What is Digital Culture and why it should matter to you

Adam is a manager in a multinational corporation. His exact role is not important to this story. For 20 years, he has come into the office at 8.00 a.m. on the dot, sent his manager a note on the tasks he is going to accomplish during the day, then called his team into a meeting each morning for a quick update. In the years he has been doing this, the people working with him have changed, but his process hasn’t. For years, he was constantly appreciated for this system.

In the last two years, however, he has been getting pulled up by his manager due to complains from his peers, reportees and partners. These complaints ranged from Adam’s speed of working, productivity, response times, etc. They perplexed Adam because nothing had changed in the way he was working. The team’s performance was also at an all-time high.

In observing the way that the people around him worked, Adam realized that it starkly differed from his own working style. After months of trying to mimic their style of working, Adam’s productivity and engagement levels started to drop. He couldn’t keep up. In less than a year, he had taken the difficult decision to quit his job at an organization that he had committed to for two decades.

This is, unfortunately, a common scenario in the workplace today. Some of the most experienced and talented employees leave the organization because they don’t feel connected to it anymore. While Adam’s situation is unfortunate, employees also choose to leave the organization even if their performance and productivity levels are high. A crucial factor in this decision is “fitment”.

For many organizations, a crucial factor in placing a candidate is “fitment” — will the individual work well with the team? Do the individual’s values, beliefs and goals align with that of the organization? In other words, will the individual feel a sense of belonging and ownership within the organization?

A well-functioning organization, like any tight-knit group, is one where employees share core elements such as values, beliefs, and goals, even if the way they manifest these attributes is different. As a result, many organizations let go of prime candidates despite them having the capabilities the organization seeks.

But what do you do about those employees who are already employed with the organization, and no longer feel that they fit within the organization?

Cultural fitment is a core evaluation criterion within organizations because culture is difficult to change. It is embedded in one’s DNA. The downside of it is when an organization’s culture needs a shift, there end up being many casualties — highly experienced and talented people leaving the organization because they do not relate to or are unable to adapt to the changing culture.

Therefore, while organizations continue to focus on “young blood” to take the organization into the future, they are losing those with experience to guide these youngsters.

This is the impasse that organizations are at today, in the Digital Age.