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May 31, 2011
Meaning: Has this ever happened to you? You are in the midst of leading a change initiative and you suddenly discover that despite what people said they would do, it isn’t happening. Finding the root cause for puzzling behavior is not simple; root causes can be elusive. Realize that one possible culprit is the organization’s culture. As Peter Drucker, the late prolific writer and prognosticator about modern management once said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Think how often a strategic initiative succeeds or fails based on its fit with an organization’s culture. One of my colleagues, Bob Barnett, reminded me of work we did helping a large media company define and reinforce its values. Those values caused their CEO to say “no” to an acquisition during the due diligence process, precisely because the values and culture of the two organizations were polar opposites. Later his successor CEO decided to move forward with the same acquisition; 5 years later they are still struggling to integrate and realize the value of their purchase. That first-hand experience fits with the results of a recent Forrester survey, which revealed that 70 percent of change initiatives fail because of poor business change management. Culture wins.
Ideas for Action: As if you’re trying to focus a pair of binoculars on a distant object to see it clearly, become hyper-attuned to the character and culture of the organization (or team) you are leading. Think of culture as the “collection of values and norms that are shared by people or groups in an organization and that govern how they interact with each other.”
Culture is easiest to see when you first join a new organization or work group. Try it by finishing this sentence: “It’s interesting – people here always seem to….” If you have been in the organization or team for a while, think of the rules that seem to exist about how decisions are made, how communication is handled, what behavior is rewarded and who is seen as the most valued. Ask trusted others, compare notes and write it down. What do the most-respected leaders value, and what do they do? Culture ultimately comes through in actions, not words.
Here’s another fun way to think of your organization’s culture. Try playing the game “organizational blasphemy.” Get two or three colleagues together to think of a statement that would be blasphemous in your world. For example, here at MDA, a blasphemy would be “go ahead and schedule over that, it’s just a client meeting!” The truthful opposite of the blasphemy reflects your organization’s culture.
Now think about that change effort you are leading. How will your culture either work to support or kill your initiative? If you realize that there are cultural elements that will work against what you are planning, you need to engage others in figuring out what you can do to start to reinforce new behaviors. If there are no systems to reinforce or reward new behaviors, the “old” ones will be the fallback.
Be scrupulous about assessing the cultural fit of someone you are thinking of hiring. In an examination of an insurance firm’s hiring practices (published in Organization Science), researchers discovered that poor cultural fit completely eliminated all of the good that came with a candidate’s knowledge and experience. The firm’s attempt to hire from its competitors (at a premium) proved disastrous, due to cultural disparities between the firms. Ultimately, no matter the credentials, determine if a candidate’s values align with those of your organization.
If you want to bring someone in who can shake up the organization and operate outside of its norms leading a new initiative, you need to be sure you provide plenty of support. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard an HR executive tell me that the person the company hired precisely because they were different left within a year because the organization kept rejecting them. This is culture at work.
In your day-to-day work, don’t believe the myth that the best ideas always win in the end. Instead, winning ideas and strategies are typically generated by those who best understand and function within the cultural milieu of their organizations. Just as I have never seen a leader who’s a cultural mismatch take on his or her company’s culture and ultimately win (think Carly Fiorina at HP), I have often seen “non-celebrity” executives succeed wildly due to their keen cultural awareness (think Richard Davis at U.S. Bank).
Remember that culture can’t be changed by itself. You are better off working to change systems, processes, and people – in other words, bringing about cultural change through other means. Engage your own team in thinking about culture and the role it plays in the initiatives you are leading. By doing so, you harness the good and help people learn the new behaviors or norms that may need to be part of the future.
Best regards,
Sandra Davis, CEO