'The Company Culture Cookbook' serves recipes for success

Communication World, Oct-Nov, 2002 by Kevin M. Thomson

Got a craving for a better workplace? Kevin Thomson's new work, "The Company Culture Cookbook: How to Change the Way We Do Things Around Here," outlines vital ingredients communicators need to dish up a more satisfying company culture.

Thomson's practical guide consists of four parts: corporate culture serving suggestions, accommodating the personalities at the table, gauging success, and corporate culture post-Sept. 11. The first section covers various corporate culture "menus," outlining necessary ingredients for change--ranging from discovery and management of positive emotions to suggestions on appropriate terminology.

The next step, asserts Thomson, is to recognize and bring to the table the variety of personalities in the workplace, in order to get the most out of every person's abilities. He provides pointers on measuring corporate culture, so that necessary adjustments can be made to the recipe for a successful one. An addendum puts many strategies into the context of a post-Sept. 11 culture.

"Cookbook" provides specific, practical steps toward healthy corporate communication. Several of Thomson's recipes are broadly applicable, offering techniques helpful for emotional wellbeing at all levels of employment, from senior management to frontline employees. But Thomson also astutely diagnoses specific communication needs and recommends solutions. Faced with one leader's use of militaristic language such as "kill the competition," for example, Thomson advises a steady diet of more appropriate language and gestures that include and inspire.

Like any other cookbook, this one comes with plenty of pictures--in fact, the constant visual interruptions occasionally make it difficult to follow the bigger picture of corporate culture Thomson is advocating. In contrast with Thomson's enriching text, many of these images are little more than empty calories. But the individual tips and hints Thomson offers are sound advice for a more fulfilling workplace, and should whet the appetite and imagination of any communicator.