 August is Culture Month at Charthouse! Follow along on the change course podcast, and via our LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for all our great content this month on culture change!
Have you ever head the saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” It is one of my favorites! The original, in French is “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” and was written by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the 1849 of his Paris journal, Les Guêpes, as a call to action against complacency in French culture and society. And at the same time, 170 years later, we can still define an essential French culture which is as timeless as the baguette itself. Culture is one of the most integral and constant forces within organizations. Even with staff changes, leadership changes, expansions, acquisitions and mergers, culture stays constant within organizations over years. Even though Heraclitus said: “change is the only constant in life” he had obviously not met company culture yet! When leaders seek to change culture, it is one of the hardest things they will endeavor to do. Nothing about culture change is easy. When we talk about change slippage, regression and failure, most often this happens in the context of culture. If change goes against the dominant culture, it will fail. The gravitational pull of culture is strong. These undercurrents in an organization are relentless and there is a compelling reason for the saying “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” anything that goes against culture will fail. There are several reasons why this happens. Organizational systems are built for sustainability and performance. Culture is part of the organizational system, and as we know, systems like to be in homeostasis, or steady state. Where the system defines what happens and how, culture keeps the system in line based on the behaviors, interactions and norms that define the boundaries of accepted and not accepted patterns that keep the system operating. Culture also defines how the organization works. What is valued and rewarded, what is unacceptable, reprimanded and tolerated. We humans are part of these systems, and our social nature and response to social hierarchies keeps this in place. Behaviors and interactions bring these beliefs and understandings to life. How we interact and respond to one another in the context of the organization is culture. Changing culture must be done within the context of the operating model of the organization. If culture change goes too far out of bounds of what the organization does, it won’t work. Culture that is aligned with purpose can change, as long as it does so within the context of purpose and function. Then, the culture must be defined by the essential interactions, behaviors and the reinforcements, rewards and systems that maintain and uphold the organization. When we look at culture change from this lens, it requires an in-depth understanding of these elements as well as a clear definition of what to change, and how to change. Then, there are structural elements that need to be changed as well. Culture change is a big endeavor! The last and most important point is that culture change is driven from the top-down. If you’re a leader who wants to change the culture, you need to start with your leadership team. And this part is difficult to do for some, but if there are people on your leadership team who do not embody the culture you are building and are not buying in, they can’t continue to lead in your organization. Culture will take the form of the worst behavior tolerated, not the best behavior demonstrated, and it goes without saying that your leadership team must be exemplars of the best behaviors. Leadership has the power through both structure and influence to demonstrate and enforce cultural norms. In culture change, this role become integral. Given the complicated and multifaceted nature of culture, changing culture takes a long time. If you’re planning to change and strengthen your culture, it is something that needs to be central to strategy, with the plan and execution with a longer delivery timeline. Cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. While it is difficult, changing culture can reap incredible rewards. I was recently working with a small organization that has built, over many years an incredible culture. There is a high degree of respect between colleagues, leadership is well respected and responsive and there is a collegiality and commitment to helping each other. This is within the context of the broader culture in their industry being cutthroat and toxic. The founders built an organization that they would want to work in, and over time, attracted like-minded individuals. Now, the team is robust and the leading organization in the city. They’re attracting more new recruits than their competitors in a market of staffing shortages and stiff competition. My advice to them was “don’t change a thing!” as they are positioned to reap the rewards of their outstanding culture for years to come.
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 August is Culture Month at Charthouse! Follow along on the change course podcast, and via our LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for all our great content this month on culture change!
Culture is a fascinating aspect of organizations. Have you ever asked why, even though the organization may see people change roles, leave and enter the organization, that the organization’s culture stays the same? I call this the essential dance between the purpose of the organization, the values, the structure and the vital interactions between people. Innovation and change within organizations is a great illustration of this. When a company’s purpose is to produce things fast, accurately, and consistently, the culture that the company has will align with the central purpose. You will likely find that individual contributors in the company have a high degree of specificity in their roles and little overlap. Decisions are made centrally. Management is recognized for keeping errors to a minimum and managing teams to perform consistently. Change in these environments looks like continuous improvement and ideas come forward with a specific need to increase efficiency, reduce errors or increase productivity. This describes the culture of 90% of the product driven companies I’ve worked with. Innovation in these companies does not happen in the day-to-day work. The way the company works is not conducive to innovation. So why is that? The purpose of the company drives the culture, and how the company is built, and functions will dictate the boundaries and norms of how work is done and how people operate within the company. Innovation must drive a different purpose. The companies that do this well, build innovation as a sub-culture or a separate function within the organization. At a large manufacturing company that I worked with; this was evident in how innovation was parceled out with respect to the large organization. As a manufacturer in a larger supply chain, the company’s purpose was to supply other businesses with precision-built products. At the same time, there is a part of the strategy that requires constant product innovation in order to stay ahead of competitors and maintain leadership in the marketplace. Innovation then, was developed within a specific subculture in the organization. The lab environment signaled immediately that you were in a different culture. The layout of the space was different, and it was within a larger plant, and not at head office. Everything about the physical space was different, and how people worked. Their interactions were different too. The lab environment was conducive to innovation and drove the essential purpose of the department within the larger company. This is also why successful companies will set up Research and Development (R&D) separately from product delivery. If you want a very innovative culture, R & D needs to be the centre of the purpose of the organization. Apple is a great example of prioritizing innovation while also maintaining robust product delivery. Their org structure and functional design give us a lens into how this manifests and how their essential culture has grown as a result of their function and structure. Read more in this article from HBR for more detail on Apple and how structure, function and organizational design drive innovation culture. In short: purpose will drive the culture of an organization so the culture that you desire to build must be closely linked to what the company does, and what structure is required to fulfill its purpose.  August is Culture Month at Charthouse! Follow along on the change course podcast, and via our LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for all our great content this month on culture change!
We all know that the companies with the best organizational cultures have amazing results, better productivity and retention and become a destination company for new recruits. But if developing a great organizational culture was so easy, wouldn’t we have all done it by now? Before you start on your culture journey, there are a few things you should know! Specifically, three huge pitfalls that you’ll want to avoid: 1. Your organization is not a family: If you say you want your organization to feel like a family, have you considered that not all families are like yours? Besides we choose who we work with, not our families! And families have negative sides to their cultures too. If leadership is under the mistaken belief that the organization is a “family” then it can lead to the acceptance of all sorts of toxic behaviors. After all, in most family structures, once you’re in, you’re in, no matter how poorly you behave at the summer BBQ. The issues are that poor behavior is tolerated at many levels of the organization, and the ability to manage toxic behaviors or poor performance is limited. There is often an over-reliance on central authority and that the company will take care of you. That is, until it doesn’t! Instead, focus on the types of interactions that you want to drive in the organization, define them, and help leadership put them into place. For example, you want to ensure that people feel connected to their colleagues and that colleagues care about each-other? Define the interactions that you want to see and get leadership to help by leading by example. After all, good culture is driven by connection and respect for one-another not by the mistaken belief that you’re a family. 2. Don’t seek to be like someone else The cultures that fail are the ones that try to be like someone else. In the previous post I wrote about how organizational culture is driven by the company’s purpose. If you try to adopt someone else’s culture to be “more like them” you will fail! Get to know your organization and figure out what aligns with your why. I remember a local burger chain that I used to frequent in the early ‘80s. The location was near the beach and had a winding line inside the restaurant before you got to the cash. The kitchen was open to the line, and the place was quite unique in that the people working in the kitchen would… sing! Cute jingles and little songs that were completely unlike any other place. Later, the company franchised, and I went to one of the franchisees. There was still singing but the magic was gone. The people working there looked miserable. Somehow in the process of trying to duplicate the model, the essential magic was lost. Something truly unique can’t be duplicated, so don’t try! Figure out what makes your organization unique and stick to that. Develop a culture that is unique to you. 3. Don’t put the people in charge Culture is driven from the top down. As mentioned, it aligns with the purpose of the organization and must also support the strategy. Therefore, culture is a leadership responsibility. Many of the failed culture initiatives that I’ve seen involved putting staff in charge of cultural change. But culture doesn’t bubble up. It is top down. This is why power is an essential element in Connected Change ™. Culture and power exist together. Culture in many ways plays out in the behaviors that exist between people in the organization, importantly between leaders and teams, and then is mirrored between team members. Leaders have an essential role in defining and demonstrating the cultural behaviors that are desired, and acceptable, and most importantly what is not acceptable. If you tolerate great performers behaving badly – that will define your culture. By defining the values that you seek and aligning with the purpose of the organization you can start on the path of creating a great culture. Thinking about what makes your organization unique and ensure that your leadership is leading in culture too. This will help ensure your success in developing a unique and positive organizational culture. |
Natalia LobachArticles, posts, thought pieces, emerging research, podcasts and videos from the founder and principal at Charthouse Advisory Services Archives
November 2022
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