Advanced Dynamics

Understanding Work Culture

Shaping work culture is the primary role of the leader. When work culture is appropriate to the purpose of the organisation and the values of the people within it, people have a clear idea of what behaviours are expected of them, how well they and the organisation are performing, and where they and the organisation are going.

However, work culture is not something that can be defined and documented like an IT system: work culture is the dynamic outworking of a complex human system driven by the different ways its members make meaning in a social context. It is also not uniform or simple, except in the smallest organisations; most organisations display several different cultural settings across different units, and all are influenced by the cultural diversity of the people who make them up. And work culture is not something that can be easily influenced, at least directly: merely stating that 'we will change the way we act' is unlikely to bring about the desired changes, because work cultures are tightly interlinked with the history and existing institutions of the organisation.

Advanced Dynamics helps leaders understand work cultures, by providing them with well-tested ways of engaging with the culture of their workplace. In doing this, they recognise that the act of engaging with culture in itself influences that culture - the opening up of discussions around culture is often a significant step forward for the organisation, and a learning opportunity for its leadership. Furthermore, by engaging directly with work culture, leaders and their teams establish that they are fully implicated in and accountable for the culture of their organisation.

However, discussing and understanding work culture is insufficient in its own right to achieve success. It is essential to be able to turn those discussions and the emerging understanding into action, into changed ways of doing things, if the potential of shaping culture is to be realised. In order to approach work culture in a practical way, it must be understood in terms of the systems, symbols and leadership behaviours that hold it in place and cause it to be reproducced. Once it is understood in those terms, it is possible to move to bring about concrete changes, at the systemic, symbolic and behavioural levels, and produce cultural change that brings about improved performance. Advanced Dynamics has both the experience and the tools to help leaders and their teams achieve this practical understanding, and plan and implement action.

Influencing work culture in this way is ideally suited to the 'learning through doing' approaches favoured by Advanced Dynamics. This also allows tangible early signs of progress to be established, which add impetus to the entire project.