Why Are Those Organizations Strong? The Secret of the "Two-Way Cultural Loop" That Supports Sustainable Growth
The modern business environment continues to change at an unprecedented speed. In such an era of high uncertainty, for an organization to grow sustainably and maintain a competitive advantage, it is essential to strengthen not only the hard aspects like strategy and technology but also the soft aspects—the "organizational culture" that forms the foundation of the organization.
Organizational culture is not merely the atmosphere or slogans within a company. It is the totality of values, beliefs, behavioral patterns, and implicit rules shared among the people who belong to the organization, and it serves as the foundation for daily decision-making and actions. A strong organizational culture enhances member engagement, encourages autonomous behavior, and becomes the soil from which innovation grows.
However, how should this invisible yet important asset be built and strengthened? In this article, we focus on two approaches that are universal themes in strengthening organizational culture: "top-down" and "bottom-up." The top-down penetration driven by the leader's strong leadership and the bottom-up cultivation fostered by the voluntary participation of each individual member on the front lines. It is only when these two forces complement and fuse with each other, rather than opposing one another, that a truly strong and resilient organizational culture is born.
We will delve deeply into the specific methodologies for the entire organization to work together to nurture culture, as well as the importance of doing so.
Chapter 1: The Essence of Organizational Culture and Its Importance
To understand the term organizational culture, it is effective to first grasp its structure. Management scholar Edgar Schein viewed organizational culture at three levels.
The first level is "Artifacts," which are the visible and audible surface layers of culture, such as the office environment, dress code, logos, rules, and stated values.
The second level is "Espoused Values," which include the strategies, goals, and philosophies that the organization officially promotes. Many companies advocate values such as "customer first" or "taking on challenges"; these are espoused values.
And the deepest third level is "Basic Assumptions." These are beliefs and values that members share unconsciously, forming the root of how they perceive and think about things. This includes the organization's "taken-for-granted" notions, such as "failure is not allowed," "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down," or conversely, "let's try it first" and "respect diverse opinions."
Truly strengthening organizational culture means nothing less than ensuring consistency across these three levels. For example, if a poster (artifact) saying "Encourage Challenge" is on the wall and management talks about "innovation being important" (espoused values), but a single failure on the front lines leads to harsh evaluation (basic assumptions), the culture will become hollow and instead become a cause of cynicism. Conversely, in organizations where these levels are consistent, members can act autonomously toward the direction the organization aims for without hesitation. The accumulation of small daily decisions becomes a great force for the organization as a whole.
Why is organizational culture considered so important now? The background lies in the complexity of the market and the speed of change. The era where everything could be run solely by detailed manuals or instructions from superiors, as in the past, is over. In a rapidly changing environment, each individual member is required to think, judge, and act on their own, relying on the organization's values—its "compass." A strong organizational culture serves as a common language and a standard for judgment that supports this autonomous behavior.
Furthermore, in today's world where talent mobility is increasing, organizational culture plays a decisive role in attracting and retaining excellent talent. Not only conditions such as salary and benefits, but also "cultural fit"—such as "do I feel meaning in working for this organization?" and "does it match my own values?"—has become an extremely important factor in choosing where to work.
Chapter 2: The Role of the Top-Down Approach in Showing the Compass
In the formation of organizational culture, the role played by the top-down approach is extremely important. It lies in creating and presenting a "compass" that points to the direction the ship called the organization should head. The journey of culture-building begins with leaders, especially management, putting forth a clear vision and values regarding what kind of organization they aim to be, what they value, and what they will not tolerate. This message from the leader forms the skeleton of the organizational culture and becomes the foundation for all members.
The first step of the top-down approach is for the leader themselves to deeply recognize the importance of culture. Rather than viewing organizational culture as something that is "nice to have," it must be positioned as a management issue equal to, or even more important than, business strategy. Based on this recognition, the leader must become an "embodiment" of the culture they idealize. The leader's words and actions are the most closely watched messages within the organization.
If a leader advocates "open communication" but does not listen to opinions that are inconvenient for them, members will immediately sense the contradiction, and the advocated values will lose credibility. Conversely, if a leader speaks frankly about their own failures and shows a sincere attitude toward listening to different opinions, it is the best possible message for fostering a culture of "psychological safety." Leaders are required not only to talk about culture but to be "role models" who live that culture every day.
Next, it is important to translate abstract values into concrete systems and mechanisms. For example, if the goal is a culture that values "teamwork," one might consider revising the system from one that evaluates only individual performance to one that incorporates contributions to the team into the evaluation.
Also, if "challenge" is to be encouraged, it would be effective to establish an award system that praises not only the success or failure of the results but the process of taking on the challenge itself. By embedding the DNA of the desired culture into the entire human resources system—hiring, evaluation, development, and compensation—values are recognized by members not as mere slogans, but as real things directly linked to daily work.
