Leaders and Design Culture
"Culture" is a term that is used very generously and liberally by all of us it seems. In some cases, the concept of "the culture" has been used to describe the downward trends of society, things we should not be so foolish as to blindly follow. In other contexts, it is used to refer to the morale of a team or group of people. Even still, there are yet others who refer to it in studying patterns and norms of different ethnographic groups (countries, tribes, language groups, etc). While these uses of the word could not exactly be labeled inaccurate or inappropriate, with such an ambiguous and varied usage of this common term, it is no wonder that "culture" has struggled to be considered with regard to objective business goals and measurements.
This week's reading sure put a stop to that. More research incessantly continues to increase on this subject matter. Multitudes of discoveries on culture's connection to business success are being published by formal sources like Edgar Schein, Wendy Castleman, and Kaaren Hanson's academic research as well as by informal sources such as the InVision company. Why? It is because more and more researchers, business owners, and industries are discovering the unmistakable truth: having a strong, well-defined culture is absolutely everything for the success of companies.
In his book Organizational Culture and Leadership, Schein demonstrated through his firsthand experiences at Ciba-Geigy and Digital Equipment Corporation that the way companies have seen success can vary a lot depending on their age, size, and the underlying technology they possess. However, what these successful companies all have in common is a strong well-established culture. Schein has made a convincing case that culture can be objectively measured by considering these companies' behaviors, beliefs, and basic assumptions.
…having a strong, well-defined culture is absolutely everything for the success of companies.
Furthermore, when a company takes its culture and puts a design-centric spin on it, then things really begin to take off for businesses to begin experiencing long-term success. InVision's research reported in "The New Design Frontier" masterfully displays the uncontested benefits of integrating design thinking into a company's workflows and product life cycles. There is demonstrable proof of the impact design has on product quality, operational efficiency, business profitability, and market position.
Wendy Castleman, and Kaaren Hanson's published work, entitled "Tracking Ease-of-Use Metrics: A Tried and True Method for Driving Adoption of UCD in Different Corporate Cultures" has begun to provide businesses a means to begin integrating design into their processes and never let become diminished. The resources for companies to improve their culture for the better have never been easier. The resources for rebranding to company culture to adopt design thinking are rapidly becoming more available. If culture is going to be prevalent and ever-present among businesses anyway, it might well be a well-designed culture, and by "well-designed culture" meaning to be full of design-centered thinking.
