In A Study on the Impact of Corporate Culture on Organizational Effectiveness (1993), Professor Shin Yoo-guen defines organizational culture as “the shared values, consciousness, and behaviors among members of an organization, which distinguish it from other organizations.” Why is organizational culture important? What does it really mean, and what does it look like in practice?
Organizational culture sets the example for what should be followed. The culture of an organization is inextricably linked to its values and philosophy. From day-to-day tasks, internal and external communication, attitudes, and creativity, organizational culture can determine whether a company succeeds or fails. Recognizing the importance of this, Nota works tirelessly on its own organizational culture, aiming to align our values and goals company-wide.
As part of this effort, Nota conducts bi-annual engagement surveys. The surveys primarily covers three main areas of concern, colleagues, growth potential, and culture. Point by point, we have found that the Nota crew displays a high satisfaction with their colleagues, believes in an open and transparent working environment, and are positive about maintaining and further improving Nota's organizational culture. Based on our findings, allow me to introduce some of the culture and practices that have taken root and blossomed within the company.
[ A Culture of Growing Together ]
Our findings indicate that our crew is most satisfied with our company culture of growing together, and this bears out in my day-to-day experience. I often see colleagues working on things together, taking initiative and problem-solving without being asked by the company. As an example, our developers often go above and beyond their duties. In recent times, they have introduced new detection technology that can be used to display the occupancy of meeting rooms, and have developed visitor registration websites to enhance the efficiency of the operations team. This level of commitment and ownership demonstrates the collaborative culture of growth that runs throughout the company.
[ Open and Honest Communication ]
Open and honest communication is a cornerstone of our company, and is reflected in two of the company's Leadership Principles; Trust and Over Communicate. As a company grows and the number of staff increases, it is natural for people to drift apart and interact less than before.
Over the past nine years, Nota has grown from 2 people, to over 100. To counteract these potential growing pains, various programs have been devised to ensure open and honest communication continues to flourish, regardless of the size of the company. Throughout the year, management and staff take part in programs that encourage horizontal discussions aimed at improving working relations and sharing our visions for the future, both personally and as a company.
Preserving the Essence of Nota
Human Resources, or HR, is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization. Over time, the term has come to carry a lot of baggage. The name suggests that people are merely resources, interchangeable pieces on a company chessboard, to be picked up and discarded at will. This is not how we think at Nota, so we decided to forgo the name HR in favor of People & Culture. It is not a simple cosmetic change, either. Culture signifies that we are responsible for much more than resource management. To this end, our team plans many programs and events that align with our Core Values and Leadership Principles, to ensure that the true collaborative essence of Nota is maintained. One such program is the Leadership Principles (LP) activity, where crew members are encouraged to reinterpret the company LP in their own words, sharing their own stories and experiences working with the company. This is followed by our LP awards, which recognize and reward those who have best practiced our company principles and values that year.
Another program that I would like to introduce is our first And-End session from our 2024 Alignment Day. Our And-End session is a bi-annual open discussion forum where we share what has been working and should continue (And), and what has not and should be stopped (End). The program provides everyone with an opportunity to reflect on our company culture, recognizing what works, and discarding what doesn't. What were the outcomes of the most recent session? Let's find out.
AND – Practices to maintain and develop.
To achieve a more fair and accurate depiction of our true company culture, we split our crew into three groups. Oldbies (long-term employees), Youngbies (medium-term employees), and Newbies (recently-hired employees). What we found was interesting. Oldies were by some margin the most forthcoming, feeling more comfortable and confident sharing their opinions. We categorized the potential reasons for this into three distinct categories: familiarity through repetition, differences in information and experience, and differences in sense of belonging and interest.
Familiarity through repetition: Oldies are more seasoned and accustomed. Having worked with the company for a long time, they naturally feel more confident and happy to share their thoughts. Likewise, they have participated in many previous And-End sessions, and know how to contribute. As a result, they provided more opinions than the other groups.
