How to Discover Your Team Culture
3 Minute Read
Chances are you’ve heard the word “culture,” and you may have talked about “culture fit” before; but, you probably don’t know what culture really is. Culture is shared beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, and language that represent a group of people. We all feel a deep sense of belonging when we understand and align with the beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, and language of a group of people. And achieving that sense of belonging is a powerful motivator. It’s the reason sports fans wear jerseys, sing songs, believe the other teams fans are evil, and talk in ways that other fans don’t. No one pays us to do that, we just do it, because it feels great to belong.
That same process happens at work. A team with strong culture, by definition, has team members that share a strong sense of belonging. And everyone on that team will feel a strong desire to align with and uphold the culture. In fact, they are also highly likely to hold each other accountable for upholding those cultural elements (a key aspect of culture that I’ll return to in a bit). That strong desire to belong, to uphold, and to keep others accountable is why culture is the most powerful force affecting the performance of your team.
Gooooooal!!!
So it stands to reason that as a leader and manager, if you want to influence and improve the performance of your team, you must influence and improve the culture.
Alright, you may be nodding your head now, but you are probably also thinking, “I have no idea how to influence my team’s beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, and language.” Here’s the secret: you don’t have to influence those things directly. You just have to give your team a way to do it for themselves.
Your team only needs a few things from you to get started:
A time to work on it (When)
A safe space to talk (Where)
A reason to work on it (Why)
A process to use (How)
A place to write it down (What)
You can do it! Just follow this list:
Example Culture Discovery Board
Schedule a couple hours for the team to work on culture, preferably right before lunch time. Call it a workshop, because it’s not a meeting.
Reserve a space with a big open wall that everyone can comfortably stand around, preferably a space away from prying eyes or offsite if you can.
Welcome everyone to the workshop and explain why culture matters, and why it is everyone’s job to make sure that culture is great. You are giving the team autonomy and responsibility to create the team they always wanted to work on.
Guide them through a process to identify and discuss their shared values (beliefs). Preferably you will ask someone trusted but not on the team to facilitate so you can participate. You are a member of the team too.
Create a shared document to record the team’s values and anything else meaningful that was discussed.
Schedule retrospectives (I like a quarterly cadence) in the future so the team can discuss the ways they have lived up to the values, and the ways they need to improve. They can also use this time to discuss if/why/how the list of values should change.
This is the most important action item: Encourage your team to turn their values into artifacts (physical things that represent and reinforce the values), behaviors (through 1on1 coaching), and language (in communication).
Still with me? Congratulations! You have what you need to start influencing your team in a powerful way. And you know some key things about culture that most engineering leaders don’t.
But you may have one big question on your mind: “How do I know my team will choose the ‘right’ set of values?”
First, trust them. I’ve helped more than a dozen teams discover and discuss their shared values, and without fail they tend to arrive at a similar set with a few nuances based on the context of the team. You’ll see that they want what you want, accountability, fun, good communication, professionalism, etc.
Second, share what you think is important. You are part of the team. If there are values you think are important, you should raise those ideas as part of the discovery process.
If you want to be a remarkable leader and manager, start influencing culture. Most of your peers don’t do it, and wouldn’t even know how. Now you do! So get started!
If you have questions about the process, let’s connect!
Ready to try it with your team?
I designed a Team Culture Discovery Workshop that works great. The workshop is easy for anyone to facilitate, and I created a detailed guide to help you make it happen. Click here to get the Workshop Facilitator Guide (no email required)
Illustration 39838656 © Davor Ratkovic - Dreamstime.com
Illustration 38682354 © Davor Ratkovic - Dreamstime.com
