Everything is Culture

Culture is everything, and everything is culture. It’s not just a vibe. It’s what we do.

Teams and organizations have a culture, whether it was created with intention or not. An accurate understanding of the real culture that already exists is a prerequisite for doing better.

To gain an understanding of the current culture in a team or an organization, it is useful to make culture tangible. One way to do this is by asking ourselves and each other a simple question: “What kinds of things do people in this culture do?”

The question is not about what people like us like to think we do. It’s about what we really do.

Useful understanding of culture doesn’t come from a definition. We need something more descriptive that leads us to see ourselves and our experience.

Behind what we do is how we do it and why we do it.

Culture is unwritten rules and expectations, both the ones we can articulate and the ones we feel without really knowing what the rule is. Culture is the pull we feel to act and choose in a conforming direction..

Culture is  the written rules and the way we use them. It is how we do or don’t follow our written rules, and how we respond to those who break the rules. It’s about which rules only matter if someone is watching.

Culture is values and ethics. It is what is important. It is what we expect others to regard as important. In this same sense, it is about priorities. Culture tells us what kinds of things to compromise on, and what we should never sacrifice.

Culture is how we deal with disagreements within the culture, and between the culture and others on the outside. It tells us when to fight, collaborate, compromise and when to live and let live.

Culture is the way we react to mistakes and failures. It’s the way we respond to success. It tells us what success is, and how we should value process and outcome. It’s the anticipated response to mistakes, failures, and success.

Culture is what we do with the gap between what we like to think we do and what we really do, and whether we ignore the gap, justify the gap, or close the gap.

When we understand our culture — what people like us really do — then it becomes possible for us to do better.

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