The seeds of culture

Culture is not created but grown – indeed, the word itself comes from the same root as ‘cultivate’, both derivatives from the original root Latin colere meaning "to tend, guard; to till, cultivate; to inhabit."

This helps shape my thinking about how an organisational culture can be influenced.

Influencing culture requires a focus on tending the soil from which behaviour stems. With proper cultivation of the ground, the desired crop will flourish.

Someone in position of leadership is a steward of the land they are cultivating. Just like a farmer or a gardener. Their efforts do not create the crop, these will emerge from the ground in which it was sown. Sure, there are extraneous factors like weather, but gardeners exert great influence not only on the ground, but also on what gets planted, pruned, tended and eradicated. Same with leaders and a business culture.

Cultural values differ quite drastically from personal values, in that they require collective subscription and adherence, and changing them requires collective consent and routine application. In the case of personal and collective values, neither are going to be easy to change overnight, but changes to collective values take longer still.

Change what you measure.

When you can’t possibly look at everything, you choose.

You start measuring stuff that matches up to what you believe or value is important.

Most organisations measure the things everyone measures, the things they think they should measure; money, speed/time, volume of stuff etc. When this is what team members see leaders measuring and regularly reviewing, they draw the (logical) conclusion that this is what is important, what matters most.

In my view, this offers the greatest opportunity to elicit a change in behaviour.

What matters to that particular organisation, and how can that be measured?

Change what you reward.

What gets rewarded, whether explicitly (bonuses, promotions) or implicitly (praise, attention), signals what behaviours are valued. Over time, these signals shape norms, expectations, and identity.

Culture is continuously reinforced by what is routinely rewarded, congratulated or encouraged; these are all positive reinforcements.

Similarly, the things that are overlooked, pointedly ignored, derided, discouraged or dismissed also reinforce a culture; these are negative reinforcements.

Both positive and negative reinforcements express values and therefore express a culture.

Change how you group.

We are wired to attach importance to collectiveness and belonging and there is power and confidence in the feeling of unity. When you bring together several small things into one larger unit, you give participants the benefit of more mass, meaning more influence. With greater influence tends to come more visibility which has the effect of influencing culture by dint of mass.

We also often group things together that are ‘always’ together - but what about if you went a different way and grouped according to new ideals or desired outcomes?

Grouping is not just structural; it’s symbolic. It says: you belong together.

We can influence culture by grouping things together differently, or in order to unify disparate parts or to see how a togetherness originates new thoughts and directions as the newly formed group coalesces and compromises around new ideas and forms new ways of being that creates space for all parts to thrive.

Change your routines.

Routines are the rituals of culture. They are the daily expressions of what matters. Routines are powerful expressions of a group's cultural values. They organize life in meaningful ways, foster belonging and are a version of informal education.

From how meetings are run to how decisions are made, routines encode values.

Changing routines—however small—can have outsized effects. A new check-in question, a different way of celebrating wins, or a shift in how feedback is given can all signal a cultural shift. Over time, these micro-changes accumulate into macro-change.

Change your future aspirations.

Not everything can be done right away, but even what we dream about, our vision for the future, expresses our values.

Aspirations orient people toward a shared future. Even if they are not immediately achievable, they express what the organisation values and hopes to become. They are the plan, the design, the blueprint, and they begin with daring imaginings. Even these imaginings shape culture, as we discuss them and work towards them.

Culture change often begins with a change in what we dare to imagine.