The eternal struggle of a manager: you want to change certain things within your company, but you are unable to actually implement them. One area that many managers encounter is changing corporate culture. How can it be that the culture doesn't change? Is it the attitude of your employees or are there deeper underlying motives? In this blog we delve deeper into corporate culture and explain how you can measure culture.

What is corporate culture?

De corporate culture is the daily course of events within a company. It has to do with norms, values ​​and expectations. An example of a company culture is when employees take a walk outside during their lunch break. The Friday afternoon drinks are also part of a corporate culture. Or how about a table tennis table in the office so you can hit a ball in between? But also the dress code, whether or not overtime, many or few meetings are all examples of the company culture.

How do you view culture?

To make a culture change a success, it is important that we first look at how you view culture. Over the years, the view on culture has undergone important changes. For example, it was initially assumed that culture was only about what people did. Later it was added that culture is also what people think.

Everyone looks at culture through a different lens. You can distinguish different groups, each with a different view on culture. Opinions are also divided on this in science. So you have the anthropological school and the management school. The anthropological school indicates that culture is not a factor that the organization has, but equates culture with the organization. According to them, you cannot influence cultures. The management school actually believes that you can influence cultures. So they believe that you can change cultures in a targeted manner.

You can influence culture

We believe that you can influence culture. Every type of behavior can be influenced. You can also influence every skill such as selling, communicating and managing.
Employees must first become aware of their unconscious behavior before they can change behavior and skills, for example.

A well-known scientist who also assumes that you can influence cultures is Straathof (2009). Straathof has developed a model with which you can measure cultures. This instrument, shown in the figure below, consists of three parts: behavior, mindset and arena.

Behavior (blue ring) is visible on the surface of companies and organizations. Behavior can develop into certain habits, which are consciously or unconsciously adopted by others. The mindset (red pyramid) is values ​​and beliefs. Values ​​indicate what an individual or a group considers important. Beliefs describe what motivates people. Through the values ​​and beliefs we have, we create our own reality. The arena (green ring) focuses on relationships between group members, in which influence and appreciation are important. The mutual relationships influence behavior.

In the model you can see a kind of volcano. The behavior (1) is what is visible within a company or organization. From the behavior we move to the mindset (2), which forms the basis for the arena (3). These are the invisible parts of culture. Behavior can be explained from this position (4). These three components can mutually influence each other.

How do you measure company culture?

Are you wondering if you have the corporate culture needs to change? Be aware that you cannot simply change culture. Changing a corporate culture can take years. Straathof's model is a useful model for mapping current culture. What is the behavior, arena and mindset of your organization? You can measure the culture by conducting in-depth interviews and surveys at all levels of your organization.

Then determine what the desired culture is. What aspect of the culture exactly do you want to see changed? Clearly identify what needs to be changed and explain it well. Culture is an intangible concept and make it tangible by explaining the cultural change with examples and catchy images. Do you need help to change the culture within your company? We are happy to help you on your way business improvement.

Team development

Behavior, mindset and the arena therefore play an important role in cultural change. Collaboration and team spirit are also decisive for a successful culture change. Of development team It identifies, among other things, what is already going well and what areas for improvement are possible. Through 4 steps: intake, scan, gap analysis and best approach, we help you on your way to an even stronger team. Became curious? The coffee is ready, we are happy to talk to you about this!

Sources
Straathof, A. (2009). Searching for the core of cultural change: Insight, measurement, management. Delft, Uitgeverij Eburon.
Verdoolaege, S.(2012) Leadership opportunities for public managers: reducing the failure rate of organizational changes.