Shared Culture

When you value SHARED CULTURE, you derive energy from a workplace culture that feels familiar, comfortable, and affirming. Your ideal SHARED CULTURE may look like a bustling startup that values freedom in decision-making, or you may thrive in the atmosphere of an established, well-oiled machine. The culture points that matter most to you are personal. Whatever the particulars, you desire a good fit between your own style and the company vibe. Meshing well with people, beliefs and protocols helps you feel connected in a meaningful way. A company’s culture encompasses three areas: cognitive culture (shared beliefs, values, and vision), emotional culture (overall mood, how people feel at work, and how they suppress or express emotion), and behavioral culture (behavioral norms, and which behaviors or inactions are tolerated or rejected). If you are out of sync with those of your brand or workplace in any or all three of these areas, this motive will suffer and you are likely to lessen the connection that creates a healthy mutually beneficial relationship between you and your company. You want to feel like you and your company are a good match, that your wellbeing matters, and that the relationship you have with your company is reciprocal. Being part of a culture and workplace you admire and take pride in elevates your happiness and emotional satisfaction. When this motive is strong it also enhances your motivation to help your company succeed and to add to the work culture in positive ways.

You feel this motive being met when…

+ You feel connected to your company, and proud of the connection.

+ Your company cares about you and about your wellbeing as a person.

+ Even on bad days, you can feel good about your company and its behavior and values.

 This motive is at risk when…

– Your company’s culture and environment dampen your enthusiasm or your productivity, or add unnecessary stress to your workday.

– You and your company don’t have much in common, in values or in personality.

– Even after you’ve identified what isn’t working for you in your company culture and made attempts to address these issues, you feel unheard or powerless to make changes that could help you to connect better.

A Work Wellness Check-In for SHARED CULTURE

1. Am I usually “on the same page” as my company or organization?
2. How do I feel about the cognitive culture (shared beliefs, values, and vision) at my company? Does my company communicate values we share in common? Does it live up to those values?
3. How do I feel about the emotional culture (the overall mood, how people feel at work, and how they suppress or express emotion) at my company? If I had to pick 5 adjectives to describe my organization’s emotional culture, what would they be? (e.g. joyful, resilient, fear-driven, frazzled, optimistic, etc.)
4. How do I feel about the behavioral culture at my company? (e.g. how feedback is given, how mistakes are resolved, social or digital communication norms, etc.) Does it match the way I behave, and the way I like to relate to others?
5. Do I personally shape and contribute to my team or company’s SHARED CULTURE? Am I part of creating a culture I continue to want to be part of?
6. Do I feel like I’m a cog in a machine, or does my company notice and value me as a person? Do I feel like my wellbeing matters? 
7. Do I embody the change I want to see in the workplace? Are there ways I could show up at work to lead by example?
8. Where does my sense of pride or admiration for my company come from? What, specifically, do I like about my organization?  In what areas is my sense of admiration lacking?
9. What am I most grateful for in regards to my company or team culture, environment and relationships?

10. If I feel disconnected at work, where is the disconnect? Do I need to change something, or do I need to raise an issue with my boss, teammates, or HR? (e.g. my team is proud of being workaholics, and I don’t feel that way; the atmosphere at work is too rigid for me; my company culture is focused on socializing and gatherings, and that’s not my thing…) 
11. Can I find more people at my company who share my perspective and values, knowing this will help me support my SHARED CULTURE motive? Can I create or become a part of a meaningful and well-connected subculture?
12. Do I feel like the people who work together genuinely care about each other as people? If not, what stops us? If so, do I let others know I appreciate this?
13. Is there more I could do to fit in with my larger company culture, in ways that are still authentic to me?
14. If there are things negatively affecting the culture, do I challenge these things? Bring it to others attention? Start a conversation about it? If not, could I? How do I feel about my answer?
15. If aspects of workplace culture have recently changed or feel uncomfortable, can I see the changes as becoming shared points of positive culture? Is adapting possible? Am I resisting change because I believe a change is unhealthy or inauthentic?
16. What aspects of my company’s culture or character most inspire or motivate me? Is this question easy or difficult to answer?