How to Shape Your Organizational Culture Into One Everyone’s Proud Of

You can publish the values and make them public with posters all over the office, but if leadership doesn’t live up to them, they don’t matter.

How is organizational culture defined?

Culture is the unspoken social order of an organization, which is shared, pervasive, enduring, and implicit according to Groysberg, Lee, Price, and Cheng in their HBR article. The authors note that people are hardwired to recognize and respond to [culture] instinctively.

This is important: what employees experience regarding culture is what they respond to, not what is codified.

What should company culture have?

Culture includes visible and invisible elements. Culture is shaped by what is said and done, how people are treated, and the language used. A statement of organizational values and a code of conduct serve as a codification of what leadership hopes for the culture, but it is the employees’ actions and what leadership allows that will actually dictate culture.

Why is having company culture important?

This is why it’s so important to define the organization’s culture and then follow up with the behaviors to support it and enforce it. How “things are done around here” will drive the organization’s results, regardless of its product or service. Remember, people make things happen, and how they interact dictates the path.

How can Mariposa Consulting help?

Shaping organizational culture is an art as well as a science. If you’re not sure where to start, sign up for our free 30-day trial of the Transformation Studio to get research-backed tips and strategies to point you in the right direction.

Interested in achieving business success for your company and its stakeholders? If so, check out our Transformation Studio program to get one-on-one meetings with Margaret. Or head over to our resources section of our website to read our blog posts and check out our podcasts. If you have questions, send us a message!