However, there are limits to the top-down approach. Culture does not necessarily take root on the front lines just through messages from leaders or system design. One-sided imposition carries the risk of creating a sense of "being forced" among members and leading to a cessation of thinking. Idealistic theories that are disconnected from the reality of the front lines will instead cause members to lose empathy, and the culture will become hollow. Top-down is ultimately the role of presenting the blueprint and framework for the structure called culture. To create a living, breathing space based on that blueprint, another force—the bottom-up approach—is essential.
Chapter 3: The Vitality of the Bottom-Up Approach That Breathes Life into Culture
If top-down forms the "skeleton" of culture, bottom-up is the process that gives it "flesh and blood" and breathes life into it. The true bearers of organizational culture are not just management or the HR department. Each individual member on the front lines who carries out daily tasks, interacts with customers, and cooperates with colleagues is the protagonist who practices and develops the culture. The bottom-up approach means unleashing the energy and creativity that each of these members possesses as a force for cultural cultivation.
The vitality of bottom-up is born from the spontaneous actions of the front lines. For example, suppose an engineer thinks, "I want to share knowledge more," and voluntarily plans an in-house study session. This small action is a concrete embodiment of the "culture of learning from each other" that the organization advocates.
Or, a sales team might spontaneously launch a cross-departmental regular meeting to better utilize customer feedback in product development. This, too, is a valuable initiative that practices values such as "customer orientation" and "inter-departmental cooperation" at the front-line level.
Because these activities are born not from instructions from the top, but from the front-line's awareness of issues and a sense of ownership that "things would be better if we did this," they are extremely powerful and sustainable.
Having each member possess the ownership that "I am also a member who creates this organization's culture" is the core of the bottom-up approach. This awareness is extremely important in taking pride in one's work and increasing engagement with the organization.
When people feel that they are not just a cog in the machine but a contributor to making the community called the organization better, they maximize their inherent creativity and potential. The accumulation of seemingly trivial actions—daily greetings, comments in meetings, reaching out to a colleague in trouble—forms the atmosphere of the entire organization, that is, its culture.
Of course, there are also challenges with the bottom-up approach. If individual spontaneous initiatives do not align with the direction of the organization as a whole, energy may be dispersed, potentially leading to partial optimization. There is also the risk that only the opinions of a few vocal members are reflected, while the thoughts of the silent majority are buried. Wonderful initiatives may also remain closed within certain departments or teams, lacking company-wide expansion.
This is where the coordination between top-down and bottom-up becomes important. How to nurture the countless buds born from the front lines as an organization and turn them into a major flow—designing that mechanism is what is required in the next step.
Chapter 4: The Synergistic Effect Created by the Fusion of Top-Down and Bottom-Up
The strongest organizational culture is nurtured as top-down "direction" and bottom-up "spontaneity" fuse together like a beautiful spiral. The compass (vision and values) shown by the leader guides the creative energy of the front lines (bottom-up initiatives) in the right direction, and the energy of the front lines makes the world pointed to by the compass a reality. This two-way dynamism is the key to building a sustainable and resilient culture.
In realizing this fusion, middle management—that is, department managers and section chiefs—plays an extremely important role. They function as a "nodal point" that "translates" the intentions and strategies of management into the language of the front lines, while simultaneously absorbing what is happening on the front lines and the voices of the members to provide feedback to management. When middle managers deeply understand the direction of the culture shown by the top, practice it in their own teams, and encourage and support the bottom-up initiatives of their members, the top and the front lines are effectively connected. The presence of middle managers who can say, "Let's apply this company policy in this way in our team," rather than "The company says that, but let's do our own thing," greatly influences the speed and quality of cultural penetration.
Designing a "space" to activate two-way communication is also essential. Town hall meetings where all employees gather and cross-departmental workshops are perfect opportunities to directly convey the leader's vision while simultaneously absorbing diverse opinions. In such settings, it is important not to end up with one-way information delivery, but to ensure sufficient time for Q&A and group discussions, and to guarantee "psychological safety" where everyone can speak with peace of mind.
Furthermore, daily 1-on-1 meetings are valuable opportunities to carefully pick up on the thoughts and ideas of individual members. When a supervisor listens to a subordinate, discovers signs of someone who will become a bearer of the culture, and supports them, this steady accumulation of dialogue allows the roots of the culture to spread deep and wide.
In addition, mechanisms to visualize good practices born from the bottom up and to share and praise them company-wide are extremely effective. By introducing wonderful initiatives that embody the culture as stories on the internal SNS or intranet, or having the people involved present them at regular all-company meetings, those activities stimulate other members and trigger new bottom-up movements.
A horizontal expansion, where people think, "That team's initiative is wonderful, can we apply it here too?" is born, and the culture spreads organically. This process not only boosts the motivation of the praised members but also sends a clear message to all employees that "the company recognizes such actions as valuable."
