How to Identify Culture Keepers and Culture Killers in Your Workplace: A Guide to Enhancing Company Culture
When I started SparkVision, I found it was much harder than I realized to translate workplace culture into phrasing that was both productive and relatable. Without a doubt, there is a solid learning curve for people who “get it” and those who don’t. I discovered quickly that there’s a distinct language associated with the emotional intelligence side of culture. And you either speak that language, or you don’t. After just a few weeks in business (and not being clear to my audience), I knew I had to create my own terminology that wouldn’t require a 10-minute explanation surrounding it to make sense, no matter who I was talking to. And it had to do so organically. Enter my two big players for describing people in the workforce: Culture Keeper and Culture Killer!
Without any description, you probably have a solid idea of who I’m talking about, right? Those who make you feel warm and fuzzy and those who you avoid like the plague? We have all experienced both and all know which we prefer to surround ourselves with.
More succinctly, a Culture Keeper is an individuals who lead and maintain the positive aspects of their organization’s environment & values. They are often at the core of positive work experiences. These team members typically have high emotional intelligence. They can be new hires or lifers – tenure doesn’t determine their reach. They authentically bring their personality and ideals into light and life within daily engagements. Leadership within organizations should work hard to nurture their talents, keep them in the loop, and ultimately keep them as long as possible.
Culture Killers, on the other hand, are the people who are both actively and passively taking away from the positive work experience. They are typically negative gossipers and folks who don’t care about the emotional health of the company. They’re the first ones to complain and the last ones to work towards solutions for their complaints. Don’t be fooled – often times, the biggest of the culture killers are those at the top. They have been in the organization so long that they feel they can get away with anything because they’re “so needed”. They can use an organization like their own game of chess and manipulate people in ways that are the ultimate death of positivity.
I often say that a company’s culture is simply their personality. And these two main character types make a big impact on the overall collective personality of your team.
Here are a few signs of how to identify those on both sides of the spectrum:
