What is Company Culture?

What exactly does it mean when someone says “my company has a really great culture!” or “our company culture is the backbone to our great services”? It’s obviously a very popular term to use with history showing that it’s a key to a successful business.

I won’t get into HOW to create a strong company culture, since that would take more than a simple blog post to explore. Instead, we can start with the question, what IS company culture? When someone loves their company culture, what exactly does that mean? What do they love? Is it the people? The environment? The management style or the industry they’re in?

In my opinion it’s a result of all the elements of a company put together, most importantly, the people. Many small business owners believe they can create culture when building their business. I feel this incredibly unrealistic. While a CEO/founder can influence how culture is formed, a single person can’t define all the elements that define a ‘culture’. Oxford dictionary defines culture as:

• the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group: (ex. Caribbean culture). 
• [with modifier] the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group. 

Notice that in both of those definitions, the term “social group” is mentioned. Culture is defined by a group of people, and the environment around them that influences their actions.

Different countries have different ‘cultures’ mainly because of the people that make up each country. Are Italians a specific (and rather fun) culture because their leaders tell them to be that way? I don’t think so. Italians culture is what it is because the people make it that way, it’s simply their personality (which has been influenced by their environment for centuries). Go see italian communities in the US and you’re bound to see the same kind of personalities and ‘culture’ there also.

I once had a boss that believed that if he could write ‘culture points’ on a sheet of paper, and make everyone read that document every day, he’d be ‘defining’ culture. However, what happens when you hire a team of people that do not share the qualities of that document? Does the culture remain what the boss defines on a sheet of paper, or what the team brings to the table?

If a company hires a group of young, tech-savvy individuals, you should expect to have a more laid-back, slightly-nerdy culture defined by what everyone brings to the table right? If the same company hired a group of older conservative employees who’ve worked in the banking industry for decades, could you expect to impose the same culture on them?

Steve Jobs didn’t create the culture of Apple, he hired the right people that went in-line with his vision of the company, and the culture formed around his ideals. Groups create culture, and trying to impose culture on a person takes a very long time, and unless you did when they were young and growing up, it would be almost impossible to fully convert them.

I’m not saying that a boss has no influence or say as to how his or her company is run. However, the vision of the company must be matched by the personality types that company employs. The Banking industry’s stereotypical culture of cubicles, drab suit and ties and endless conference meetings isn’t opposite to the laid-back, shirt and shorts culture of the game industry because of the industry or bosses, it’s because of the people employed. Apple proved that by hiring the right people to redefine what a computer company culture is all about.