COMMUNITY CULTURE

How can we manage to maintain the involvement and commitment of our employees?

The typical (actionistic) approach to cultural problems

  • Situation

    You work at the management level of a medium-sized company. A department head informs you that one of your employees has spoken badly about your company to business partners.

  • Approach

    You will not accept that! Together with the department head, you will confront the “troublemaker”. He admits to blaspheming outside the company. He has actually badmouthed the employment relationships in your company to an important business partner. You are angry and there is only one solution for you: this behaviour cannot be tolerated! The employee has risked losing a strategic partner of the company and obviously does not identify with your organization.

Stop! Talking badly about one’s own company is not good style. But why did it happen?

Explore the causes.

Negative external communication is suspected to be part of a larger symptom:

Dissatisfaction. You have to explore them – and the employee is the best source in this case. On the one hand, it is the cause of the problem, but on the other hand it is also the key to the solution.

Is it just him or others? Is it because of the working conditions, the culture, the relationships between each other, the processes? If you terminate the employee, you only solve the case at short notice. The troublemaker is gone, but the problem remains.

  • The mood in the company is becoming more resigned.

  • The atmosphere is full of conflict.

  • Decisions are blindly implemented and not questioned.

The better solution: a common culture

What do we mean by community culture?

Community culture is characterised by fundamental assumptions about valid behaviours, guidelines and their daily manifestations. Subcultures (learning, error and communication culture) characterize the overall culture. A fit between culture and strategy is desirable, because it creates added value for the organisation and society.

How do you create a common culture?

Live common values and accept values that differ from them. Create a balance between tolerance and sanctioning. Border crossing is corrected through social control. Design your systems in such a way that community behaviour is encouraged and non-community behaviour is made more difficult. Make sure that culture is reflected as part of everyday life. Address fears and eliminate taboos. Responsible persons act as “cultural heroes”.

Get to know the concept of a Healthy Organisation

The concept of a healthy organization fully unfolds the potentials in companies. What are the challenges and goals in your company? We can lead the way to a healthy organisation within your company. In a free and non-binding initial consultation. Call us – we will be happy to advise you.

Your hotline to us: +49 (06349) 96 30 228