In a word – Nothing and Everything! Last week, I attended the TVCSHRM Fall Workshop: Un-Management with Talent Anarchy where they were discussing “A Culture that Fuels Innovation“.
Our discussion was very interesting particularly when we discussed three distinct cultures:
1) Culture of Connection
2) Culture of Inclusion
3) Culture of Liberation in relation to building a Culture of Innovation.
The topics were enlightening, but they missed the mark because you can’t build a culture of anything unless you value that “thing”. For example, you can’t simply build a work space with an open office environment and expect to create a Culture of Connection like Pixar. Or, you can’t allow employees to create a wild & wacky work space and create a Culture of WOW like Zappos. These organizations create these culture because it’s what they value.
If you want to build a winning organizational culture (OC) you have to understand the equation – The OC Equation™
The OC your organization lives by is based on its values, philosophies and actions. In other words, if your organization and its leadership value innovation they’ll support and encourage the actions needed for employees to be innovative. If they don’t value innovation, no program, policy or procedure can be implemented and sustained to create innovation.
What does your organization value? Do their actions support what they say they value? What do you value? Do your actions support what you say you value?
