Sometimes culturehas a seat at the executive table.  Companies around the global are coming to the realization that cultureis a critical component of the future design of the organization. 

Afterinterviewing more than 80 companies in over 25 countries, the over-archingbelief is that companies that embrace the future of culture as a critical componentof the future of work are on the path to sustainable business excellence.

Over thelast eighteen months whilst interviewing companies around the globe, there havebeen two foundations to cultural excellence that rise to prominence.  These are the ideas around having a purposeand / or a set of values.

Purpose issomething “greater” than the organization, something that defines therelationship between the organization and all stakeholders. It is somethingthat has the potential to bind all team members to something greater thanthemselves.

Values onthe other had reflect the relationships between members of the team and othersaround them. The best value sets are those that are simple, based on singlewords and embraced by all team members.

So how dothese factors that have shaped organizations in the past translate into thefuture of work and the future of culture.

There are severalcomponents that make up the future of culture and the future of work. Some ofthese reflect changes that need to be made to our behaviors, whist othersreflect the changing technology and speed of decision making. Not everyorganization will need to embrace all of these futuristic trends in order tocreate rich and robust cultures in the future. That said, organizations thatstay static are doomed to a future of cultural toxicity.

In thenext series of articles I will consider some of the ideas around the future ofculture and the future of work. These will include :

Changingthe way we engage with team members

Embedding lifelonglearning as part of the culture

Shiftingof personal value recognition into the workplace

Artificialintelligence and the future of work

Flexibilityaround team members

Collaborationand the virtual water cooler