Archive for the ‘Culture planning’ Category

Successful companies build strong internal culture capability

In my many years of consulting to organizations who are actively managing their culture I discovered an unexpected fact.  The organizations who were doing it best were doing it with only limited external help, or none at all.  This was an uncomfortable truth, in the days where I worked for companies which made their money selling ‘consultant days’. “What, you mean the client doesn’t need us!”  Building internal capability has to be a top priority for any organization that is serious about culture.  The core drive and strength must come from inside.  (My yoga teacher tells me the same thing!)

This capability needs to include the understanding of how to build the right culture; the capability to build and execute an on-going culture plan; the personal capability to challenge and to hold true to values.  Ultimately, this capability needs to become a core leadership compentence, initially it can sit with a few line leaders and a strong OD/HR team.

Many organizations talk about their culture without having this capability.  When this occurs there are a number of risks

Lack of alignment:  There are lots of activities around culture, but there is not a core framework within which they all sit.  As a result, the messages is diluted and employees get confused.  When this occurs, the likelihood that anyone will actually change their behavior is significantly reduced.

Sporadic focus:  When times get tough, an organization will cut back on those activities which it does not see as important.  Culture is the pattern of beaviors that are encouraged or discouraged over time.  Sporadic encouragement is not enough.  So when the investment in culture is not constant, the investment that is incurred is wasted.

Too much to do:  What are the most important levers to pull to change your culture?  Or, if the culture you have is an asset, what are the critical elements which might be at risk as you grow?  In any particular culture, how can you know which initiatives will have the biggest impact, and focus yourselves there?

Walking the Talk is making a contribution to building internal capability by offering tools and training programmes for HR/OD and key culture champions.  As those people increase their know-how, they are able to design the best culture strategy for their organization.  They may well choose to use external vendors to help them with specific activities.  But they do so from a position of knowledge and strength, within a framework that their organization understands.

Focus on one behavior at a time

Focus accelerates results in the culture arena just as it does in all business endeavours.   In a development program I attended once we had to find the essence of the word ‘responsibility’ and express it without using words in a way that others understood. We found it surprisingly difficult and it took a long time.  Because although I had used the word many times, I had never really thought deeply about what it meant.

Superficiality damages culture initiatives. I frequently find organizations developing long lists of the values and behaviors they want to underpin their culture.  It’s tempting, after all, when answering the question “what is our ideal culture?” to pen a description that covers the widest range of aspirations.  When communicated, the potential for transformation is lost because people are left wondering what specifically they are being asked to do differently.

More powerful, I have found, is to take one concept, and work it hard.  ‘Keep your word’, for example.  The more I consider this concept, the more I realize what an all emcompassing idea it is.  Enough, on its own, to transform an organization.  What does it take to walk that talk?  Here’s just a few of the skills and behaviors that are needed.  I am sure you can come up with many more.  Imagine an organization that had mastered these.

  • Not giving or accepting excuses
  • Taking responsibility for not having anticipated outside events which disrupted plans
  • Saying ‘no’ when being asked to do something you believe is impossible
  • Setting goals with (not for) others which are stretching, but not ridiculous
  • Negotiating with others to deliver what you need from them in order to keep your own word
  • Raising unpopular concerns when everyone else is being swept along by optimism
  • Being willing to voice the difference between an intention (“I’ll do my best”) and a promise (“You have my word”)

It would be pretty amazing if a group of people were able to live up to ‘keep your word’ as a shared value and standard.  Would probably put them ahead of all of their competititors.  And not a list of aspirations in sight.

The crucial link between business drivers and culture

Last week we ran the pilot for our new program on culture which we will be launching in the next couple of weeks.  The participants were a group of HR people from an organization who has been doing good work on culture for a number of years.  They loved the program and learned a lot.  I was interested by which pieces they felt had the most impact for them.  There were several.  One was the crucial question that I believe creates the link between business drivers and culture.  This is the question I ask when I am helping a client to see the value in investing in their culture.  And when I train consultants, it is the question I recommend they ask their clients.

Here it is

HOW DO YOU NEED PEOPLE TO BEHAVE, THINK AND FEEL
IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS STRATEGY?

