Fostering a Negative Culture: #3 of the Six Mistakes Smart Leaders Make

By Mike DuBose and Blake DuBose

 

A company’s culture is the DNA that defines the business. According to Terrence Deal and Alan Kennedy, creators of one of the first organizational culture models, culture consists of key beliefs, concepts, and values shared amongst an organization’s employees. It outlines what the people within value and promote and defines the way that employees and leaders behave toward one another, their customers, and their vendors.

Too often, culture is an overlooked factor in business success (or failure). Although it’s not as easy to define as hard facts like profits and losses, culture has a pervasive importance throughout the organization. As John Miller wrote in Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional, “The cultural tone has an impact on how problems are solved, the way people speak to one another, the levels of innovation and creativity, the trust between employees and management, and the risks individuals are willing to take.”

In most organizations, culture isn’t explicitly stated or explained, but it is inherently understood by staff as they interact with other employees and witness others’ interactions in the workplace. Edgar H. Schein defines an organization’s culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems.” Whether this pattern reinforces positivity or negativity depends on the tone that leaders have set—how they treat mistakes and failure, what kind of behaviors they allow, and how they treat others during their dealings with them.

Unfortunately, even smart leaders can foster a negative culture. Mental intelligence is not the same thing as emotional intelligence; even geniuses can be clueless when it comes to treating others with civility and respect. In The Wisdom of Failure, Laurence Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey describe how some leaders “bully” their employees, with their behavior “leading to employee absenteeism, turnover, and low morale.” The bullying, they note, can be either overt (yelling, berating, and insulting others) or covert (“projecting blame, increasing workload, guilt-tripping, excessively monitoring an employee’s time, using sarcasm, and socially isolating employees”). Such negativity radiates out from the leader, poisoning the entire organization.

When an organization’s culture is negative, staff members are often too scared or wary to communicate with each other, making even the smallest interactions difficult. Understandably, this has a negative impact on productivity, not to mention bigger, more far-reaching objectives like working toward the mission laid out in the strategic plan. Negative cultures also take a toll on customer relationships, as unhappy employees are more likely to be rude to customers (or at least apathetic about meeting their needs). After all, what’s the point of employees “working hard and smart” if their efforts aren’t appreciated and valued, and they hate coming to work each day?

One important thing to note is that conflict isn’t always bad, nor do occasional conflicts mean that an organization has an unhealthy culture. As long as disagreements are resolved respectfully and in a manner that meshes with the company’s best interests, they can actually be valuable learning experiences (and it’s very important to resolve conflicts, rather than let them fester and impede progress). Leaders can’t always avoid conflict; in fact, they will sometimes have to make unpopular decisions for the good of the organization. As Weinzimmer and McConoughey explained, “By doing what is necessary, you will sometimes make some people angry. That’s okay. It’s part of the job. If you are in a leadership role and you try to be liked by everyone all of the time, you will inevitably create drama and undercut your own authority and effectiveness.” The key is dealing with conflicts and disagreements professionally and fairly, holding everyone (even top performers) to the same standards, and making it clear that such respect is required when disagreements occur between any people and within any part of the organization.

When writing their book First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman conducted in-depth studies of 25,000 small and large businesses over long periods of time and discovered that, in order to attract and keep happy, talented staff, twelve questions must be addressed satisfactorily (in the context of the employees’ relationship with their work environment):

• Do I know what is expected of me?
• Do I have the resources I need to do my job right?
• Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
• In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does my supervisor or someone else seem to care about me as a person?
• Is there someone who encourages my development?
• Do my opinions seem to count?
• Do the organization’s mission and purpose make me feel my job is important?
• Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
• Do I have a best friend at work?
• In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
• This past year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

Staff members who can mostly answer “yes” to these questions work within a positive culture. They tend to be happy with their jobs and excited to come to work most days, which makes them more likely to go out of their way to provide outstanding service. In addition to the listed factors, we suggest incorporating fun into the workday whenever possible. For example, at the DuBose Family of Companies, we fund an “Employee Liaison Committee” that organizes events for employees every four to six weeks. Every “Surprise Cupcake Day” or employee happy hour reminds our staff that we care about their happiness and, in turn, inspires them to work harder to pass that joy along to our customers.

The type of culture an organization has must be defined by its leadership. However, many intelligent executives see culture as one of their bottom priorities behind “harder” factors like sales numbers and market strategies. They don’t give this important issue the attention it deserves, and it shows in their listless, passionless workforces.

The bottom line: Healthy, positive cultures result in client and employee satisfaction, profit, and community awareness of the organization’s commitment to making the world a better place. Conversely, toxic cultures nurture a poisonous environment that leads to staff unhappiness, bickering, and fighting; client dissatisfaction; low profits; poor-quality work; and ultimately…failure! It’s the leader’s job to decide what type of culture they will promote and model in their organization!

 

About the Authors: Our corporate and personal purpose is to “create opportunities to improve lives” by sharing our knowledge, research, experiences, successes, and mistakes. You can e-mail us at [email protected]. 

Mike DuBose received his graduate degree from the University of South Carolina and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He has been in business since 1981 and is the owner of Research Associates, The Evaluation Group, Columbia Conference Center, and DuBose Fitness Center. Visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com for a free copy of his book and additional business, travel, and personal articles, as well as health articles written with Dr. Surb Guram, MD. 

Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College’s Schools of Business and Psychology and is president of DuBose Web Group (www.duboseweb.com). 

Katie Beck serves as Director of Communications for the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

 

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