Low Accountability Ruins Company Culture
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Hot take on culture and hypocrisy:
If your culture is optional and people don’t have to act in alignment with it, it’s the same as not having one.
Aka, it’s garbage. Just kidding, but also not kidding.
When I say culture, I mean the rules of engagement that define how people show up, treat each other, and approach their work together.
The ingredients necessary to consistently create exceptional (or even good) culture are clearly defined behaviors and mindsets that are universally understood, and that everyone takes ownership for.
But if that culture is optional, meaning that it’s just a suggestion but not something that every single person is actually held accountable to, then that is not actually your culture. It’s just a poster on the wall that sounds nice.
If you’re going to say it, mean it.
If you have a list of values (or ideally) clearly defined behaviors that exclaim “This is who we are” as a company, then you’d better mean it. Because in reality if employees or leaders can violate those behaviors without consequence, then why would anyone buy into that? They won’t. That’s not culture, it’s hypocrisy and office politics. It proves to everyone that your culture carries no real weight.
Don’t allow cultural hypocrisy to take place in your team at any level. Culture is only real inside a team or organization when it’s clear, consistent, and leadership is committed to it.
When you have those things in place, the result is a high bar that everyone holds themselves accountable to, and you’re off to the races.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop