David Marble | Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network CEO
I became more and more aware of the criticality of corporate culture as my career moved from staff member to leadership purviews. Culture floats around leadership discussions often, but I defy anyone to build a formulaic approach to obtaining a desired culture or even have a consistent way to define the one they have.
Bill Belichick recently stated, “Emotion is great and can be a big part of it. In the end, we can all sit around and kumbaya all day. But if you don’t block anybody or you can’t tackle or you can’t kick, then I don’t really know what you have.”
He is basically describing the challenge of balance. Every organization has a culture, and the leadership challenge involves understanding its elements and the driving balance required to maximize productivity while creating the working environment you want for your staff, partners and customers.
This is different for every company. OSHEAN, in a highly technical field, requires learning to be an element of our culture, which translates to a myriad of requirements for staff and management to support. This involves supporting individualized education initiatives for everyone in the organization, including me, which then translates to time and money allocations.
Purpose is another element of culture, reflected by how deeply your staff engages in the mission. That requires articulation of that purpose and an understanding of how it resonates with all stakeholders.
Honoring culture means understanding its nature within your institution and creating plans to support structures for each element.