means that no two cultures within an organisation can ever be the same and the one size fits all approach will fail.

Organisations must provide three elements from which leaders can develop their own cultures:

1. Vision — the organisation must have its own aspiration. An achievable statement of the future that excites and motivates
2. Strategy — a one to three year plan that describes how the organisation will achieve its vision. The kinds of things it will do and won’t do. The risks it’s exposed to and the kinds of people it will need to deliver it
3. Values — a set of beliefs that those who work for the organisation can hold themselves accountable to. These are the things that will be used for hiring, firing, recognition and reward.

With these things in place managers across any organisation — regardless of where they work — have the foundations they need to build their own subcultures.

Subcultures, defined by the staff that work within them, are relatable, relevant and relished. They are owned by those that work within them. They take accountability for goals, the way that they behave, interact and how they proactively challenge the status quo. They maintain a sense of empathy, compassion, perspective and commonsense in times of high stress and know how to celebrate human endeavour and collective achievement.

Subcultures give you the chance to build something that people choose to belong to, contribute to, perform in and remain part of. It’s where employee happiness lives. This is why you should create your own team culture.

To find out how to build a great sub-culture, join me for a free webinar this Friday, 11 September, by registering here