Looking for a clear definition of corporate culture? You have come to the right place!

I developed a definition of corporate culture after almost 20 years of working with organizations and seeing them from the perspective of a cultural anthropologist and strategy consultant with an MBA in finance.

The easiest way to think of corporate culture is that it is an energy field that determines how people think, act and see the world around them. I often compare culture to electricity. Culture is powerful and invisible and its effects are far reaching. Culture is an energetic force that is woven through the thinking, behavior and identity of those within the group.

Corporate culture is created naturally and automatically. Every time people come together for a common purpose, culture is created. This group of people could be a family, a neighborhood, a project team, or a company. Culture is created automatically from the combination of thoughts, energies and attitudes of the people in the group.

I have worked with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists involved in technology startups. They want to work on the corporate culture once the company is profitable or “in the black.” It is much more difficult to change the corporate culture once it has emerged than it is to proactively create the corporate culture they want from the start.

The energy field of corporate culture determines a company’s dress code, work environment, working hours, rules for getting ahead and moving up, what the corporate world looks like, what is valued, who is valued and much more.

Every company or organization has numerous corporate cultures. For example, the marketing department and the engineering department may have very different corporate cultures, both of which are influenced by the overall organizational corporate culture. Many times these two subcultures collide.

Culture manifests itself in visible and invisible ways. Some expressions of corporate culture are easy to observe. You can view a company’s dress code, work environment, perks, and titles. This is the surface layer of culture. These are just some of the visible manifestations of a culture.

Surface layer of corporate culture: visible expressions

·Dress code

Work environment

· Benefits

Benefits

Conversations

Work-life balance

Job titles and descriptions

Organizational structure

Relationships

Much more powerful aspects of corporate culture are invisible. The cultural core is made up of the beliefs, values, standards, paradigms, worldviews, moods, internal conversations and private conversations of the people who are part of the group. This is the basis for all actions and decisions within a team, department or organization.

Core layer of corporate culture: invisible manifestations

Values

Private conversations (with oneself or confidants)

invisible rules

attitude

beliefs

Worldviews

Moods and emotions

unconscious interpretations

standards

paradigms

Assumptions

Business leaders often assume that their company’s vision, values, and strategic priorities are consistent with their company culture. Unfortunately, too often, vision, values, and strategic priorities can be just words on a plaque on the wall.

The corporate culture is actually the container of the vision, mission and values. It is not identical to them. In a successful and profitable company, employees will embody your company’s values, vision and strategic priorities.

What creates this embodiment (or lack of embodiment) is the corporate culture energy field that permeates the psyche, body, conversations, and actions of employees.
Companies need a good definition of corporate culture before they can begin to understand how to change corporate culture.