Organisational culture is dead...long live organisational culture!

“Corporate culture eats strategy for breakfast” - Peter Drucker

This is a call out to leadership. Let’s think about change for a minute. Specifically, organisational change. After all, 96% of companies are thinking about redesigning the way they work. What’s the first thing you hear when organisational change starts to get difficult? Most likely, something about the culture of the organisation. 

“This would never work here, it’s not how we do things”

“You are trying to change everything, our culture, our DNA!”

“Did you know that research shows it takes years for a successful culture transformation?”

Except it does not. It really doesn’t. It might have done so, in the past. But not so much today.

Allow me to park this statement for a minute to go back to the start: what is culture? 

Culture: What's that?

Just ask any employee you meet today: what do you think (corporate) culture is?

Pretty soon you’ll find that this is where it immediately gets sticky. It’s about our values, it’s about mission/vision, about the way we’ve always worked together, etc.

And you know you’re in trouble when even Google can’t find a conclusive answer: 

• ...it refers to the shared values, attitudes, standards, and beliefs that characterize members of an organisation and define its nature (inc.com).
• ...it refers to the beliefs and behaviours that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions (Investopedia). 
• ...it appears to have 6 components of a great culture (according to HBR)
• ...and 8 types (ironically, HBR again)

Or, as the final result of page one cites: It's hard to define and even harder to get right. Maybe that is why changes to corporate culture reports mass failure.

So let’s dumb it down: culture seems to be the shared everyday habits, or: whatever the employees do whenever the boss/management isn’t looking. 

But here’s the issue: every transformation expert tells you when the going gets tough that it takes years to change these everyday habits. Except, it doesn’t. 

And the main reason for this is that the people that uphold these habits have changed their commitment. Nowadays, 81% of employees are considering leaving their job (link) and 50% of employees voluntarily leave in the first two years of employment (link)

So, if the people who make up our organisational culture of shared everyday habits come and go so frequently, what would make a difference in your culture?

The answer is as simple as it is challenging: It’s you, the leaders out there. You are the constant in your organisation. You set the standards in the organisation, and are responsible for everything going on in your organisation. So, you need to ask yourself: what are the habits that I show everyday? And what are the habits that I’d like to see in my teams and how can I show these habits? Start off small. Don’t be afraid to make clear, transparent statements on the habits you want to see. And which you never want to see. Tackle fuzzy subjects like work-life balance, feedback loops and career development. What are the habits you’d like to see on the workfloor from these topics?

Conclusion

This blog is not a call to terminate all things organisational culture. Rather, it is a call to ownership for the leadership of organisations. It is time for a new look to organisational culture. In an environment filled with ever increasing speed of change, both externally and internally, you are the one to take ownership of the shared everyday habits. So, what should be the shared everyday habits of your organisation and how will you show this behaviour to your employees?