For The Love Of Culture

We were ordering a feast at an eatery on Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. In broken
English, the counter attendant asked if we wanted two of everything. When my
dad figured out what the associate was asking, he energetically repeated in
German, “Nee, nee” (as in ‘nope’).

The associate thought my dad was saying ναί or Ne – the greek word for yes.
We ended up with twice the amount of food we had ordered – it made a great vacation story.

Growing up in Germany, I like to think that someone who
changes the oil at Jiffy Lube has had extensive technical training and went to
school to study automotive repair and maintenance. The flower shop employee has a bachelor’s degree in botany and Wal-Mart’s bakery workers are certified pastry
chefs. My husband quite frequently reminds me that this is not the case. We’re in
America and anyone can go from rags to
riches
, right?

Language and expectations play a huge part in defining
culture. And culture is extremely powerful. Sharing your culture with others
can be a very intimate experience and emotions often run high. It
is that passion we as managers can instill into our organizations.

Jill Geisler from the Poynter Institute points out that if we
want to change our organization’s
culture, we have to deal with its underlying assumptions. These assumptions are “like the part of the
iceberg that’s underwater: huge, unseen and potentially dangerous.” Jill
suggests to identify underlying assumptions by asking the following
questions:

* If your best
friend were coming to work here tomorrow, what should he/she really know in
order to succeed?

* Who has the
easiest access to resources and support — and why?

* What are the
sacred cows? (For a definition of sacred cowclick here)

* What issues do
people shy away from talking about?

* Who are the
legendary heroes and villains people tell stories about?

* What behaviors
do bosses consistently reward or ignore?

* Where are the
gaps between what we say we stand for and what we do in practice?

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