Corporate culture at its most basic is how a company does what it does. A business’s culture is made up of shared values, beliefs, habits and goals. A business’s location, its employees and even customers all have a hand in forming a culture. Most corporate cultures are created organically, which is a nice way of saying that they are left to chance. Sometimes though, the leadership of a company realizes that their culture is one of the best selling points of the company; sometimes they see that their culture is dooming them.
Your business’s culture is as important as your business plan and should be included in your thoughts as such. On a superficial level, a culture is how you’re seen and what you do. This includes your building’s layout, your equipment, the dress code, the organizational structure, your company policies, how you treat employees, and how you treat customers. Beneath all of this at the core, your culture is made up of the shared beliefs and values of the majority in the company.
Not all businesses are created equal or the same, but they all have a corporate culture of some sort. Identifying which culture they have isn’t as easy as looking at the size of the building or how many employees there are. A small business could have the same culture as a multi-national corporation; it all depends on the mindset. When it comes to understanding the best way to run your business, there are two important things you must do: identify what kind of culture it has and know the best way to communicate within that culture.
To better understand the differences, we look at the culture studies of Fons Trompenaars who identifies four main culture types and how to navigate within them.
Guided Missile
A guided missile culture is objective based and organized to accomplish specific projects or goals. Managers feel a higher sense of ownership and are able to move their projects forward easily. Results come faster, the company is more agile, and there is plenty of flexibility for the employees. While this can be effective for getting things done, it isn’t as beneficial for communication to the company as a whole. Communicating in this environment is more tactical than anything else, but you should hold on to the big picture to help keep these dynamic, but separate projects all heading in the same direction. Keep your global message based on the top priority project to get your audience’s attention.
Eiffel Tower
This culture focuses on the relationship employees have with their immediate boss. Someone’s position in the hierarchy vastly dictates what information they are receiving or able to give. While this is a strong culture, it is very slow to change. To communicate well, you need to have bottom-up and side-to-side communication channels in addition to the top-down information trickle. Make sure you have a solid and objective feedback process. A top managerial communications champion will be essential to make sure your information flows smoothly.
Familial
Like the name suggests, this kind of culture is similar to a family atmosphere. Loyalty, collaboration, and communication flow through relationships that are between people at any level. These relationships are driven through honor and respect. How much one can get done is dictated by who you know, how well you are liked, and how much of a fit in the company you are. Communicating in this culture is a more indirect process. Use celebrations and events to speak to the company as a whole. Direct criticism and confrontation will most likely backfire, so use stories, anecdotes, and non-personal examples to get your point across.
Incubator
Incubator cultures are a byproduct of the dot.com era and generations x and y. With the technology at hand, they get their information from almost every source except top-down communications. Once they have it, information billows out around them as they post on message boards, IM, and blogs. The best way to make an impression is to break them out of their normal, day-to-day atmosphere. Get them out from in front of their computers and into an auditorium. Make sure to include some moving around and good food. You’ll make them pay attention when you go through the senses they don’t normally use for work.
The culture of your business dictates how well your people will try to do the things that will make your business succeed. If you know what kind of culture you have, you can better understand how your employees think, how to communicate with them, and how best to use your culture to improve your company.
By: David Byrd
Archive for September, 2009
Communicating in Your Corporate Culture
September 30th, 2009Anioma: Going Higher and Higher With our Culture
September 30th, 2009Anioma people comprise of series of towns and communities currently inhabiting and located in Delta State, South-southern region of Nigeria. The people of this region are calm and wonderful, while the region has been described as one of the most peaceful in the Nigerian polity. The Anioma people are naturally blessed with beautiful culture and creative and enduring art performances which could hold anyone spell bound.
The Anioma culture over the time has become distinct and typical to the region, thus no ethnicity or group of people can justifiably lay claims to this culture because it is unique to the region. The uniqueness of this culture has ordinarily on its own tended to fend off arguments from quarters laying claims to the beautiful culture of this people. The Anioma culture they say speaks for itself. It has also beaten the imagination of several cultural observers on how speedily the culture and tradition of Anioma people have become homogenous in spite of the group not having common ancestral history as many historians mistakenly assume.
