A few years I was in the office of the #2 person in a very large firm and those were the words he said to me. We were discussing how he wanted people in his organization to act with customers and internally. He was implying they can’t change anything because the culture had taken over.
I wondered who is that culture? What is it? It’s as if someone (maybe Hector) is sitting in the basement waiting to pull the strings that stop the business from adapting to what the market wants, making customers happy and wanting to return. Who is it that stops building people to improve performance and productivity? If we identify that individual and go down to that basement, we should then line up like in the old “Airplane” movie, and each slap him with a wet noodle from today’s lunch at Thai Express. It might beat some sense into him!!!
Seriously, two things hit me that day. First, the culture at my client’s organization was made up of ‘conversations’ that permeate the organization. They described how it is here, what matters, what the main desires are, and how people get rewarded. They take place in every corner, at the water cooler, in the lunch room…. Everywhere. Conversations do create.
Secondly, what is the path of least resistance here? For example, it is maddening to business people to experience bureaucracy with vendors, suppliers, government and customers. “We have a system here and it must be followed” a government official said to me years ago when I was trying to rush an order for a customer. I thought the desire to serve customers was more important than goofy forms no one really cared about and gave no value. And I was wrong. In a bureaucracy, the system/protocols/rules are the most important thing. They are the master. They are the path of least resistance for government or a bureaucratic organization.
So, what is a culture? It’s the desires of the managers manifested in systems that pull everyone and everything to a behavior and action and, unknowingly, may not necessarily be about the outcomes or results they want. It is manifested and spread through conversations. If you have things in place that pulls everyone along a certain path then, yes, you will continually get what you are continually getting. Change the path.
Business isn’t about culture and managing culture isn’t really that important. What the business is trying to do in the market is important. What the organization is doing everyday to support that is. In a nutshell:
A) Ensure the most important desires of the organization are clear. Where are you going; what are the priorities? You can have competing desires that neutralize each other and departments fighting over resources and by doing this, fracture the path you really want. Set priorities and make them crystal clear.
B) Put in place simple, clear systems that support those priorities and cause the actions and behaviors you want every day. Begin simply. Don’t just try the latest idea of the month or benchmark other businesses. You will be doomed if you first don’t make clear what you want, what your priorities are and have things in place that support them.
C) If you constantly have conversations around the desired state of the business and put things in place to support it, then the culture won’t matter that much. You will create the business, organization and career you want.
This week, think through your priorities. What systems should or do support them? What conversations could you have to support them?
Life has a way of twisting and turning in many directions but, overall, you can create the business and life you want.
Have a great week! | 
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