Nurturing Organizational Culture || By Anupama Vaidya

The amalgamation of 3 strong and independent words creates a statement of tremendous significance. When individually examined, these words hold the following meanings:

• Nurture: to care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing;
• Organization: a group of people with a shared purpose;
• Culture: the beliefs, traditions, customs, and social conduct of a specific group of people or society.

When combined, these words signify an organization’s capacity to foster behaviors that empower individuals to thrive and pursue their aspirations while simultaneously achieving a common objective.

As articulated in a Harvard Business Review article: “Culture guides the discretionary behavior, and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own everyday, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time.”

CULTURE MATTERS. Culture creates, nurtures and sustains employee enthusiasm toward the realisation of the collective aspirations. It can either make or break an organization and therefore, it necessitates care, protection, and active cultivation…. it needs to be nurtured!

Another critical reason to nurture the culture, is the diversity of people in an organization, each bringing each bringing their own social behavioral patterns into the collective pursuit of a shared goal. These accepted social patterns lay the fundamental groundwork for how the organization functions, including decision-making during dilemmas, ultimately forming its "culture."

On the way, many more join in with their own patterns. The extreme fluidity of the social behavioural patterns can potentially modify, dilute, infiltrate, or erode the foundational elements of the culture. Therefore, the imperative to nurture these foundational principles upon which the organization is built becomes paramount.

While sustainability is a topic on every organization's agenda, leadership must accord equal importance to the nurturing of organizational culture. This responsibility is a 24/7, 365/366-day commitment that leaders must shoulder, care for, and safeguard. Particularly as new members join to contribute to the organization's objectives, a structured approach to nurturing the organizational culture becomes central to their fitting into the organization.

The question often arises: how does one go about nurturing organizational culture? I strongly recommend approaching the cultivation of organizational culture through the 5-S’s – Spell out, Show actions, Start early, Strike repeatedly, Synthesize processes

1.  Spell out – The formalization of acceptable social behavioral patterns, clearly outlined in values, leadership behaviors, competency and behavioral frameworks and a Code of Conduct establishes a foundational understanding of the cultural norms. For example, when integrity is articulated as a core value, it explicitly defines that unethical or corrupt practices are unacceptable behavioral patterns. This spelled out framework serves as a guiding principle in decision making when such situations arise. It serves to provide specific examples and case references to further elucidate desired behaviors.

2. Show actions – Demonstrating these explicit behaviors that have been spelled out on a daily basis is crucial, with leadership setting the prime example through their personal embodiment of the culture. Leaders must nurture culture through their actions, akin to a mother nurturing her child from infancy to adulthood. In a similar manner, leaders must continually cultivate culture through their day-to-day conduct, response to violations or dilemmas, problem-solving, and coaching, among other activities. Continuously assess what is acceptable and what is not, provide insights & remedial feedback swiftly thereby shaping the overall culture.

3. Start early – Initiating the cultural nurturing process begins during initial interactions, regardless of whether the individual will eventually join the organization. This leverages the formative period of assimilation into the organization, providing an opportunity to address any mismatches at an early stage.

4. Strike repeatedly – Nurturing culture demands both a gentle and firm approach to reinforcement. While the leaders, managers and individual contributors demonstrate these social patterns, it is vital to periodically remind and reinforce the accepted and unacceptable facets of the culture. For example, some organizations set aside a dedicate day/month like a ‘Value Day’ or ‘Value Month’ to serve a reminder year over year towards social behaviors to be demonstrated in the organization.  The Performance Management System is a valuable framework to reinforce the values, through it being incorporated in the discussions,

5. Synthesize practices – Culture is inherently intertwined with the organizational processes. Therefore, to nurture organization culture, it is imperative to blend cultural dimensions with all operational people related processes. For instance, operational processes like customer service should consistently exemplify the organization's guiding principles, even when dealing with irate customers. In procurement, if the organization stands for ethical business, the purchasing team should communicate to suppliers that unethical practices are unacceptable from the outset. The modelling of these behaviors need to be based on the cultural aspects. Additionally, while the performance management system is a good platform for reinforcement, it is an excellent framework to synthesize the behaviors and values. Assess not only for what was achieved in form of KPIs or KRAs but also to provide a platform through behavioral discussions on “how” these were achieved. The incorporation of cultural behaviors into these processes is essential.

  

Numerous other "S"s could be added, as culture encompasses both stated and implicit elements. The key is recognizing culture and consciously preserving, evolving, and enhancing it over time, as the passage of time can impact culture. Studies have consistently shown that out of every 100 organizations, fewer than 10% survive the competitive landscape, and only 2-3% experience substantial growth. Organizational culture serves as a critical differentiator, distinguishing the best from the rest.

Therefore, Invest, Invest and Invest; invest in nurturing your organizational culture, just as you would in financial investments. Cultural investments are pivotal in realizing your business strategy. The dividends reaped will be manifold.