Although certain communities in this region can lay claim to Igbo ancestry as supported by oral history, many of these group have their histories obviously not linking them with Igbo home as their place of origin. It is for this reason that those ignorant on Anioma history fail to understand that in Anioma more than 12 languages exists in this region alone. The Agbor people who are of Ika ethnic group but agreed to join the union of Anioma with the rest of their neighbouring communities scattered around the region chiefly because all the towns and communities in this region have had a common history of relationship even many centuries before the arrival of the Europeans, and have shared common culture speak Ozzara and Ika.
The Ika people in their native language know and acknowledge this; only early Europeans and visitors to the region failed to understand this because they were particularly not interested in studying the social aspects of the people but greedily centered their interest on trade. The Ugbodu speak Olukumi (extinct form of Yoruba language,) Igbo and Igara. The Igara language is not typical to Ugbodu, else where in Evbu this language is also in use in addition to Igbo language. In Igbodo, Igbo and Ika is spoken by the people. Ika is a language similar to Bini. These languages strange to Igbo reflect in everyday usage in names of humans, articles, and chieftaincy titles shared with the Edos believed to be the ancestral home of many of these Anioma communities.
It is therefore wonderful that in spite of difference in the histories of Anioma communities unique fusions hold the people together, though some would argue that the fact that these people have related socially and politically have been a major factor responsible for this. Consider also that the Old Benin kingdom has also played a greater role in re-shaping and binding the region together with certain ideas and values typical to Edo.
If you have ever taken your time to watch Anioma people thrill you with any particular aspect of their culture you will surely be full of excitement. The Anioma kind of dance which requires so much energy to do is so unique that you cannot help but fall in love with the people, especially if you watch the Anioma lady traditionally appear in akwa-ocha, with white blouse and red beads, or even in just akwa-ocha tied around her waist up to her chest with her red beads and traditionally dressed her typical of Edo culture, you will indeed admire the Anioma people in their attractive traditional attire.
Several traditional kinds of dances are in existence in Anioma some of which are the Aguba Royal Dance, Uloko Dance, Egu Amala, Okanga, Egwu Osusu (Ukuani,) Egwu Oshushu (Enuani) etc. Many of these dances are typical to the Anioma people, and the people of this region have come to master the art with ease over the time, adding fun to them. I would at this juncture advise many of our cultural organizations to find a way of making sure that our youths is trained in these our dances in order to continue to preserve them.
At the 2008 Anioma cultural fiestas put together by the enviable Organization for the Advancement of Anioma Culture held in Asaba Delta State, Otu One mind from Owa in Ika North East displayed a remarkable feat as the group emerged as the winner of the cultural show. The Uloko Cultural Group of Ndemili, Utagba-Uno in Ndokwa West Local Government had held the record of having won the even twice, in 2005 and 2006. The Otu Chukwuenyirinma of Agbor came second while Uloko Cultural Group of Ndemili, Utagba-Uno in Ndokwa came third.
Other Anioma cultural groups such as Otu Egwu Udo of Afor in Ndokwa East, Otu Egwu Aduko of Eweshi Onicha-Ukwuani in Ndokwa West, Aguba dance Band of Ubulu-Unor, Otu Chukwuedo Cultural Group of Owa-Oyibu In Ika North east, Otu Ita of Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha south, Otu Egwu Onicha-Olona in Aniocha North have all proved to be force to reckon with in this fiesta. We wonder what happened to cultural groups from Ibusa often referred to as ‘the Congo of Africa”
Kudos should go to the organizers for believing in the distinct and uniqueness of Anioma culture, that not capable of being assimilated by any external ethnic group. One must not also fail to express much gratitude to Anioma Association USA Inc for striving and succeeding in also advancing the course of Anioma unequivocally demonstrating that the future of Anioma is not in doubt and that Anioma’s identity still lies with the group because we have not in any way lost our sight, we are relevant indeed. This is what the group tells us. I love this Anioma culture.
By: Emeka Esogbue
