Who is in charge of culture at your company?
It’s a loaded question because it could provoke a variety of entirely different answers, all of which are imperfect, and some of which capture very little about how a company actually fosters a “culture.”
I am thinking about this particular issue because of my disappointment with a former employer that recently made choices pointing to an entirely flawed concept of culture-building. The company reorganized to create a newly entitled “culture” department, and the term also found its way into at least one person’s title. I feel let down by the use of this particular term, in all of its varied meanings and implications, because I know this company is capable of doing better.
My former workplace is not alone in concocting culture departments, chief culture officers, and VPs of culture in an effort to manage corporate culture more effectively. Or give the illusion of doing so. Or both.
Let me be clear: I believe that culture can be influenced and managed. I believe that senior leadership has a responsibility to help steer culture. However, I also believe that an organization that presumes that its culture will positively evolve organically will be the next Uber.
Culture never just happens. It never forms accidentally. Whether your culture is thriving or toxic, it is a result of intention, even if it’s intentional neglect.
None of this implies that it’s up to a singular department or individual to oversee culture. And yet, Google, Symantec, Prudential, Zappos (of course Zappos!) and other major companies do just that. They will tell you that employing someone to keep an eye on culture is an ideal way to create alignment and consistently instill and promote values and practices.
I won’t pretend that such a decision amounts to some huge corporate calamity. It’s not the end of the world. But it isn’t the beginning of a thriving enterprise either.
I think a culture department or executive is unneeded at best and perilous at worst. It’s unneeded because nurturing the right culture is the responsibility of all leaders in a company, especially the CEO. After all, there’s no shortage of stories about good culture going bad once a new chief executive comes onboard to cause havoc. On the other hand, it’s potentially perilous because it naively implies that a culture officer wields greater cultural influence than the CEO.
Additionally, while an organization’s top leader is primarily responsible for culture, it’s also true that every employee is accountable for it. Everything we say or do influences our culture. Each one of us impacts culture simply by showing up.
With all that said, for companies that insist on creating or maintaining a culture department, I have advice (of course I have advice): Ensure that your culture division serves as a center of excellence that provides a philosophical foundation and infrastructure that can be leveraged across the enterprise. The aim must be not to instill but to enable culture—that is, to empower every employee to serve as a chief culture officer.
