So what do beliefs and assumptions have to do with organizational culture?  With almost two decades of culture work under our belts, it is fair to say, “Everything!”

One working definition of culture is simply, “The way we do things around here.”  

Even if you don’t have an established definition of culture, there is often an awareness that something is shaping the way we do things around here.  While it is true that culture is very much influenced by leadership, values, vision, and other important traits, if we look deeper, what’s really informing the organization’s culture are its beliefs and assumptions.

Let’s share a real life illustration.  We use a case study in our work based on a company that held a market share leadership position for twenty years.  Leadership was stable and one could say that they “believed” in stability.  The dark side of this belief is that there was very little tolerance for innovation or change.  Another belief was that if they kept doing what got them to #1, they would remain #1 regardless of what competitors or market conditions were up to.  It’s fine to be confident in what you are doing.  How this belief showed up in their culture was there was little to no investment made in understanding what competitors were doing and how market conditions were changing.  It was fair to say they had a “we’ve got this” mindset embedded in their culture.

Not all beliefs hold culture and organizations back.  This organization believed in fiscal responsibility.  They ran a tight ship and held a good balance sheet.  There were cash reserves.  They were in a position many organizations would applaud and welcome.

Then came the first year they missed their financial targets.  It wasn’t a small miss.

The stable executive team with the long-standing CEO was shaken.  You heard people saying, “I can’t believe this!”  The CEO was heard saying, “We’re a ship going down together.”  Not too inspiring.

Beliefs lead to assumptions and vice-versa.  There were some unfounded assumptions made about competition.  An example might be that no one has our cash reserves and, therefore, we can assume no one in our industry can keep up with us.  The problem with that assumption is that because they held fiscal responsibility as a belief, they invested in almost nothing, including their people.

When the Denison Culture Survey was finally run there, what was seen made things much clearer.  Vision scores were low.  Goals and Objectives scores were high because they believed in measurements.   Strategic Direction scores were low.  Core Values scores were pretty high.  Involvement of people scores were low and turnover was increasing.  Customer focus scores were surprisingly low.  Innovation barely had a pulse.

There were cultural reasons fed by a set of beliefs and assumptions that led to declining revenue and a loss of their #1 market position.

Let’s pause here to say that creating “culture initiatives” as a solution, in this case, was not going to get it done.  There were some beliefs and assumptions to build upon but there were some beliefs and assumptions that had to be reframed or let go of.

There is much more to be said but let us share the good news.  They took themselves on and are doing the hard work and recovering.

What beliefs are driving the culture in your organization? Maybe your organization believes that in order to be competitive we have to have a cut-throat environment.  Maybe your organization assumes that it’s been such a pillar in the community that you aren’t aware that the communities needs have changed. , If your company has a strong core belief, but you don’t see it in the behavior of employees, is there something you aren’t paying attention to?

In order to move people to dramatically higher levels of performance, we know success doesn’t hinge on any one reward system, training program, or strategic plan. True success stems from a comprehensive approach that goes to the heart of an organization-the attitudes, beliefs, habits, and expectations of all individuals from the top to the front lines.