Why Culture Should Be Your Central Focus (opens in new tab)

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27 pointszabbyz12y ago15 comments

15 comments

My objection to pretty much every place I've worked has boiled down to the workplace culture. During the "mini MBA for scientists" that my Uni runs for grad students, they explained quite a lot of the psychology around organisational culture.

As such, this article was kind of "well, duh!" for me - One of the things I'd be most exited about if I ever do start my own organisation will be being able to invent a culture (and this is the motivation I've mentioned to several people in describing the kinds of start ups I have ideas for.)

theorique12y ago

I'm curious to know, what would you add that you missed in the cultures that you worked in in the past? And what would you delete that you would prefer not to have as part of the culture?

tehwalrus12y ago

OK, so at the various minimum wage jobs I've worked at, there was a serious attitude of "I'm paid to lift things/fix things/make coffee, not to care about this company." That's fine, but I don't want to work there thanks (unless I'm a teenager with no other option, again.)

However, at the software company I worked for, the attitude was "we love this company because they buy us beer!". This was cool in that they paid for theme park visits and big, free-beer parties as "morale" activities, some of which I enjoyed and some not so much, but I also felt a bit empty working there. I felt that this was because they were a services company - i.e. they were very very skeptical about "product" ideas, and where they did have a go at them they tended to dramatically underfund them (there was one notable exception to this, but the continuing revenue from the product was mostly in services-style support contracts, since it was a B2B product.) I would have preferred that they spent some of the beer money giving some of their more exciting ideas a better shot of working. (they also took on some services work that I didn't think was particularly ethical, although it was all legal.)

so, things I would delete:

    - "beer is the best way to have fun" attitude.
    - "9-to-5"-ism.

things I would add:

    - motivation about company mission (also, dependently, hiring 
    people who do care about the mission.)

This is perhaps why my ideas for start ups tend to be either social enterprises, or fighting some political mission (like PRISM-evasion) - because I want there to be a mission to care about. I hope that the two things I want to avoid would follow, at least in part, from the thing I would add (although my 2nd-hand experience of the charitable sector says that 9-to-5ism may be difficult to escape anywhere.)

2 more replies

lectrick12y ago

1) Prioritize my happiness. That will make me care and will get more productivity out of me, ultimately.

2) Let me estimate my own work. Make it somewhat flexible (within reason). Don't tie me to point systems or other work estimation methodologies; they are all worse than an intelligent human knowing what you're up to and many kinds of "work" are not accounted for in such systems (assisting coworkers, mentoring, researching etc.)

3) Don't block Internet sites. Trust me to use what is available to me to DO my job instead of DODGE my job.

4) 12-2pm is lunch AND outdoors/physical exercise time. No exceptions. Work hours are 9am-noon and 2pm-5pm. Get your things done and focus and then get the heck out and enjoy your life. If you finish early, leave early. Just be here more or less on time at 9am.

ExpiredLink12y ago

For a moment I thought he meant culture in the true sense of the word. The title would have made more sense then.

davekashen12y ago

What do you think culture is in the 'true sense of the word'?

ExpiredLink12y ago

"the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

SkyMarshal12y ago

There's a lot of talk about culture, but as the article mentions, it's difficult to define exactly, something that has irked me for a while now - lots of advocacy, but do people really understand what they're advocating or is this another cargo cult?

But the article also links a blog on culture [1] that actually makes a decent attempt at explaining it, and it not just through a single manifesto type statement, but over a long series of blog posts. Good read.

[1]: http://awesomeculture.com/

thomasknoll12y ago

It's hard to remember to tiller the rudder and trim the sails at the same time. It's easier to wait until there is a problem and then scramble to fix it. I mean, that's what we're best at right? Fixing problems?

pvonp12y ago

Interesting. I like the focus on creating (for lack of a better term) a work/work balance - exploring your own motivations as a key to creating a good culture.

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15 comments

tehwalrus12y ago

theorique12y ago

I'm curious to know, what would you add that you missed in the cultures that you worked in in the past? And what would you delete that you would prefer not to have as part of the culture?

tehwalrus12y ago

so, things I would delete:

    - "beer is the best way to have fun" attitude.
    - "9-to-5"-ism.

things I would add:

    - motivation about company mission (also, dependently, hiring 
    people who do care about the mission.)

2 more replies

lectrick12y ago

1) Prioritize my happiness. That will make me care and will get more productivity out of me, ultimately.

3) Don't block Internet sites. Trust me to use what is available to me to DO my job instead of DODGE my job.

ExpiredLink12y ago

For a moment I thought he meant culture in the true sense of the word. The title would have made more sense then.

davekashen12y ago

What do you think culture is in the 'true sense of the word'?

ExpiredLink12y ago

"the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

SkyMarshal12y ago

[1]: http://awesomeculture.com/

thomasknoll12y ago

pvonp12y ago

Interesting. I like the focus on creating (for lack of a better term) a work/work balance - exploring your own motivations as a key to creating a good culture.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse