The 3 Gs
What makes a healthy corporate culture?
An old aristocratic family once adopted the ‘3Gs’ as its motto: ‘Geld, Gesundheit, and Glaube’. The belief trusted that if you lost ‘Geld’ (money), you would still have ‘Gesundheit’ (health) and ‘Glaube’ (faith). Alternatively, if you also lost health, it hoped you would still have faith.
When asked about their values, many leaders will likely say the same thing: they value excellence, responsibility, and honesty—a no-nonsense culture, with a dash of fun. After all, who wouldn’t want to be good at what they do and do it with good people? And who wouldn’t like to feel safe enough to be open and authentic at work?
Of course, the formulation is likely to vary from one organisation to the next, one sector to the next, and one leader to the next. Some may even engage with their teams to define common values to hold everyone accountable.
However, when challenges arise, values in and of themselves are not questioned as much as their interpretation. After all, who defines what excellence is? How are responsibility and accountability enforced? And what does being honest actually mean?
In other words, power dynamics put cultural statements to the test. When value charters are intended to hold everyone equally accountable for their behaviours, in practice they may become a source of symbolic violence.
What values can guarantee a healthy corporate culture?, asked the Mouse.
Healthy corporate cultures are defined by how they treat their weakest members. What happens when fortune turns, or ethical dilemmas arise? What is Glaube left to rally behind? The answer is twofold, one falling on organizations and one becoming an individual responsibility.
From an organisation perspective, a value charter is only as good as the processes that are derived from it, and the extent to which members of the organisation can access them.
Organisations that claim excellence need to define and formalize what good looks like. Integrity-driven groups would be well inspired to set up whistleblowing mechanisms, and those who offer a fun environment should consider what happens to people who opt out of gregarious opportunities to enjoy their workplace. Indeed, clarity and consistency are two factors affecting perceptions of fairness in trying times.
In turn, the importance of perception conveys that healthy cultures are not only defined by organisational processes. They also require everyone to be clear about their own ‘3Gs’. Geld: what do they consider fair retribution for their work? Gesundheit: what boundaries will they set with their co-workers and what behaviours will they emulate? And finally, Glaube: what do they hope to achieve when joining an organisation?
Difficult feedback or failure is easier to navigate when we are clear, from the beginning, about what we stand for and what greater purpose we are trying to achieve through our work, be it for our communities or our career.
When it becomes unclear, it may be time to pause and reflect. And when it’s time to go, one should go in a way that embodies the culture they stand for, protecting ‘Glaube’, and hopefully inspiring those who stay.
Finally, it’s key to remember that the ‘3Gs’ are inherently personal. Comparing ourselves with others is not more helpful than organisations requiring everyone to align on values. In fact, respecting differences while maintaining respect may be the epitome of culture.
Principles don’t have legs, but elegance goes a long way.
Baptiste Raymond - 04/2023.