THE SYSTEM
'The way things are done around here' can be a baffling statement for a new recruit but 'truth is every entity has its own culture. Startups are unlikely to have doled out titles to their founders and rarely think of organisational structures until legal or revenue related documents need to be signed. Mistakes are accepted as a necessary part of the process in the beginning.
In a mature business with several layers of management the individual who wishes to succeed quickly learns that not having mistakes attributed to them is an essential element on the path to promotion. Needless to say this attitude does not encourage innovation.
An extract from John Bew's book 'Castlereagh' describes beautifully the efforts of the British monarch and his government to administer a nearby colony (in those days), Ireland. The words are those of a midranking civil servant. The largely catholic population were not easily governed by an established church based parliament and monarchy but the very people who the King should have been able to rely on are the subject of this jaundiced view.
"The King's business as they called the management of Ireland, was farmed out to some great families, who divided among themselves the whole patronage of the kingdom; who intercepted from the people every good which they could not render profitable to themselves, and who, like other agents did all they could to render it impossible that their employers should be able to dispense with their services or even learn the principles on which their administration was constructed." CA. 1790 unknow - 'Castlereagh' John Bew
Has your organisation a healthy culture or is internal politics holding it back?