Culture plays an essential role in our societal and organizational lives. It shapes us in a variety of ways.
Organizational culture is the basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and, their overt behavior.
Culture and Conversation
We can view a society or an organization as a network of people engaged in a continuous, dynamic flow of conversations.
In this setting, we can unveil the culture by watching how people talk with each other.
By observing how people talk about things, the specific words they use, and the tone in which they say them, we can discern the level of various cultural elements such as:
- honesty
- trust
- respect
- openness
- excitement
- curiosity
- enthusiasm
- resourcefulness
- hope
- competitiveness
- spitefulness
- cynicism
- resignation
Conversation not only defines the culture but also implicitly transmits, sustains, and reinforces the cultural norms.
If you wish to transform a culture, one of the best levers is changing the everyday conversations.
Resources
- Blog Post: The myth of managed culture change
by Chris Corrigan - Blog Post: OMG, its culture change time by Dave Snowden
Posts that link to this post
- Nurturing an Innovation Culture Allowing emergence, not imposing change
(CC BY-SA 2.5)In-person, 7–11 September 2026, Warbrook House, Hampshire, UK
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