The Cultural Life Cycle of Organizations

As new people join the organization, the company culture further evolves, leading to new challenges related to scalability, communication, decision-making and the various work-flow patterns.

As the internal integration clashes with the various external factors, the innovative and fast-moving qualities often turn into frozen, bureaucratic systems.

Culture is an ever-evolving, emergent occurrence. Leaders often take employees of off-site gatherings, read a book, or try to rewrite the company’s values and vision.

It will only be an eye-wash if it does not impact the employee's daily experience at work or if the leaders are not adaptive to employees needs.

Thinking of company culture as traffic, the leader needs to intentionally guide and shape the environment in which the culture evolves.

Example: Just talking about a flexible working environment isn’t enough if the lower-level employees are not given the discretion or choice.