5 myths culture leaders need to break to move forward
Unraveling the misconceptions that often shackle culture leaders, we delve into five pervasive myths. By debunking these, we pave the way for progress, enabling leaders to foster a more dynamic, inclusive, and forward-thinking organizational culture.
Work hybrid or in the office
This oversimplification misses the opportunity to evolve company culture
- Companies assume employees are the same shape they were in February 2020, not recognizing the changes of the past 16 months
- There are two options
- Try to grab the second trapeze and evolve approaches to work
- Experiment with different options, and trust the safety net
Myth 1: We can ‘fix’ culture
Culture continually shifts and is reinforced or discouraged through the actions of each employee.
- You are never done shaping culture. Healthy cultures are agile enough to make real-time adjustments to support the employee and business outcomes.
Myth 5: If we send out a culture survey now it will be negative
Culture surveys shouldn’t be sent to only provide positive responses
Myth 2: Virtual or hybrid work erodes culture or causes the loss of culture
If your culture isn’t working, it is a symptom of larger issues
- You just either didn’t notice or didn’t experience enough discomfort to make changes
- Things not working in your culture will surface again until you address them
What leaders can do now
Don’t solve complex problems with binary options
- Embrace experimentation
- Test different configurations of work location at the team level
- Reframe problems into “How might we…”
- Take a hard look at your meetings
- Teams should protect meetings for discussions and decision-making, not updates
- There is no perfect design or location for work
Myth 3: There is a perfect organizational design
Focus less on the design and more on equipping leaders and teams to be agile across a variety of circumstances
Myth 4: Leaders have to see their employees to control their work
If leaders have to physically see employees, their company hasn’t equipped them with expectations or skills to be effective