Whether you are a CEO, project lead or associate, culture is a crucial aspect of any business as it greatly influences the organization’s success. This is due to an optimal amount of trust and synchronization between co-workers when a solid culture is present. I have found this same theme directly correlative to sports as I enter my third season as a college football player. 

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Culture is by far the most definitive factor I found contributing to success whether it be winning a conference championship or interning for the North American marketing team of a multinational manufacturing company. In my experience, successful teams and businesses have shared qualities that demonstrate a highly effective culture. 

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Now, it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to just four qualities in an ideal culture, so I have chosen ones that are open to interpretation, but follow the same repetitive path in successful scenarios I have had the honor to be a part of. These traits are compassion, humility, optimism, and a balanced time perspective. Over the next few weeks, I will be breaking down each one of these qualities by sharing some of the psychology as well as my personal experience and opinion.

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I attend Western Colorado University which seems like it would have a niche community being so deep into the Rockies, but is much the opposite when referring to our football team. Half of the players are from out of state and the majority are from California. In most cases, I would say this type of dynamic points in the direction of divergence. So why did this not affect our team? I strongly believe the culture we built over the last three years was the determining factor and the evidence for this shows in previous seasons. For my entire life (2001-19), Western Colorado’s only winning season was Austin Ekeler’s(current NFL running back) senior year where he led all of Division II in rushing yards per game. After asking older teammates and coaches, there were a few key parallels when comparing those teams to our very successful one now. To start, the talent has stayed pretty consistent as well as the resources(facilities/funding) for players. The staff has also stayed relatively the same for the past few years. One variable however, is a night and day difference across all the people I talked to and it is the bond our team possesses. Hearing this, made me extremely curious regarding the details of what makes us so close. We are all very different from one another and come from very different places but our percentage of inclusion is close to, if not, 100% percent. I think this is not only because we have a culture that people want to buy into, but a culture that welcomes anyone willing to try. Establishing this strong of a bond comes with trust and interaction. With that being said, I believe compassion is essential In any relationship if you want to build maximum trust and fully understand others. I began researching for this blog what compassion is from a psychological perspective and fell down a pretty deep rabbit hole.

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I’m not going to rank these qualities by importance as I see them all to be unique, but compassion is so nuanced and fascinating that it is hard not to start with it. Initially, I was surprised to learn through my research that empathy should not be the end goal; instead we should strive for compassion. I thought empathy and compassion to be one in the same and applied them as such, but after discovering an eye opening Forbes articles by Rasmus Hougaard I was shocked to read that empathy can have a down side. In fact, he goes as far to claim that “empathy can fuel aversion to those who are different from us” (Hougaard 2020). This brought me back to my social psychology course where I learned that empathy was an autonomic feeling that is mostly unconscious. If that is true then it is subject to unconscious biases which includes a strong preference for our ingroups. This means that we can only empathize with people we feel directly connected to. Compassion, on the other hand, is more deliberate and logical. Conscious realization of the other person’s suffering is required which leads to a need to alleviate their pain. This action does not differentiate between ingroups and outgroups and is why compassion is so important in a business setting. Compassion overrides division within a company and unifies associates regardless of position.

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In a large organization, designated leaders are not always able to reach every member of the team at any given moment. Building a culture that associates want to embrace is so important because everyone is knowledgeable. In an ideal scenario, it makes less room for neglect and disharmony. One of the biggest reasons I love the idea of culture is that it can be influenced by anyone. A CEO worth millions or minimum wage team member can spark a foundation that becomes contagious within the company. And while a leader is one person with beneficial qualities, culture embodies everyone involved. In my experience, successful teams and businesses have shared qualities that demonstrate a highly effective culture without relying on just one person. This creates environments within an organization that associates are proud of and flourish in. 

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I have created this list for anyone willing to read as it is not only applicable to daily life, but especially important in the business world. The point that I hope resonated with you the most is that ANY individual in ANY role can make an impact on their organization by incorporating these qualities. 

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Resources:

Four Reasons Why Compassion Is Better For Humanity Than Empathy - Forbes

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