Culture is a contact sport

You were born perfect… Until you met your parents

I often tell visitors to King Price Insurance’s famous Culture Days that ‘culture is a contact sport.’ You’re never going to build a great culture in your organisation by just talking about it, or putting posters about culture on your workplace walls. Culture is all about interactions between people. You have to do things together to build trust, camaraderie and a shared purpose.

The good news is that culture isn’t something you’re born with, and can never change. It’s not genetic. It’s highly transferable, which is why we can teach it so effectively in our social environments and workplaces.

We sometimes joke that ‘you were born perfect, until you met your parents’. What we mean by that is the moment that you were brought into this world, you started taking on the culture and beliefs of the environment you’re in.

Point is, you weren’t born with a certain set of behaviours and culture. You learned it. And you can learn it again and again as you move through life. Culture is learned.

Sure, it takes some time. In our experience, it takes around 100 days for an employee to become immersed in their new company, and to adapt to the behaviours of their new team and workplace.

Until then, they’re seeing the world through fresh eyes, as it were – and that in itself is a great opportunity to get outside validation and insights into your company culture.

But don’t let anyone ever tell you ‘that’s the way I am, and I can’t change’. Sure, you can’t change who you are. But you can always change the way you behave. And that’s why every company in the world can choose a great culture.