Organizational culture is a term that holds the collective beliefs, values, norms, and practices that shape the behavior and interactions of individuals within an organization. Our teammate Cristina Anton, project manager @ Pathlight, challenged us to a fun session in order to map the most important elements of the RomSoft organizational culture.
To illustrate what it is, and how it works, Cristina proposed an activity that is called Drawing Organizational Culture – a visualization tool designed to reveal cultural phenomena within an organization, facilitating deeper dialogue.
In this activity, participants are divided into small groups and asked to imagine their company, department, or team as a person. They then had to describe and draw this person, considering aspects such as appearance, behavior, motivations, and interests.
This exercise helps verbalize unwritten cultural rules and highlights gaps between the expected and actual organizational culture, serving as a starting point for planning transformation processes.
Using visuals, sketches and drawings, participants got to illustrate how they perceive the organizational culture in their workplace, and they got to present their vision.
The exercise showed how values, unwritten norms and practices can be expressed through cultural elements and avatars. It revealed where the organizational culture visions come together, and where they diverge.
On December 19th 2024, we celebrate 23 years of RomSoft. The Drawing Organizational Culture activity provided a creative and insightful way to explore cultural dynamics within our organization. We hope that these insights will be instrumental in addressing the challenges that come from profound changes in how people in organizations work and interact in the latest years, in order to continue fostering a positive work environment and achieving our organizational goals.