The answer to this question is the business case for working on the culture.  If the behaviors required are different from the current behaviors, then there is work to be done.  The organization will need a culture which values these new behaviors.  If the culture supports the current behaviors (which it almost certainly will) then these behaviors will remain, and the strategy will not be executed successfully.  People behave in a way that they believe will enable them to fit in.  Change the culture and you change the messages they receive about what is expected.

All of us who work in the culture arena need to be able to make this link between culture and business strategy in everything we do.  Often I see good culture work started without this link being established clearly in the minds of the business leaders. And so, over time, the enthusiasm dies, because culture is seen as something not urgent, something separate from the job of driving the businesss forward.  I have found that the link needs to be made over and over again.  And the participants in our pilot program realized that they too could do more to really position their culture work in this way.

PS  Positioning culture as a way to make people happy and increase employee engagement is not enough.  It’s a great side benefit, but the real benefits lie directly in the answer to the crucial question above.

Why do leaders engage in culture?

If you are reading this blog you are probably already convinced that building the right culture can add value to the organization.  I imagine you do not find that same passion in all of your colleagues, or your clients.  Yet you need their advocacy in order to create substantial momentum. How can you successfully influence others, and engage their hearts and minds in this process?

I have found two reasons for leaders to become advocates of building the right culture.

Culture will help fulfill their future vision
Culture will remove their present pain

Each requires a different engagement strategy.  But both require the same basic ingredients:  Why, what and how.

Why culture will facilitate the vision, or alleviate the current problem. This builds the business case.  For example, a vision of global expansion requires a culture of global collaboration.  A problem with poor customer satisfaction will be reduced by a culture where individuals take responsibility for solving problems, rather than trying to pass the buck.

What is required to change a culture. To answer this question requires a knowledge of the elements which make up a culture business plan, covering changes to behavior, to symbols and to business systems.  Most leaders become much more comfortable, and willing to invest what it takes, when they can see a well constructed path which demonstrates that this is a hard business opportunity with a rigorous process.


How the process has to be led. A successful culture process requires strong leadership.  A leader’s confidence builds when they can see the types of activities, and personal change, that will be needed.  Meeting peers who have taken these steps can have a powerful influence, and I recommend encouraging these wherever possible.

Those of us who advise, and those of us who follow, leaders have a responsibility to help them be successful.  Our influencing skills contribute to their success.  When your leader does not respond the way you hoped, ask yourself how you need to change to influence successfully, rather than being tempted to ‘blame’ the leader for not getting it.  There are always ways in which we can improve.

A question to get to the heart of things

It is easy to operate inside a culture and to feel at a bit of a loss as to why things operate the way they do. A group of people with apparently good intentions end up in a dynamic together which does not bring the best out of them.  What’s going on?  Exploring that together forms an important part of the culture change process.  We can call it ‘becoming conscious’.  What was unconscious needs to become conscious before steps can be taken to change it.  The culture champion, or change agent, plays a role in helping the group to progress down this path towards being conscious, from which they can make some choices that will serve the team and the organization better.

One word can really facilitate this process.  “Why?”  There are several occasions where this question can serve to enlighten and uncover in a way which causes change.

  • In the process of understanding your culture, “Why?” will lead to deeper insight.  I recently ran a focus group where the people were expressing surprise that there was no apparent discipline in their process for filling roles that became available.  Often people who were already overloaded, but seen as really good, would be given additional responsibilities.  Sometimes to the point where they ceased to be effective, or even left the organization.  “Why do you think it is done that way?” revealed the answer: “I think we like heroes”.  That word, thought by many but never discussed as a real business issue, turned out to be a crucial platform to their future change process.
  • In a similar manner “Why do you think you do that” in a coaching session will help the coachee to discover motive which can be very useful to them.
  • “Why do we do that?” spoken in a constructive manner can challenge long established habits to which everyone has become blind.

The intent behind the question seems to be th determinant as to whether it is a useful one.  “Why?” can be delivered with an oppositional edge, a desire to catch someone out.  Or it can be expressed with genuine curiousity.  Of course others pick the difference immediately.

