In an interview for the New York Times, Tae Hea Nahm, managing director of Storm Ventures, questioned the exercise of declaring values to create culture in an organization. He said, “Culture is defined by compensation, promotions, and terminations. Basically, people seeing who succeeds and fails in the company defines culture. T
he people who succeed become role models for what’s valued in the organization and that defines culture.”
Essentially, what you tolerate and promote is what you get. Values are aspirational, but people believe the actions and consequences they observe over the words they read.
As an example, if we tolerate bad bosses and bullies, we demonstrate that poor leadership and bullying are acceptable. And when we promote bad bosses and bullies to higher roles, we concede that poor leadership and bullying are not only acceptable, they’re valued.
Consequently, written proclamations such as, “We treat each other with respect” and “Leaders serve the success of others” are quickly ignored or disparaged.
A COO once said to me, “We’re not going to deal with that VP’s awful leadership style until the body count is high enough.”
In other words, we’re tolerating him until enough people leave. Eventually when his team’s turnover hit 100%, she fired him.
The COO didn’t just miss the opportunity to communicate that the VP’s behavior is unacceptable, she missed the opportunity to promote a culture of respect, accountability, and courage.
Culture isn’t written on paper; it’s created in our actions and behaviors, including those we tolerate and promote. |
