The culture of an organization either creates the space for sustainable, defined success or makes it difficult, if not impossible. A healthy culture allows the organization to tap into the knowledge, talents, experience, energy, and intellectual capital of participants. It does not permit ego, politics, or dysfunction to get in the way.
In this context, culture can be defined as the environment that establishes norms of behavior for the people in the organization. It involves the connection between the goals and values of the individual and those of the group. Culture is embodied in author Seth Godin’s statement: “People like us do things like that.”
Organizational culture provides the context in which the stakeholders understand their roles and can concentrate on doing their best. Healthy cultures in community associations put boards in a position to establish desired results and provide the necessary resources to achieve them. Focusing on those results delivers rich payoffs. Building a healthy culture yields exponentially compounded interest in terms of time, energy, progress, and community spirit.
Culture is the difference-maker, and yet, community association managers and volunteers almost never talk about culture directly. It’s about time we did.
Three Cultures
Organizational culture tends to fall into one of three general categories:
- Intentional Culture- Values, goals, and norms have been identified, codified in some form, and provide the basis for principled action. People in the organization are clear on “The Why.”
- Unintentional Culture- Values, goals and norms are left to chance. Defining them depends on who the influential people are in an organization at a particular time. Frequently, decisions are made and actions taken on an ad hoc basis. Sometimes leaders focus on rules and written procedures without explaining why they matter. Other times, there is no focus at all. Everybody works too hard at reinventing the wheel or making it up as they go. If such a community is fortunate, things will go well riding on the backs of a few good people.
- Actual Culture- Values, norms and goals have been identified. There may be mission, values, and vision statements with lofty aspirations printed on glossy marketing materials and plaques on walls. Yet, leaders and members of the organization violate those ideals on a regular basis without correction. The inherent hypocrisy of the organization destroys morale and trust.
Most organizations fall into the unintentional category. Their leaders may have no concept of culture or fail to recognize the benefits of the time investment necessary to build a successful one. They cannot see that the hard work up front will significantly decrease their time and effort in the long run. They are so caught up in the day-to-day operation that they miss the bigger picture.
What About Community Associations?
Why, specifically, do many community associations tend to have an unintentional culture? First, boards can be mired in tactics, too busy putting out fires and stuck in the weeds to elevate their perspective.
Second, exclusive devotion to the standard board meeting model can cause an unintended consequence. Leaders and managers are trained to follow the legal requirements for board meetings. They correctly conduct the association’s business in accordance with open meeting requirements and the standard meeting agenda. Well-planned and executed board meetings are highly effective in handling the day-to-day business of the association. However, regular board meetings are horribly ill-suited to address bigger picture issues, complicated projects, and strategic planning. These discussions will never fit into a standard board meeting agenda in the best of times. Switch it up by scheduling some town hall or special meetings to listen to what members have to say, get ideas flowing, and deal with big picture issues.
Getting to Higher Ground
Getting out of the weeds is not easy. Leaders and managers first need the awareness that business as usual leaves too much to chance. Then, they must recognize that the work to build healthy organizational culture is a time investment that will pay dividends. For some groups we’ve worked with, it took disgust borne from crashing and burning to motivate them to meaningful change. In our next segment, we will offer a roadmap to intentional culture for community associations.
