Having worked at a few organizations in my career, I have found myself thinking more about corporate culture and how it impacts workers. This raised a question for me:
“Is it possible to have an overarching corporate culture AND have a subculture within a team?”
Corporate culture typically is pushed from the top of the organization down into the levels of the business. The overall theme of culture is certainly felt and employees will react, positively or negatively, to that environment.
But within that large culture, do teams have a subculture?
Yes. They do. And these subcultures are driven by managers. The team will be impacted by the greater culture and standards, but a manager can impact the day-to-day culture of their team. I have seen this proven time and again because of the Covid pandemic and the overwhelming video meetings that followed. The company drove the higher-level cultural influence, but managers shaped their teams:
- Games
- Flexible work schedules
- Projects
- Happy hours
- Understanding
Culture is critical for a workplace, everyone needs to be on the same page with the same goals and understanding. Subculture can really impact the smaller team and hit productivity (or counteract).
Does your team have it’s own subculture? Hit up the comments to share!