Open organizational culture

Company culture is often considered the personality of an organization. It’s what people experience when they walk into an office, sit down for a meeting, and see others at work. An open organizational culture is no different.

At its core, open organizational culture exists when open core values and principles both represent and reinforce an organization’s culture through processes, communication, structures, and even technologies.

Most leaders today rely on a more hierarchical corporate culture to run their day-to-day operations. But by working from the top down, they may be missing out on the collaboration, communication, and innovation that often come with working in an environment that supports an open organizational culture. Learn how embracing this type of company culture—where transparency, inclusivity, and adaptability rule—can help spur new ideas at every level.

As a concept, it should be noted that open culture can also refer to a broader social and political movement focused on opening access to cultural artifacts and resources. Open culture advocates, for example, will champion things like the use of Creative Commons licenses for making creative works more accessible, the digitization of texts so they’re accessible to new audiences and the visually impaired, the funding of institutions like the Internet Archive that democratize access to cultural artifacts, and legislation that curtails excessive copyright protections.

Some consider open source—with its emphasis on accessible source code—to be a subset of the broader open culture movement. The same is true for open organizational culture.

What are the types of organizational culture?

While every organization’s culture can look different based on its organizational structure, mission statement, and other factors, open environments share one characteristic: All members of the organization—from company leaders to individual team members—adopt these core values and principles. It’s these shared values that contribute to a strong culture—and an enhanced employee experience.

In an open work environment, company leaders practice inclusivity as a way to open channels of communication across departments and boost employee engagement, welcome diverse perspectives from human resources to marketing and everyone in between, and cultivate an environment in which ideas are not only heard but also thoughtfully considered. They exhibit organizational behaviors like working on cross-functional teams to collaborate and share ideas, give and receive constructive feedback from other team members, and adapt to inevitable changes. Risk-taking is common, and employee behavior is centered around not being afraid to make mistakes—in many ways, these traits make these organizations agile.

Open organizational culture and leadership also encourages team-building and lively debate to work through ideas and challenges. Company leaders manage by example to help strengthen relationships and build a more cohesive community based on teamwork and common organizational values.

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