Culture Scan

Of all the places you've worked, which place had the best office culture and which had the worst? What do you define as a good staff culture or office culture? What do you define as bad culture? What structures or leadership habits contribute to a good culture or a bad culture? Have you ever been in a place that had a bad culture that improved or a good culture that went down the tubes? What happened that made things change?

In the worst environment I've been in, the issue are lack of structure, clarity, and accountability, executive leadership often absent, treating high level staff like personal secretaries while admin staff has no guidance or direction and spends most of the day on facebook, no job descriptions, performance plans, performance reviews, rewards or consequences, no shared vision, no strategic direction and no confidence.

In the best environment I've been in, there was a 3-year strategic plan and an annual operating plan that all key players participated in creating and all staff had opportunity to give feedback and really buy in. There was a very clear organizational chart, regular leadership meetings, senior staff meetings and all-staff meetings, a regular survey of staff culture - clear performance plans with measurable objectives, regular reviews and consequences (good and bad) for performance and a truly engaged branch Executive Director and corporate CEO.

I tend to be a grassroots type person and think that a lot of change happens from the bottom up; but in my experience in the workplace, I really think it's all about leadership. Without strong leaders, there's not much that can be done to change the environment.

What do you think?