Differences in information and experience: Newer members of staff joined a company that had already found its footing, with a strong identity and culture. In contrast, those who have been with the company for a long time have seen it transform, from the chaotic early days to the present. Naturally, this led to richer, more diverse opinions from the Oldbies.
Differences in sense of belonging and interest: Logically, it would make sense that those with shorter company tenures, Youngbies and Newbies, might have a lower sense of belonging than those who have been with the company for a while, Oldbies. A sense of belonging can only develop over time and through experience, as each member adapts to the company and its culture. Oldies, who have the most time and experience under their belt, consequently reported the highest sense of belonging and interest. To bridge this gap, Nota has created various onboarding programs to warmly welcome and assimilate new crew members as best as possible.
END: Practices to Discontinue and Areas Requiring Change
During our End segment, we discussed the three topics that elicited the most opinions from our crew. Those were remote work etiquette, work methods and lifestyle.
Together, we visualized and discussed the areas that most needed improvement, and worked through the issues that were brought to the surface over the course of the day. We received a variety of contrasting opinions, and did our utmost to address each one, even referring back to past And-End events, to see if the changes we implemented before had been successful or not.
As we wrapped up our latest End session, I took the time to reflect on my own experiences. One of my new year's resolutions had been an aim to not postpone any tasks to tomorrow that could be completed today. Being honest with myself, it's something that I have found difficult to maintain. Whether it was for exercising or studying, after a hard day's work, I often found myself making excuses, or postponing and canceling plans I had made. It got me thinking; if changing myself is this difficult, how much more difficult will it be to change the thoughts and actions of many people? By acknowledging the difficulty of personal change, it helped me to be more forgiving and understanding of others. Recognizing that change isn't easy, is, ironically, the beginning of change itself, in my opinion.
Where does Nota's uniqueness come from?
At Nota, we consider trust and proactivity to be cultural values. And luckily, day in and day out, I see that my colleagues uphold and embody them. Trust at Nota manifests in many ways. I have countless memories of witnessing selfless teamwork in my mind, instances where colleagues helped others when they really didn't need to. When problems inevitably arise during work, we don't need to face them alone. Every hurdle is a chance to share information, working collectively to find the best solutions. Even if disagreements occur in the process, through trust, we know that we are all on the same page, and acting in the best interests of Nota.
But how do we uphold this trust? The answer lies in proactivity. Proactivity ensures that every member of staff clearly knows their own personal role and responsibilities, and voluntarily acts to complete them to the best of their ability. It's not simply doing the bare minimum, dotting your i's and crossing your t's, but taking initiative to identify and solve problems within your own sphere of influence. Everyone at Nota, regardless of position, works with autonomy and responsibility, which fosters trust in one another, safe in the knowledge that we are all trying our best. 🙂
To become even more Nota-like…
Moving forward, I believe we should look to the company value of Over-Communicate. This doesn't mean to talk or share excessively, like you might first imagine, but to be open and share things together so that we can grow and improve. A problem shared is a problem halved, so goes the old adage.
To maintain the Nota culture that we have discussed at length, it's important to convey the context of our work, and to communicate effectively to prevent any potential misunderstandings. Trust is difficult to regain when broken, so it is up to us to make sure that never happens. That's why we will continue to run and create programs and events like And-End, providing platforms for open and honest communication.
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Reflecting on my time as an intern, I came to realize that culture is a form of strategy. Everything has a purpose, even if it might not appear so on the surface. Planning programs and hosting events might seem straight-forward, but the truth is a lot more complicated. If we want our company culture to be embraced, our programs and events should reflect that, which makes the planning and preparation all the more important and challenging.
Participating in the latest Alignment Day gave me renewed knowledge of my colleagues, and of their enduring interest and passion for Nota and its culture. The active participation of each member, and their generous feedback made it a wholly meaningful and rewarding experience for me. As a member of the People & Culture team, I will continue to strive for the best, ensuring that we remember our roots, as we continue to push Nota forward into the future together.