The recent scandal facing a Red Deer company in the wake of a sticker circulated with its company logo, depicting sexual violence against activist Greta Thunberg, highlighted a serious but sadly common internal problem often overlooked in organizations: toxic culture.
Organizational culture is a set of shared values and beliefs intended to govern how the people involved in the organization behave. Far too often, though, organizational leadership fails to see the importance of not only setting, but operationalizing, values and standards that set healthy culture.
Leaders may set a vision, mission, and even state corporate values; the problem is that, unless those values have “legs”- meaning operational policy that is fully implemented at all times – the old saying “you can’t get there from here” becomes true.
People may think that culture is “all that touchy-feely stuff” that might be nice but isn’t really important in the grand scheme of business. The simple fact is, though, that you can’t achieve your goals of serving your audience and solving the problem you’ve identified in your mandate if you aren’t minding your culture. When your brand promise doesn’t meet with your customer’s brand experience, you end up with a brand problem. And brand problems are sticky little critters that will trip you up for a very, very long time. Just ask the company owner from X-Site.
Ensuring that your organization has clear, functional policies and practices that support a positive, healthy culture is an integral part of ensuring success.
Gone are the days when one could turn a blind eye to misogyny, bigotry, racism and violence, even in casual conversation. In the fishbowl world in which we live, leadership must demand that every person within the organization commits and adheres to conduct and communication that supports its stated values.
No one gets a pass. Good companies have stringent safety standards, and are often militant in ensuring that those standards are met; why, then, would good companies fail to protect themselves from equally damaging cancerous culture?
When we fail to design our internal culture, it will be set by default. We expose our organization to huge risk, in which negative, toxic forces run unfettered and pull everything – and I do mean everything – down with them.
Leaders, let this awful situation serve as a cautionary tale, or even a dire portent, if needed. Do your work. Don’t be cavalier about internal culture. Foster and steward – demand – high standards and values within your teams. As evidenced, it matters to your bottom line.
Danielle Klooster is a former Penhold councillor and provincial candidate. Her first book, Five Terrible Reasons to Run for Municipal Office, is available at www.munikloo.ca
