Command and Control

A democratic mindset is part of an overall corporate culture – a set of shared rules and norms developed over time. It may not be required for an organization’s success, but from most typical employees’ perspectives, a general sense of democracy is a good thing. People want their voice to be heard.

The 2020 survey data shows a highly positive result in this area. Respondents described their organizations as very democratic, with three quarters saying ‘always’ or ‘usually.’ Only 4% said ‘never.’

Remember Sam, the CFO with a my-way-or-the-highway approach? How would his employees describe their company’s culture? Sam says things like, “I know my ideas are the best.” and “People just need to do what I tell them to do.” This clearly creates an undemocratic perception, driving down morale, and resulting in employees who don’t feel passionate about their work. Sam might do well to learn that:

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

What steps can an executive like Sam take to remedy the broken culture created by these attitudes and actions? How can someone even convince Sam that there’s a problem at all? He might not listen to his employees on a day to day basis, but maybe he would be more open to trusting an anonymous diagnostic survey of in-house corporate culture.