Practice your “whys?”  They can lead everyone to places they did not know existed.  And out on a better path than before.

How to get better at using (& being) consultants

Consulting and professional services are the fastest growing employment sectors (see link), and set to nearly double in numbers in the next 10 years.  Most of you reading this blog are either hiring consultants or a consultant yourself.  I have found that consultants and how a company uses them has a significant impact on an organization’s culture.

I see this as so important that my new business – in the final stages of design, to be launched within the next month – is focusing very specifically on this.  We will be upskilling those inside organizations who are responsible for leading, managing and supporting culture initiatives, so that they have a solid framework of knowledge from which they select how and when to use outside help on their culture goals.  And we will be accrediting consultants in Walking the Talk methodology to improve their ability to ensure that their work is aligned with the target culture their clients are aiming for.

Pros – How do Consultants Enhance Culture?

  1. They can get close, but remain outside of the core cultural dynamic.  This means they can point out cultural traits and challenge embedded mental models.  Most will say things it would be more difficult for an internal person to say
  2. They can provide process and specialized expertise in the many elements of changing culture
  3. They can offer extra ‘arms and legs’ to resource up for a short term push.  This works great when the internal team sit at the core of the process and are really owning it.

Cons – How do Consultants Constrain Culture?

  1. They often do not transfer their skills to the client. When they leave, the momentum dies. There is a natural tension here, because if the client builds the skill internally they may not generate as much revenue for the consultants in the future.
  2. The change process can be seen to be the responsibility of the consultant, feeding an avoidance culture.
  3. The consultant methodology remains theirs, and the client never really builds ‘their way’.  This problem multiplies with multiple consultants, all with their own methodology and language.

    The potential problems can be overcome.  Here are the traits I have found most useful are to use consultants effectively to build the right culture

    • For the client – to have enough knowledge to be in the driving seat.  To build a framework and ask    consultants to fit within it, staying within boundaries.
    • For the consultant – to transfer skills, and have confidence that there will be enough revenue, even if it comes in a different way.

    Let’s all get better at this.

    What is "walking the talk"

    When searching for a name for my book, my editor at Random House told me the name should describe the essence of the book’s content.  Hmmm, a good challenge for someone who has just written 100,000 words on the topic of corporate culture.  What was the essence of leading culture successfully?  Of course, it was to walk your talk.

    Culture is built and maintained because people pick up messages about how they need to behave in order to fit into the community of which they are a member.  They adapt their behavior accordingly, and so the perpetuation of culture continues.  (As an adviser who visits the offices of many organizations, my whole luggage packing strategy can a complex operation to combine in one trip a Silicon Valley look, a New York banking look and a factory floor manufacturing look.  Oh, the trials of consulting!)

    Companies use their brand advertising to communicate what they stand for.  Leaders want to communicate the culture they expect, and most use road shows, slide packs, videos and meetings to do this.  But it is not what they say that people pick up on, it is what they do.    “What you do speaks so loud”, wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “that I cannot hear what you say”.  Whilst communicating intention is an important part of building the brand and the culture, it also turns up the ‘talk’ dial, shining the spotlight even more on the ‘walk’.

    How does the ‘walk’ show up?  In three ways:

    Direct behaviors. What people observe in meetings, in emails, in one to one conversations.  The ratio between inquiring, listening and presenting.  The way mistakes are handled.  The resolution of conflicts.  Setting tasks and holding to account.  The topics of conversation.  How customers are treated.

    Symbols or choices. Decisions made.  Choices which demonstrate the organization’s (and the leader’s hierarchy of value.  How precious time is spent, how resources allocated, who gets the promotion.

    Business management systems. Goal setting, planning, reporting, rewarding, developing.  Product design, service processes. How the organization organizes itself and its people to service its customers.

    When the ‘walk’ and the ‘talk’ are aligned, the output is trust.  From customers, community and employees.  People follow leaders and brands that walk their talk.  From a brand perspective, this results in high customer loyalty.  Internally, people align their own behavior when they see congruence between walk and talk, and the desired culture is created.

    On the other hand, when an organization does not walk its talk, the result is mistrust and cynicism.

    It’s a worthy goal, to learn to walk your talk.