Organisations, be they in the private, public, or voluntary sector, are normally nothing more than communities of human beings. As a result, it is difficult to dispute any organisation has a culture.
“Culture is one of those strange intuitive things – we all know it when we walk into a new company, we can feel whether the culture is good or bad. It’s there and it’s very real. We define it as ‘the way you do things.’ This was a quote from an international recruiting organisation, and their business is knowing their businesses.
Internalised messages lead to an understanding of what is acceptable in an environment, and will be the bedrock of the culture, and define what it takes to fit in. Society and communities learn from what they see, and that learning then becomes part of what an organisation does as its everyday process.
Organisations that have followed and actively used the principles within the Investors in Excellence Standard have exhibited sustained continuous improvement in what they do, and this is frequently as a result of the improvement they achieve with their people and the culture they establish at all levels. The Training, Facilitation, and Coaching they undertake within their areas of operation are all examples of Approaches that IiE can help with. There is never a bad time for a healthcheck.