Culture is behaviors. Understanding the roots of behaviors (I)

Companies are ecosystems whose proper functioning is determined by the quality of their elements and by the quality of the relationships between those elements.

For this reason, the triple ambition of a manager should be his personal improvement, the configuration of a team made up of solid professionals (technically and personally), and the improvement of relationships between them. A team with respect decides better. A team where its members trust each other performs better.

Improving culture consists of making the air that is breathed in it more “breathable” and “healthy”, cognitively and emotionally; in making respect and trust the dominant notes in business ecosystem relationships.

The air that is breathed, what we call culture, affects the emotional state of people, and this affects behavior, and this affects the quality and quantity of the work that is done. Improving the culture is improving behaviors and, as a result, improving the quantity and quality of work carried out in the company.

To make the air you breathe healthier you have to act upstream, especially in what conditions behaviors. Specifically on issues such as work experience, dominant beliefs, emotional patterns, behavior reinforcement systems and some other variables.

A culture becomes “unbreathable” if it dominates control, restrictions to do or think, the emphasis on compliance with protocols, excessive reporting and the constant reference to the employment contract as the perimeter of the relationship between employees and the company.

On the contrary, a culture becomes healthy and breathable, from the point of view of the behaviors it fosters, when its dominant characteristics are self-demand, self-discipline, an emphasis on collaboration, and the building of more mutual respect and trust.

To transform culture, therefore, one must act simultaneously on the context , beliefs , moods and behaviors; since the four elements feed back. By acting on all four, more or less simultaneously, the probability of success in cultural change is increased.