Jithesh Anand, Founder & CEO
Culture does not make people. People makes culture.
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
Our planet completing one full orbit around the Sun, as indicated by the shift in our Gregorian Calendars may not introduce much Cultural transformation in our enterprises, in our societies or in our lives.
It may however be a good pitstop in our pandemic inflicted lives to stop and ponder about how our collective tiny actions are influencing the Culture that is getting shaped around us.
Is it time to for us to focus on modifying, increasing, changing, reducing or omitting (m.i.c.r.o) some key tiny actions within our locus of control and observe and perhaps relish the impact it has on the macro a.k.a the operating culture around us?
Can we let 2020 be a chapter of an eminently forgettable past or will 2022 be 2020 too?
The culture of an enterprise guides all individual’s decisions and actions at the unconscious level, during his or her day-to-day work for the enterprise, resulting in potent effects on the enterprise’s progress and success. Both in the real world and the influencing perceptual world.
Culture is an abstract yet powerful force that can be experienced in the micro world (day to day realities) and the macro world (strategic direction, long term sustenance etc) of any enterprise. The key ingredients of this enterprise culture are its guiding vision, shared values, underlying beliefs, and day to day behaviours.
While other ingredients or elements of culture are somewhat invisible, the most visible and ‘experienced’ level of enterprise culture is behaviour.
As pointed out in an article by Felix Global, an international leadership firm, Individual day to day behaviours are shaped by personal philosophies, vision and values, as well as the shared “common sense” norms and practices of the enterprise. These “norms” prevent people from questioning their culture’s assumed structure — the leadership types, communication, and group dynamics within the enterprise. The individuals in an enterprise perceive the culture as quality of work life — which directs their degree of motivation. These motivations drive their final performance behaviour, individual satisfaction, and personal growth. Over time, these day-to-day behaviours are fed back to influence the overall enterprise culture. As we understand, individual day to day behaviours and enterprise culture are locked in a forever, mutually influencing, cyclical relationship. In an economic universe where a financial year is the ultimate epoch for evaluating performance and outcomes, the day becomes the most important constituent unit. What we do every day, how we behave on a daily basis has a profound influence on the end of month, end of quarter, end of year outcomes for each individual, the team and the enterprise on the whole.
And lo! Behaviour and its influence takes centre stage!
Ironically individual behaviour is quite difficult to predict in any given moment. Given that the myriad influences that shape behaviour are difficult to be identified and analysed. However, patterns and consistent patterns of behaviours that individuals and groups display are not so difficult to identify.
In today’s digital enterprise IoT devices and Digital enterprise level applications (or apps) are capturing data 24X7, about individual behaviour. Gartner calls this ‘Digital Dust’. These gazillion motes of Digital Dust are available to every enterprise. Digital dust that illuminates us about behaviour and behaviour patterns of everyone.
Perhaps what we desperately need is a robust, sense making framework that leverages this Digital Dust collected from the always-alert IoT devices and serve up some ‘digitalised sense’ continuously to individuals, managers and leaders so that they can reflect upon their own behaviour, seek help and understand ways and means to positively multiply the impact of their behaviours on the desired outcomes for themselves and their enterprises.
It has become paramount for enterprises to recognize this outsized influence, of these key behaviours on their culture. Understand the impact it is creating on their culture and more importantly on the day-to-day existence of each of the individuals. Individuals making priceless contributions to the progress and eventual success of the enterprise.
It has become paramount for us to realise that we are in the era of IoB. An Internet of Behaviours era where we can leverage the power of Digital Dust to shape our behaviours, the culture of our enterprises and perhaps our collective destinies.
