WLP269: Talking About Culture in Organisations - a conversation
In today’s episode, Pilar talks to Anish Hindocha, who, after working as a change consultant for over 20 years, now helps organisations improve their culture.
Episode 269 of the 21st Century Work Life podcast. Headshot of guest Anish Hindocha and host Pilar Orti.
First, what do we mean by organisational “culture”?
Anish likes to quote The Culture Code by Dan Coyle (affiliate link), and refers to the origin of the word “culture”, which means to care. So we could think about culture being “what people care about around here.”
There is also the question that we can’t describe culture, but we know it when we see it.
Culture doesn’t “disappear”, but it morphs - and it might shift into something we’re not happy about. So, has the culture changed in some organisations, or team norms, as a result of the pandemic?
For example, the tendency to micromanage might have disappeared because it’s not sustainable in a remote environment. (Or maybe it has been amplified and become more apparent.)
Personality preferences come into the culture that emerges. Maybe this will change when those that thrive away from the office become more visible. And what about those people and teams who are invisible in the office, can they be given more visibility now that they are online?
What has happened in organisations where they had a meeting culture already in the colocated space? What kind of person has been favoured in those? Pilar shares an example of the different reactions that people have for and against a more asynchronous and reflective approach to discussion and decision-making. (And she mentions how Parabol use asynchronous communication to make decisions.)
Anish Hindocha
What about companies with no culture of experimentation? How have they done?
Anish mentions the recent-ish example of Goldman Sachs rejection of “remote work” (read it here and weep!), whereas others have embraced the opportunity to experiment and learn from them.
17.36 mins
Anish and Pilar dare to dream about some of the things that organisations have learned that they will take into the future.
In some organisations, people have become more connected; in others, they have been so overwhelmed with the work, they haven’t. Anish talks about the opportunity to use technology to stop so much “update reporting” and review some of the processes that are just generating work, but little value.
Anish is starting to look at “job crafting” as a way to adjusting people’s work to fit their often hidden talents and give them more autonomy at work. And while we’re at it, teams can also nurture their own culture.
What about the fact that people might have changed during the pandemic? Might they be looking for something different at work? What are the opportunities in the organisation?
If you want to hear more from Anish, connect with him on LinkedIn (and get in touch to talk more about culture change!) and check out his website www.jigsawconsulting.co.uk
25.28mins
Pilar spends a few minutes talking through our new service Podcasting for Connection, to help organisations amplify their culture and create a sense of belonging for distributed employees.
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