What is my company’s culture?

November 4, 2009

When I work with management teams in our portfolio and offer them sales and marketing support, one of the first things I look at and observe is the company culture. I have come to the conclusion that there are three distinct types:

Power Culture
I define this culture as one where the executive team is highly directive in all aspects of the operations. There is no room for idea sharing or change management. Direction is in the hands of the executives and employees are responsible for executing that direction. Teams seem to be micro managed and uninspired.

Supportive Culture
I define this culture as a “warm and fuzzy” one. People are challenged to only do their best and that is good enough. Goals may exist but there is generally a lack of consequence and creativity.

Performance Culture
I define this culture as one where each and every employee has transparent goals and is empowered to challenge each other to achieve them. There is a high degree of accountability between teams and departments to achieve targets.

Which one are you?

Check back in the next few weeks and I will give my opinions of each.

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.