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Jerry President and Principal
Change Management
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Culture Change…Really?

September 6, 2011  6:25 pm
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Peter Drucker said, “Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got.”

For anyone that has tried or is trying to change the culture inside their company, this certainly has a ring of familiarity to it. Company cultures are difficult to change – but certainly not impossible. To change anything, you have to work with what you’ve got. The problem is that the existing culture is custom made to defend and protect itself, even if it’s not best for the objectives of the individual or the stakeholders. It would be easy here to pick on this company or that company, but it’s not necessary to name names – they’re everywhere.

So instead let’s ask the question about why it is so difficult and what can we do to effect change?

For simplicity, let’s imagine that we’re talking about a culture of continuous improvement – a place where things react to an ever changing environment by getting better and better. We’ll call this a CI culture. If achieving this were as simple as describing the future state, even in minute detail, we’d all just read a few of the great books on the subject, create our future state design (and make sure everyone in the company read the books and reviewed the designs as well) and then just come in next Monday and be that way…right?

The reason it’s so difficult is that we are talking about fundamentally changing the way everything gets done: day-to-day tasks and the interaction between all of the various entities, simultaneously. To get the tasks and interactions to change, we must fundamentally change the way people think about their work. The existing culture, ready-made to defend itself, will punish those who try.

To make a start at changing culture, we must first and foremost make it okay to challenge the system. Even more, we must make challenging the system a requirement – but do this in ways that are structured and within some formal boundaries. We aren’t talking about anarchy here, because anarchy never wins popular support. However small changes – incremental changes – that are structured, measured and well communicated do stack up over time and do counter the natural protective tendencies of the existing culture.

But as the culture starts to move toward a place where challenging the status quo and improving things is part of the standard operating procedure, it will be barely perceptible to all but the most observant participant. Why? Because even then people will say “This is just how we are.”

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  • Michael Whittenberg

    If we think about the sociological aspects of culture, for example by country, we would not expect change to come easily, if at all. So, why would we expect the same people living in a specific culture to adapt easily to cultural change in the workplace. So, this is the challenge we face when entering a workplace to begin down a continuous improvement path. As long as we recognize the challenge and human behavior, I firmly believve we can still effect change in a positive way, even in the face of strong cultural norms.

  • John Settineri

    Culture change? absolutely! Depending upon a leader’s experience, span of responsibility, etc-the size and scope of culture change that can be realized will vary. But an effective leader cannot leave culture change to chance – it must be pursued deliberately by changing the “system”.. Would like to share a simple model shared with me by a fellow change leader to help think about culture. Picture a 3 level pyramid (or iceberg) with the top level above the water line. This is the “behaviors” – the things we do. The middle level, just below the water line is the “culture” (aka the existing system) – why we do things. The deepest level are the “beliefs” – why we REALLY do things.

    Management often focuses on trying to manage behaviors – with little sustainable effect. The deepest level, the beliefs, are extremely difficult to truly influence in the workplace.

    The culture (the system) – is what a leader must impact, top down and bottom-up. To change the culture, we must change the system (think purpose/process/people). This involves changing habits, routines, and traditions through methods such as lean daily management systems, ensuring executive-level sponsorship, effective project management, standardized leadership routines, etc.

    Interested to hear what others think.

    Onward,

    John