The role of colours in organisations

Wherever people work together, a culture emerges by itself. Usually we adapt to one another unconsciously, so that a fixed and recognisable pattern arises. And that is a good thing. Otherwise working together would become a very difficult story indeed.

The culture of an organisation is formed by the behaviour of a group of individuals. Culture is therefore not a static given, and it is difficult to speak of the organisational culture of a company. Because the behaviour of individuals and teams is highly dynamic, which makes it above all a search for the best fitting culture within a particular environment.

In practice it is striking that successful organisations have a clear strategy, as well as clear processes and structures to keep everything on track, and that the culture makes a very positive contribution to carrying out the strategy. It is not for nothing that the English saying goes: culture eats strategy for breakfast. The more consciously you work with the seven-colour theory as a manager or entrepreneur, the better able you are to develop the best fitting culture within your organisation. Below you can read how the different colours influence cultures within organisations and what each colour contributes from its role.

PURPLE CULTURES

The purple driver wants safety and security and sees a traditional, close-knit environment as the best fit. Under the influence of the purple driver a safer culture emerges. Carnival is a typical example of a purple culture. Every year centuries-old traditions return, and carnival is above all a celebration in which groups decorate themselves together and togetherness is the leading principle. Purple then stands as guardian of the culture for the group feeling. When there is too little purple influence, voices soon rise from the purple group saying that the real group feeling is missing and that changes are happening too fast.

THE ROLE OF PURPLE

Purple guards the organisation's identity and ensures that a sense of we arises. That makes employees want to belong to the organisation and identify with it. That creates a strong mutual bond.

RED CULTURES

Impatient red wants to make speed, act decisively and likes to see a strongly action-oriented environment in which it is respected as a person. When the red driver dominates, an action-oriented culture emerges. Red is then not afraid to take decisions, pick up the pace and seek confrontation. We see this often in the army. There the number of stripes stands for the amount of influence someone has, and orders and commands are communicated and carried out very clearly. When decisive red is missing, decisions are postponed. People from the red group then feel there is too little focus on action and that conflicts are avoided.

THE ROLE OF RED

Red picks things up quickly and provides the pace and agility within an organisation. Issues are settled and decisions are implemented quickly.

BLUE CULTURES

Structured blue demands above all clarity and a fair application of rules. Blue also likes a reliable environment. When blue sets the tone, a culture of rules emerges. Blue then structures matters in a highly disciplined way. It is the challenge for many large organisations to retain enough flexibility as blue increases. The blue culture of rules is very clear, because principles and agreements are tightly recorded. In the medical world or the fire service we see that structured blue ensures that situations are approached efficiently and that errors are kept to a minimum. When blue's influence lags behind or is missing, people from the blue group experience a shortage of structure, which in their eyes means chaos is lurking. What they also miss: attention to detail.

THE ROLE OF BLUE

Blue provides well-oiled business processes to realise orange's practical goals. Through clear planning and tight organisation of work, blue creates clarity within the organisation.

ORANGE CULTURES

Orange wants to perform and to receive recognition for it. Orange also values a competitive environment in which results are appreciated. When orange is in charge, an ambitious culture emerges. Orange then goes to work in a highly goal-oriented way, working from the short term to make its ambitions come true. We see ambitious orange returning in many sport and sales environments. Orange-coloured people then pull out all the stops in order to score quickly. Something that in their view is always achievable, because from this driver ’wanting’ equals ’being able’. When orange's influence falls short, people from the orange group more often ask themselves: what does this yield for me? The experience is then mainly that work is aimless and that focus on the result is missing.

THE ROLE OF ORANGE

Orange has the focus to translate the turquoise mission and the yellow vision and strategy into concrete short-term and long-term goals. What, how and when are we going to realise our goals? orange continuously asks itself.

GREEN CULTURES

Warm-hearted green wants to work together in harmony and expects an environment in which there is genuine attention for the person. Transparent, open communication must not be missing. Under the influence of the green driver a social culture emerges, in which green takes a helpful position. It is therefore not strange that in the care sector you come across relatively many employees with a green driver. That mainly concerns the roles at the bedside, of course. When there are not enough other green drivers in their immediate environment, people from the green group feel alone. They will then complain that there is too little consultation and that too many people are setting their own course.

THE ROLE OF GREEN

Green creates support within an organisation by seeking collaboration with others. Listening well and communicating well are self-evident for green. A positive atmosphere is then a logical consequence, and green values that highly.

YELLOW CULTURES

The critical yellow driver wants above all to understand the how and why of things. An inspiring environment that offers the freedom to come up with new concepts and ideas suits that perfectly. With yellow at the helm an innovative culture emerges, in which standing still is seen as going backwards. Yellow works above all analytically and focuses on the long term. In science and the creative professions, innovative cultures of change often arise. Things are never well or cleverly enough conceived and can always be better. People with a predominantly yellow driver continuously inspire each other to think off the beaten track. When yellow is too emphatically present, the experience of the non-yellow group is that matters are made unnecessarily complex, so that the necessary step towards actually carrying out a project, for instance, is missing.

THE ROLE OF YELLOW

Yellow provides an organisation's long-term vision and strategy. The vision represents the picture the organisation has of the future. The strategy is the direction that is followed so that the organisation can develop further.

TURQUOISE CULTURES

The turquoise driver wants to be occupied with the genuinely important matters in the world. That suits an environment in which turquoise can follow its intuition and in which subjects are placed in the right perspective. As the amount of turquoise increases, a universal culture emerges. Turquoise then asks relevant and meaningful questions about relevant and meaningful matters. Greenpeace is a typical example where the underlying thinking is coloured turquoise. Their pay-off, Careful what you leave behind, connects seamlessly with that. The Greenpeace approach around whaling, for instance, is coloured deep red. Seen through differently coloured lenses, the turquoise culture is generally characterised as ’floaty’ and therefore insufficiently concrete. Greenpeace has neatly countered this by adding the red, action-oriented driver.

THE ROLE OF TURQUOISE

Turquoise contributes to the mission and the reason for existing. Turquoise thereby answers the questions: what do we want to go for? What do we stand for? What do we want to mean for our customers, employees and shareholders?