People or Structures?

In terms of a strategy for organisational culture there are two obvious elements to get right; people and structure. It is important to recruit people who buy into the culture and have a structure that encourages the right atmosphere.

For a rapidly growing company getting only one of these right is not enough. When a company is small the people are vital and the structure less important. People spend more time together and can develop stronger relationships.

As a company grows the structure becomes more important. Relationships no longer develop organically; this process must be supported and encouraged. More people mean more personalities. Without a structure to promote and reinforce the desired culture it can decay.

Putting in place structures is not about writing plans or organisational charts. These structures are important operationally but culture is more intangible. I’ll get to some practical ideas later this week, but first it is important to understand what structures need to be based on.

Structures can only be built around the fundamental values that drive the organisation. At Camberwell these include; an egalitarian spirit where everyone is valued for the role they play, a can-do attitude that gives people chances to prove their worth and a friendly environment that offers support where it is needed. Getting clarity over values is the key both to getting the right people and the right structures.

In short it isn’t people or structures, its values.

Comments

[Joel Turner]

Hi Kieran,

Some great insights here. I entirely agree that creating a set of values to form the backbone upon which a company can grow is vitally important.

All growing companies know how difficult it is to find the right staff. But you are right to point out that fitting into a new work environment is not just about having the right skills for the job, but also about sharing in the values.

Getting buy-in from existing staff can be just has hard, but is important in nurturing the kind of atmosphere you describe.

Kevin Burns has posted an interesting blog on the subject here:-

http://www.kevburns.com/2008/10/how-to-engage-on-job.html