Corporate Culture Is What You Do, Not What You Say You Do

The issue of corporate culture is critical for businesses. Culture is often described by a statement of values that all employees are expected to follow. The Wells Fargo website states that “we define culture as understanding our vision and values so well that you instinctively know what you need to do when you come to work each day”. It then lists concepts which are deemed central to their culture: caring, can-do attitude and better together. Similar statements can be found on websites of thousands of other companies: putting our customers first, valuing our employees, acting with integrity, etc. Setting out the expectations is the easy part. It is much harder to ensure that the expectations are relevant and that they are translated into practice.