WHEN CORPORATE CULTURE IS USED TO JUSTIFY INACTION

While strategy represents the brain and business operations, the heart, the corporate culture of an organization, represents the blood in the human body. Culture is defined as the set of values and behaviors that are shared and reinforced among employees. Thus, culture is as unique to each organization as the blood type is to the human body; in fact, corporate culture is so distinctive that it can be transformed into a competitive advantage for any given company.

Culture is defined by executives in the C-suite, modeled by overall leadership (including C-suite), enforced by middle management, and executed by all employees. However, contrary to what many leaders think, culture is not static. Such set of values and behaviors that make each organization unique must evolve along with the company’s strategy and the external environment it faces.  Therefore, a corporate culture must be tested periodically to ensure it is aligned to the challenges and strategy an organization chooses to take on. Furthermore, technology is increasing the frequency at which companies must conduct such tests, since changes in the environment are occurring at a much more rapid pace than before.

Uncovering that culture and strategy are out of sync is an important part of the role of the leadership team of an organization. A classic symptom of such disconnect is when you hear leaders say “that is the way we do things here” or “we should stop that work, it is really unpopular”. Unfortunately, today we see many leaders siding with maintaining the status quo if the alternative means becoming “unpopular”. When did we forget that leadership is not about popularity, but about driving the necessary change to stretch the organization to new frontiers? Have we forgotten the meaning of leadership or have we simply traded it off for a popularity trophy?  

When culture and strategy are out of sync, progress will be delayed and results won’t be achieved. Changing a corporate culture is not an easy task and certainty not a “popular” one, but a necessary mission that should be carefully planned and managed by the Office of Change Management (OCM). It is easier for leaders to blame the current culture as a barrier to change, justifying inaction; however, we forget that leaders are the culture and in order to change, leaders have to start by changing themselves first.