Microcultures: The latest trend that can influence business success

HR leaders across the world need to establish a “people expertise” capability as so-called microcultures manifest within organisations.

People expertise refers to the “knowledge and understanding of how to develop, motivate, and deploy workers to achieve business outcomes and human outcomes throughout the talent life cycle,” according to Deloitte’s 2024 Global Human Capital Trends.

This capability becomes critical amid the rise of so-called microcultures within organisations, which executives including among the most difficult trends to address.

“Microcultures reflect the subtle variations in how work gets done in different teams, functions, and geographies and are an important way that organizations can get closer to and respond more quickly to the people they serve,” Deloitte’s report read.

The rise of microculture

Deloitte’s survey among over 14,000 survey respondents revealed that microcultures are starting to get recognized and majority agree on their benefits.

In fact, 71% of Deloitte’s survey over 14,000 respondents across the world said that “focusing on individual teams and workgroups as the “best places to cultivate culture, fluidity, agility, and diversity is very or critically important to their success.”

Among the 50% of executives surveyed also admitted that an organisation is “most successful” when there’s a moderate degree of variation.

Deloitte further found that organizations that embraced microcultures are 1.8 times more likely to achieve positive human outcomes. They are also 1.6 times more likely to reach desired business outcomes, according to the report.

Fostering microcultures

According to Deloitte, coordination among organizational leadership, team leaders, and HR are needed to help microcultures flourish.

“Organizational leaders may worry that acknowledging and enabling microcultures will cause the organization to lose its identity or focus as microcultures proliferate,” Deloitte said.

“However, thoughtful use of new data and technology to understand various microcultures, coupled with empowering managers to ‘own’ their respective cultures with a boundaryless HR approach to people expertise can help strike the right balance between control and empowerment.”

Failure to embrace microcultures can likely cause a disconnect between employees and leadership that will hold back the organisation, according to Deloitte.