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Organisation Culture – Out of Office

Dove Nest provides experiential Learning and Development in our base in the Lake District and globally, to leading companies to develop Talent, Leadership, Change, Teambuilding, Emotional Intelligence, Culture, Self-awareness and Strategic Thinking. Article by Kieran MacCourt is the Marketing Director for Dove Nest Group.

Dove Nest provides experiential Learning and Development in our base in the Lake District and globally, to leading companies to develop Talent, Leadership, Change, Teambuilding, Emotional Intelligence, Culture, Self-awareness and Strategic Thinking. Article by Kieran MacCourt is the Marketing Director for Dove Nest Group.

We’ve been talking with HR leaders and influencers about the C word: Culture

The discussion began during the People Development Summit, hosted by Summit Events in Barcelona, and continued during a more recent round table discussion to celebrate our 35 year anniversary.

From talking with our clients, we believe that culture is fundamental to the way organisations do (or don’t) work effectively but defining it and understanding it can be elusive. There can be company cultures and more local team cultures.

Culture reflects the way people feel about working in an organisation, how valued they feel, how inclined they feel to invest additional discretionary effort and how proud they feel about working there, which in turn reflects how they talk about the organisation, both internally and externally. In addition, how aligned is the culture with the stated mission and values – any mismatch can lead to distrust and even cynicism.

Someone recently described culture as ‘the way people behave when no one is looking’ and this speaks to the importance of culture in organisational success.

So back to our discussions…

We have talked Culture with HR leaders and influencers, with representatives from FMCG, Consumer durables, energy and events and conferences, and the recurring themes that preoccupy businesses are predictable.

There were the usual questions: who owns it? How can you change it? How do you embed it? and How do you know when it has been changed?

As you might expect the responses were statements most of us would agree with:

Everyone is responsible for the business culture
Culture is about the values and principles of the business
Its about why the business exists, what we do and how we do it
Leadership has a responsibility for modelling desirable behaviours, setting an example and living the values of the company
Changing culture is about changing behaviour
Culture is about people, their values, their motivation and principles.
You can’t achieve culture change by putting up a poster with 5 generic Value statements that doesn’t match employees, customers and managers experience of the business

No revelation of any secret so far. However, it was when the discussion turned to the physical environment in which culture conversations take place that thing started getting even more interesting.

Where we choose to discuss culture, shapes the result
When we want to address culture, do we consider how and where do we do it? Often it is discussed at a senior level first, sometimes the process is more collaborative, including employees in that discussion.

But most of the time, where it happens remains the same: the office.

There are several good practical reasons why this happens in the company offices; people are generally available, there’s no issue with travel, it saves time and it is convenient. But if we want to shape or change something so fundamental as culture, and expect that change to be real and far reaching, why would we have those discussions in the same place that we work?

Looking at the office as a locus for cultural change, we must consider the baggage that comes with using it as the place to generate change. The office has its politics, its hierarchies, its power relationships, its titles, not to mention its interruptions and distractions.

In the office, often we may be constricted by our position, title or responsibilities. We may try to be authentic, but sometimes our authenticity is curtailed by the context. The very fabric of the building, the chairs and desks remind us of our perception of our place. Managers might not show they are anxious, scared or nervous, just as employees sometimes bite their lip, both holding back their true behaviour for fear of how they will be perceived.

When you physically remove people from that office space, you create a new space where values, position and hierarchies can become less rigid, more fluid and more open to re-shaping and renegotiating.

So if we want to discuss changing the company culture, then doesn’t it make sense to change where we do it?

The Out of Office Response
Our round-table discussion was part of a weekend event in the Lake District, celebrating 35 years’ anniversary of what our organisation does best: experiential learning, business psychology, leadership and behaviour.

Over the weekend, we paddled canoes, drove Land Rovers, hit clay pigeons, negotiated physical challenges, climbed trees, jumped off high poles and crawled through dark tunnels.

So what does this have to do with culture? During the climbing, paddling, shooting, driving, jumping and crawling, apart from enjoying ourselves, something else happened. We got to know each other. We talked, listened, encouraged, applauded and laughed as a group. The barriers began to fall away.

When Rachel was wobbling atop a 20ft platform, getting ready to jump, we didn’t see her as her title, we didn’t see her office, we didn’t know her salary or position. But we did understand her motivation, her values, her drive, her obstacles and we shared in both her challenge and her success.

Giving people fun and challenging physical activities, in an environment far removed from the norm, creates a situation where people show their values, beliefs and principles in perhaps a more authentic way. Whether enjoying themselves or under pressure, new relationships can be established in a way that couldn’t ever have been achieved in an office or meeting room.

If culture reflects values, behaviours and principles, and expresses itself in behaviours, then seeing how people operate outside the office gives us an insight into what their authentic values, behaviour and principles might be. When we connect with each other, in this environment, we can unlock deeper understanding of our colleagues, richer relationships and together we can create the sort of behaviours which in turn create the culture we intend.

So what’s the secret?
No one could argue that simply paddling a canoe together for an hour creates cultural change. But when we think about changing or improving a culture, its vitally important to think about where we do this and not go to the default setting of the office.

5 benefits of getting out of the office:

1. Makes a clear statement of the importance of change
2. Provides a neutral space, flexing otherwise rigid relationships
3. Deepens relationships between individuals and teams
4. More authentic expression of values, principles and behaviours
5. A memorable experience likely to be applied back in the office

So, did our round table discussion about culture come to any revelatory conclusions?

Yes: if you want to start the discussion about changing culture, get out of the office!

www.dovenest.co.uk

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