Understanding corporate Culture.
Are you an executive in a corporate organisation? Here is one of the crucial tips you need to be in a frontier role.
Every corporation, company, industry or even small office has a culture. Knowing what that culture is gives you the edge. The culture is how their people do things. This culture is sometimes company led, but mostly people generated – it grows organically and without plan or strategy. If you don’t know this culture – or fail to make use of it – you can end up looking foolish and are then easy to take advantage of, or be belittled.
Bear in mind that around 70 percent of all dismissals are not because someone couldn’t do their job properly, but because they didn’t know the corporate culture – they didn’t fit in.
Consider this advert for a pretty big prestigious design studio – the BMD. When Bruce Mau, the owner of this company, wanted to recruit new staff, he put out a quiz with some 40 questions, including, ‘who made a film consisting of nothing but the colour blue?’
Bruce headed the advert, ‘Avoid fields. Jump fences’. As a result of this, he lured some of the best, most talented top designers to come and work for him – or with him, as he describes his working relationship with his staff.
Now what sort of corporate culture do you think Bruce expects, wants, gets? How would you fit in? What do you think Bruce would expect of you?
You don’t have to buy into the corporate culture – you don’t have to believe in it – all you have to do is fit in. If they all play golf, then you play golf. I know you hate golf, but you will play golf – if that’s what it takes to fit in. You may question whether playing golf is where you want to be. But if you are a Rules player and you want to get on and be successful and you also want to be part of a particular company where playing golf is the corporate culture – then play it you must.
Culled from The rules of work by Richard Templar
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