{"id":20966,"date":"2019-10-01T15:37:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T14:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.phdmedia.com_\/mena\/?p=20966"},"modified":"2020-01-16T07:48:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T07:48:33","slug":"culture-identity-fashionable-or-meaningful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/culture-identity-fashionable-or-meaningful\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture identity \u2013 fashionable or meaningful?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Challenger mindsets need more than just a happy workplace \u2013 they need an environment which allows them to put their best foot forward, says Karen Doumet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nfriend recently told me that she quit her job in the financial sector because she\ncould no longer \u201cidentify\u201d with her organization. The word identify<\/em> really got me thinking. The debate about what makes a good\nwork culture is raging and \u201chappiness at work\u201d has become the KPI of countless leaders\nand managers. Even with the many studies and books on the topic, are organizations\nreally creating work cultures that attract talent because they \u201cidentify\u201d with\nthem? Is what we deem a good work culture today changing? In our diverse and\nrapidly changing world, have we clearly identified what makes work cultures sustainable\nand adaptable? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nstate the obvious, people are the foundation of every business and without a\ngood work culture, neither they nor the company they collectively form will\nflourish. While this is true in its absolute term, it does not necessarily mean\nthat what we define as a good work culture comes in a \u201cone size fits all\u201d. Different\norganizations have different requirements and those primarily vary based on the\nnature of the business. Some require and have \u2018textbook\u2019 corporate cultures,\nwhile others are more specific and unique. Either way, culture is one of the\nmost sustainable and important elements in the growth and success of an\norganization. According to a study by the German Federal Ministry of\nLabour, a full third of profit before tax can be attributed to an\nemployee-focused corporate culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are major challenges in building relatable, adaptable and sustainable work cultures in our changing ecosystems. Talent have highly diverse aspirations and the start-up culture has profoundly disrupted the perception of a good work culture. Organizations are putting a lot of effort to create a culture of their own but the pace at which this is materializing is slow. Part of the problem is that this process usually comes from the top down. These well-meaning corporate statements are usually created by management or consultants for staff to embrace wholeheartedly. Employees are rarely part of the process. Yet, young professionals want to be involved and it has become managers and leaders\u2019 responsibility to facilitate these opportunities. Orlando Figes writes: \u201cIdentity these days is a fashionable term. But it is not very meaningful unless one can show how it manifests itself in social interaction and behaviour”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started by my career 15 years ago and much of what I knew\nto be true then has either completely changed or at least evolved to some degree.\nLet’s take the concept of failure and the fear associated with it. Today, we\nlook at failure as an experience that stimulates growth. Another example is short\ntenures, which no longer seem to be stigmatized. Diversity, inclusion,\nopenness, balanced lifestyles, fun at work\u2026 are no longer just the traits of\nenlightened employers but common expectations from potential recruits. To me,\nthese are but the fa\u00e7ade of a good work culture and while today\u2019s young\nprofessionals may be attracted by them, in the long run, they are not enough to\nretain employees. So, we hear \u201cI quit because I don\u2019t identify with this\norganization\u201d more often now, and we\u2019ll keep on hearing it unless things change\nmore profoundly and meaningfully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe diverse environment in which we are living, a singular vision and a defined\nidentity are as essential as they are challenging to craft. They are not the\nproduct of one mind but the mix of micro-climates in an organization, the\njuxtaposition of various tiles in a mosaic. These sub-cultures are the source\nof novel ideas and will ultimately influence change. These outliers are the\nbuilding blocks of the wider culture of an organization and, rather than\nsteamrolled, they should be embraced. Ken Kutaragi of Sony Computer\nEntertainment, the unit behind PlayStation, once said that he knew from the\nbeginning that \u201chis company-within-a-company would influence Sony profoundly\u201d.\nThe dominating culture may not be the one that serves a company best or fits it\nmost accurately. For organizations\nto be relatable to a generation that wants to \u2018identify\u2019, they must look deeper\nand be ready to adopt a \u2018challenger\u2019 mindset, starting from within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately,\na good and healthy work culture comes down to having purpose and vision, establishing\ntrustworthy leadership and providing an environment where people can be the\nbest version of themselves. It is ensuring that people have and feel the\nliberty to think differently and try new things. By doing so, organizations are\nable to leverage their people\u2019s talents. Embracing their sub-cultures\nand \u201cchallengers\u201d, companies can demonstrate their true character and provide a\nmore authentic reflection of what or who they are to all their stakeholders. This\nintrospection will allow them to be an organization with which people can\nidentify, rather than one where they\u2019re \u2018just\u2019 happy to work. Authenticity is\nthe foundation of deep and meaningful relationships. Challenger brands have taken\nthis further and built their success on being true to themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen Doumet is a business unit director at PHD UAE. Challenger brands will be explored during the 10th PHD BrainScape conference on October 30.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit the online article at Campaign Middle East here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenger mindsets need more than just a happy workplace \u2013 they need an environment which allows them to put their best foot forward, says Karen Doumet A friend recently told me that she quit her job in the financial sector because she could no longer \u201cidentify\u201d with her organization. The word identify really got me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100069,"featured_media":21115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[495,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-views","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phdmedia.com\/mena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}