90 Second Leadership – The Culture Pyramid
Let’s talk about the culture pyramid. How do we define culture? Why is a culture pyramid important to to understand and know?
Culture is really just shared behaviors. Culture is how we communicate, how we think, and what we act upon and is shared among everyone in an organization.
It’s easy to see things at the top of the culture pyramid like symbols, language, and logos. All of those things are at the top. Even the way people dress is important.
Next, we move into social norms. This is how people behave on a regular basis. Why do they behave that way? It’s what we celebrate, measure, and control. That confirms the patterns of behavior that we have.
Lastly, we have fundamental assumptions and values. If you notice, the top of the pyramid reveals visible attributes of culture, while the bottom reveals invisible attributes of culture. The bottom of the culture pyramid contains assumptions. These are things that everyone assumes on their own. Unless you take the time to exegete and understand that, it’s a hit or a miss. You may not get it right. An important thing to understand as a leader is to understand the fundamental assumptions because it will help you make good decisions.
Now that you have the culture pyramid, what are you doing to do about it?
