13: How Culture Affects Coaching

Welcome to the thirteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: How Culture Affects Coaching

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What do we mean by a strong culture?

Strong culture: consistent throughout the organization and thus has a strong influence on individuals Weak culture: do not have as strong an impact on individuals because of inconsistencies (does not mean it is not effective)

In Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein (2004) defines culture as, "…a pattern of SHARED BASIC ASSUMPTIONS that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to PERCEIVE, THINK, and FEEL in relation to those problems" (p. 17).

We accidentally referred to Schein's book in the episode as "Making Sense of the Organization" which is actually a book by Karl Weick and also an excellent read on organizational culture, though the Schein book is an easier read, so we recommend that first.

We discuss Schein's three indicators of culture:

Artifacts Espoused beliefs and values Underlying assumptions

We also referenced the model below from The Character of a Corporation by Goffee and Jones: Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.