What is important is to praise not only successful cases but the process of taking on challenges itself. If there is a culture that allows for failure and shares the learning from it, members will be able to continue taking on new bottom-up challenges without feeling intimidated.
Chapter 5: Establishing Culture and Evolving It for the Future
Organizational culture is not a static thing that is completed once built. It is a dynamic entity that constantly changes along with the heartbeat of the organization as a living organism. Therefore, continuous effort is required to establish the culture and evolve it to adapt to future environmental changes. In this process, the three cycles of "hiring," "onboarding (acceptance and retention support)," and "periodic review of culture" are important.
First, "hiring" is the gateway to protecting and strengthening the culture. While skills and experience are certainly important, it is even more essential to determine whether a candidate empathizes with and fits the organization's values (culture fit). Hiring talent that does not fit the culture not only creates suffering for the individual but can also disrupt the harmony of the existing team and gradually erode the culture that has been built over time.
In interviews, it is important to explore a person's underlying values and behavioral traits by having them specifically talk about actions from their past experience that align with the organization's values (for example, how they overcame difficulties as a team, or how they challenged unknown areas).
Hiring that strengthens culture does not mean gathering only the same types of people. It means welcoming colleagues who can share the "non-negotiable values" at the core while respecting diversity.
Next comes "onboarding." For new members to smoothly integrate into the organization and become active early on, the process of not only teaching work skills but also experiencing and understanding the organization's culture is indispensable. In addition to training that conveys the company's history and the values it has cherished, introducing a mentor system to pass on tacit knowledge—such as "how is it normal to think in this situation in this organization?" or "why do we do it this way?"—during daily work is effective.
In particular, when the aforementioned middle management and members of the receiving team consciously act as evangelists of the culture, it greatly supports the new member's smooth adaptation to the culture.
And finally, organizational culture needs to be periodically "reviewed" and evolved. The environment surrounding an organization, such as changes in market conditions, diversification of business, and rapid organizational growth, changes from moment to moment. A culture that was once effective may eventually become a hindrance to growth. It is important to visualize the state of the organizational culture through regular surveys and the like, ask questions such as "do the values we uphold match the current business environment?" or "are there any values that have become mere formalities in the field?," and have management and the field discuss these issues together. Culture is a tradition to be protected, but at the same time, it is something that should be changed to create the future. By repeating this metabolism, the organizational culture can continue to support the organization's growth without losing its vitality.
Summary
To build a strong and flexible organizational culture, I have argued that both a "top-down" approach, where leaders show the direction, and a "bottom-up" approach, where field members take the lead, are essential, and that fusing the two is the key.
The "compass" of the vision and values shown by leaders illuminates the path the organization should take and serves as a foundation for gathering the strength of its members. However, that alone does not make the culture a living thing. Only when the "engine" of spontaneous ingenuity and daily practice springing from the field is added can the organization move forward powerfully.
Top-down is the blueprint for culture, and bottom-up is the practice that breathes life into that blueprint. Middle management becomes the junction, spaces for dialogue encourage two-way communication, and mechanisms that praise good practices in the field accelerate the penetration of the culture. And by continuing to cycle through hiring, development, and even the review of the culture itself, the culture becomes established and evolves while adapting to environmental changes.
Strengthening organizational culture is not a magic bullet that can be achieved overnight. It is like an endless journey in which everyone involved in the organization participates. However, the process of that journey itself fosters a sense of solidarity among members, forms the organization's identity, and becomes an irreplaceable source of competitiveness. The top and the field become one, and everyone has a sense of ownership that "we are creating our own culture." That is the most important cornerstone of an organization that overcomes an uncertain future and realizes sustainable growth.
These are four business people discussing in a corner of an office. In the background, there is a large window, and the city landscape outside spreads out brightly. A middle-aged man standing in the center and talking has a suit on and exudes a presence that makes one feel his leadership, and he is talking to the three surrounding members with a serious expression. On the left, a young woman is sitting in front of a laptop listening to the explanation, and her gaze is firmly directed at the speaker, conveying deep interest and an attitude of trying to understand. On the front right, a young man is sitting while listening to the talk with his hand on printed graph materials, and from his serious gaze, one can read a sense of responsibility and analytical ability. Furthermore, in the back right, a young woman holding a clipboard is standing, watching the team's interaction with a soft smile. Her presence plays a role in adding a sense of security and softness to the tension.
This scene symbolizes the moment when the leader's clear vision presentation from the top-down and the opinions from the bottom-up field intersect, and it is exactly the state where the organizational culture is "alive" in the field. From the expressions and gestures of each of the four people, the message that organizational culture is not just a slogan but is built through the accumulation of daily dialogue and trust oozes out. It deeply appeals without using words to the importance of "co-creation" and "mutual complementarity" in the formation of organizational culture.