Organization Culture

How well are you working together at your organization?

All the best-laid plans may never be realized unless you have a positive environment in which to carry out your mission.

We all know groups that have a positive culture and what a difference that makes in terms of effectiveness.  Staff members like their work; board members enjoy their positions; program participants feel valued.  We also know groups that don't have a positive culture.  It's important to pay attention and improve our organization's culture.

There are three key qualities of positive organizational culture:

Empowering

• Leaders often share "success stories" - individual, team and organization - with staff
• Leaders reward staff for success, and not just with words
  Staff are afforded time to share success stories with one another
• Organizational leaders encourage and empower staff to pursue learning opportunities (formal & informal)

Unifying

• Staff feel "included", not isolated as individuals and/or within sub-groups
• A sense of "fairness" with respect to power sharing pervades the organization
• A high amount and quality of communication across all individuals, groups and roles of staff
• Leadership, board members, and staff resolve conflicts in a way that strengthens relationships
• Problems are communicated in a timely and construction fashion (top-down and bottom-up)

Re-Energizing

• Regularly scheduled social events are held where people get to learn about one another outside of the work context
• Spending time providing "real" examples of clients success; reminding staff that they are making progress toward their mission
• Formally established times for staff reflection on how they contribute to achieving the organization's vision