“Behavior” is the new “corporate culture”

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” – Albert Einstein

A business’s fate is determined in large part by its culture. A “business culture” is the reality created by how people act, react and interact with each other based on their attitudes, beliefs and ambitions.

The most damaging business cultures are those in which aggression, neglect and punishment leave employees feeling they have no reason to commit their energies and skills, share their ideas or help the company advance.

A culture built principally around rewards for individual or group performance, pits individuals and teams against each other often in ways that create class systems, in-fighting and divisive loyalties. The winners in such cultures find meaning in their rewards, the rest are left wondering what the point is for them and their employer.

A passive, benign and inert business culture leaves the business subject to the aggregate confusion that results when each individual employee’s quirks, tendencies and potentially questionable morality and ethics are accommodated.

The most beneficial business cultures are those that unite employees around an ambition, make them feel emotionally connected and surround them with people who share their “ambition”, “feelings” and “behavior”.

By consistently and intentionally conveying a meaningful ambition and evoking a set of unique and positive emotions, businesses can transform the meaningful outcome of every aspect of the work experience:

• The physical environment – the aesthetics and functionality of the workplace

• The policies and procedures – the actual rules of the company as well as the way in which employees experience them

• The attitudes and behavior of fellow employees – the feelings evoked when dealing with superiors, peers and reports

• The moment of contact – the nature of company/employee and employee/outside world interactions

A meaningful workplace culture is based on the way employees experience these factors – what meaning is conveyed and how they are left feeling.