Discover the Culture in your Organization

The book of unwritten rules would be thicker than the book of written rules. And it is the more important book to “read”!

In the first phase of your onboarding you should be in listening and observation mode. With the following guiding questions you can collect a lot of input about your company culture:

• How do people speak about the management, other teams and customers?
• What are the informal communication and decision paths?
• What are noticeable routines or even rituals?
• What role does hierarchy play?
• What are the status symbols?
• How is the reputation of your team in the company?
• How do your team members see the role of the team?
• How do colleagues give and receive feedback?
• How do colleages express critical views?
• How are conflicts addressed and solved?
• When and where do people generate and discuss ideas?
• What are taboo topics?
• What is the company jargon?

If you truly want to understand something, try to change it
Kurt Lewin

This post is part of my Onboarding & Transition series. A good starting point is