Corporate culture is heavy on people’s minds these days. It has been waved like a red blanket as the thing that makes companies innovative, collaborative, and exciting, as well as slow, grumpy, and a hard place to get things done.
Change management has glommed onto culture by attacking it as a ‘thing’ – something that can be molded, changed, created, or otherwise managed like a good communication plan. In two weeks we will have a town hall and announce our new culture!! But culture isn’t the same as a new or changed technology or process, or even a new org chart. Managerial theory flounders when confronted with culture.
I often get asked about culture. Some of the question include:
- Why does culture matter?
- What is culture anyway?
- Who defines the culture?
- How can we change our culture?
- Why does our culture suck?
The last question might be the most common one I get, and it is usually followed by something like “everyone is really pretty (nice…. smart…. willing…. helpful….)” – in other words, individuals are just fine, but the collective somehow fails.
I’ll take a look at each question over the next few days.
