Sixth in a series
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” – Albert Einstein
A business’ fate is determined in large part by its culture. A business culture is the reality created by how people act, react, and interact with each other based on their attitudes, beliefs, and ambitions.
The most damaging business cultures are those in which aggression, neglect, and punishment leave employees feeling they have no reason to commit their energies and skills, share their ideas, or help the company advance.
A culture built principally around rewards for individual or group performance pits individuals and teams against each other, often in ways that create class systems, in-fighting, and divisive loyalties. The winners in such cultures find meaning in their rewards. The rest are left wondering what the point is for them and their employer.
A passive, benign, and inert business culture leaves the business subject to the aggregate confusion that results when each individual employee’s quirks, tendencies, and potentially questionable morality and ethics are accommodated.
The most beneficial business cultures are those that unite employees around an ambition, make them feel emotionally connected, and surround them with people who share their ambition, feelings, and behavior.
By consistently and intentionally conveying a meaningful ambition and evoking a set of unique and positive emotions, businesses can transform the meaningful outcome of every aspect of the work experience:
A Meaningful Workplace culture is based on the way employees experience these factors – what meaning is conveyed and how they are left feeling.
Did you miss the first five parts of this series? Read Being Meaningful: It’s the Key to Better Engaging Your Employees, Getting Employees to Respond Positively, Why Workplaces Aren’t Meaningful Now, The Meaningful Workplace: It Takes New Ways of Thinking, and Acting, and Using Values to Build Engagement and a Meaningful Workplace.
This series is excerpted from a white paper titled The Meaningful Workplace that was first published at Emotive Brand.
