What working at a department store taught me about organizational culture
My first real job was working at Hecht’s department store (now Macy’s) during Christmas break after my first semester in college. My parents said a month was too long to hang around the house without anything to do (as a parent myself, I get the feeling).
The first lesson I learned on the job was to "stay off Doug's hardwood floors." Doug was the commissioned salesperson who oversaw the specially floored, Ralph Lauren section of the men's department. Anything sold within those sacred bounds directly contributed to Doug's compensation.
This advice was shared as a cautionary tale by a fellow employee to avoid Doug’s wrath. But more than just friendly banter, the message was communicating a powerful cultural nuance about this workplace. Within 2 days at the job, I learned Doug saw me as a threat, not an ally. Rather than build a partnership where I could have directed potential customers to him, instead I just stayed away.
Culture is powerful and if not carefully considered can lead to adverse outcomes. None of this “on the floor” dynamic had anything to do with the store’s management. This was culture shared organically from person to person.
As we considered recently in “Career satisfaction rests on organizational culture”, culture sits at the heart of every organization. Culture informs critical behaviors and ultimately shapes the direction of the business. If your standards for excellence have to be mandated or scripted via policy, it is almost guaranteed not to occur. But if excellence is part of the culture, over time it will become a default.
So how is culture shaped?
First - you must have a keen awareness of the 'as-is' culture. As Frank Blake (former CEO of Home Depot) highlighted on a recent podcast, the challenge is that leaders generally do not get the real truth about what is going on within their organizations. Instead, they must be exceptionally intentional to ask questions and listen carefully to understand what is actually going on.
Second - conflicts between the “as-is” and the desired cultured have to be identified and managed against. As the saying goes, "every system is designed to produce the results it does."
Robert Kegan's Immunity to Change framework is helpful here. Kegan said that while we may see the need for a given change, and even make a commitment to making the change, we often carry a competing series of commitments that are contrary to the change we want to make. Until we address this competing commitment, we are unlikely to see change happen.
As an organization begins to evolve to new cultural norms, the leader must be aware of where other competing commitments might exist. These competing commitments likely serve a purpose in the organization and this core underlying purpose must be identified and understood in light of the proposed change.
Only then can the organization adopt new habits. As Aristotle said, 'excellence then is a habit.' If culture is best thought of as a series of norms and default ways of behaving, these invisible scripts will function similar to habits. Changing them will require adopting new habits - and we can leverage some of the tremendous insights coming out of the research on habit formation. It is well worth your time to read James Clear’s Atomic Habits and consider how to apply its insights organization wide.
Organizational culture is an asset that pays a dividend to the organization. This dividend could be in the form of purpose or strong commitments to how things are done within an organization.
But culture can also be a liability.
Cultures that have become sclerotic leads to organizations that are rigid and tied to a past that may no longer apply. These sorts of cultures will turn away the best people for the current moment, and retain the wrong ones.
As more and more of the economy is driven by services - culture will only grow more and more important. Culture sits at ground level of how employees connect to their firms, understand the firm’s direction, and see how this aligns with their own career goals. Those who dismiss or undervalue culture run the real risk of losing a game they didn't know they were playing.