How can ‘culture come from the top’ when our work lives are so individualized?

Edgar Schein’s model of organizational behavior identifies three levels of culture: artefacts (physical and visible items such as office environment, branding, dress code, etc), espoused beliefs (stated values, conduct, accepted behaviors and how the organization is represented), and basic assumptions (these are less conscious, demonstrating what’s been taken for granted and how values have transformed over time).

Schein believes that alignment across these levels is critical for growth and problems arising in the culture are due to misalignment between these levels.

The detail of these levels provides a starting point to further understand the composition of culture and how it has changed in recent years.

Redefining new norms

But fast forward to the new norm, and a refreshed approach has arisen to these aged standards. Driven by employee demand, we can hot desk globally; collaboration is on our own terms; ‘business up top’ wardrobes are juxtaposed with below-desk leisurewear; individual-led fashion styling combines purpose and self-indulgence to a tee.

We’ve extended accommodations for daily distractions (unreliable Wi-Fi and special guest appearances of pets and children). Day-to-day culture is increasingly multifaceted and diluted through the facilitation of business operations from our personal spaces and the wide-ranging levels of comfort (and discomfort) in exposing the parts of ourselves that form our home lives. (We are perhaps only just beginning to understand the risks to confidentiality and digital security brought on by using in-home and public workspaces.)

Stated values and codes of conduct, which once took pride of place on reception walls and manifested through professional welcomes and firm handshakes now reside instead in the individual. Want proof? Just look at hastening email response times, shifting understanding around written communications, and varying levels of respect to virtual meeting etiquette.

The physical environment has been diminished, demanding greater trust from leaders and soft skills from line managers. Some are better than others at cultivating these skills – and employees have to adapt accordingly. The resulting transformations in culture are wide-ranging.

These two cultural levels (in Schein’s schema, ‘artefacts’ and ‘espoused beliefs’) have undergone intense scrutiny in post-Covid times. Where we work best, how we perform best, and how the values of an organization’s pre-Covid employees blend with those of today’s new joiners have become hotly contested.

Making positive change towards an ‘us all’ culture

Comparing pre- and post-Covid culture through this lens, we can begin to understand how culture has pivoted from a traditional top-down approach to one that elevates individual impact.

Leaders who cultivate a positive culture will continue to do so by acknowledging that they act as the foundations to it, endorsing respect for their people and consistently supporting frameworks to build strong structures, invested workforces, and cultures of engagement.

Conversely, leaders who refuse to recognize that change is needed (and continue to provide controlled approaches or naively assume that culture will take care of itself) will inevitably diminish the return of those who ‘feel’ culture the most, damaging positive energy and giving rise to toxic and selfish behavior. That will only sour company culture and decrease retention rates.

Enabling a positive culture to flourish requires understanding, accepting, and valuing the differences between people. We must all act as guardians of culture, protecting and defending it when culture feels fragile, or championing and celebrating when we recognize vibrancy.

A great culture is crucial in maximizing employee engagement and productivity. To aid positive change, we have to strike a balance between the business leaders’ responsibility to ensure clarity of cultural factors, and the accountability we share in aligning our individual behaviors and attitudes.

We each have a role to play in contributing to, maintaining, or improving organizational culture. So, perhaps we need an adjustment to the old chestnut ‘Culture comes from the top’. In 2024, culture comes from us all.