Decision Making For Dummies

Chapter 3

Company Culture and Decision-Making

In This Chapter

Recognizing cultural beliefs that resist change

Observing your company’s thought process

Appreciating the effect of context on decision-making

Over a decade ago, I was facilitating a change initiative in an organization. In a single moment, I felt forward motion roll back, as if there were an undertow resisting movement. An unseen force in the company was counteracting good intentions. I had to know what was causing the underlying resistance besides some fairly entrenched beliefs about how things worked. Turns out it was the workplace culture.

Workplace culture carries so much power because it operates largely beneath awareness. In the same way your beliefs create your reality, a company’s culture creates its results. A workplace culture can be conducive or corrosive to innovation, growth, adaptability, engaged employees, and so on.

Luckily, if you’re a small company, workplace culture is pretty straightforward. People trust what you do, so what you say has credibility and inspires confidence. You lead by your actions and by how you engage others in decision-making. As your company grows, however, things get slightly ...