Organisational cultureDetermines how your people will respond to a change initiativeOrganisational culture is more important than you may realise. This is a subject that I find tends to get a somewhat polarised reaction whenever I discuss it with directors. There is either a polite indifference and "...well let's get on with discussing the practical aspects of how we're going to do this?" type of response; or considerable interest then the question: "How can we actually deal with it and change it?". In both cases there is the feeling that culture is a "soft" intangible subject that is difficult to discuss in specific terms, and in the first response the belief that because we can't see it or really get a handle on it then it's irrelevant. Can I challenge you now... as you are reading this... how do you feel about the culture(s) of your organisation?
Do you feel that it's an important aspect of your step change initiative - or to be truthful, do you feel that whilst it's an interesting abstraction it's not really THAT big a deal? In this section I want to explain to you how I discovered organisational culture and its significance in my business life; why this area is so important and to show you how to address it in your own organisation.
How I first became aware of organisational culture and its significanceI first became aware of the significance and importance of organisational culture in 1994. I was involved in a business development exercise with a colleague and we were trying to figure out how to promote our consultancy business. We both had a strong business-to-business direct marketing background and many years of successful corporate sales experience. We had also worked with and for approximately 150 companies between us over the preceding 15 years. But we were running into a "brick wall" with our business development efforts. The specific issue was this: "How was it that we could approach 2 companies that outwardly seemed very similar in terms of size, industry sector, age, profitability and a range of other segmentation factors - and with the same carefully targeted sales message - and yet get 2 totally different responses?" One evening, I was flicking through "The Marketing Manager's Yearbook" looking at various prospect companies that we both knew very well, and I started paying attention to the detail provided about the type of sales and marketing personnel employed and specifically their job titles.
I noticed in the Yearbook that the entries for 4 seemingly similar companies [in terms of traditional marketing segmentation] were very different. Company A had a Sales Director but no marketing personnel; Company B had a Sales Director and a Marketing Director; and Company C had a Sales Director, a Marketing Director and a Direct Marketing Manager, and Company D was the same as Company C except that it had a Database Manager as well. The significance of this observation was that each additional job title was indicative of a different organisational culture - and the response we got from companies and their degree of receptivity to our sales messages was all to do with how well our sales messages were aligned with that particular company's culture. I quickly cross referenced many client and prospect companies and analysed them in the same way and found that this initial hypothesis stacked up. And so the significance of organisational culture - initially seen solely from a business development perspective - became firmly established on our radar. We rapidly made 5 further discoveries:
Definition of a Maturity Model
It is pre-supposed that this evolution represents "progress" to more developed or advanced states of learning, insight, understanding or practise. I have referred earlier and elsewhere on this site to the Project and Programme Management Maturity Model. My own view is that whilst we can get overly distracted with models - they do serve as a useful form of "short hand" in articulating the position of an organisation in relation to a specific area of learning, insight or understanding. I am showing this early model because it is an excellent illustration of how the characteristics of an organisational culture are identified and summarised.
This template has been used on many companies and in many, many different situations over the years - overtly [with client involvement] and covertly [i.e. I use it but don't involve my client as it may not be relevant or they may not be receptive.]
How to identify and unpack an organisational culture and sub-cultureWith reference to the Template of a Culture Map shown in the link above: (1) Culture Type The dominant organisational culture can be unpacked in terms of:
The distinctions between these different perspectives of the dominant culture are very important because they represent potentially significant gaps in perception that either are or will be the cause of issues in a step change scenario. Other factors here are the size of the company and the extent of change experienced within its relatively recent history - so the larger the company and / or the greater the amount of recent change - then there is a greater likelihood that these gaps in perception will be present. There can also be 2 different types of subculture - those that are:
In both cases, the people concerned may either be aware and conscious of how they are and what they are doing or unaware and unconscious. There may well be other types of sub culture present. The purpose of the template is to stimulate awareness of the possible existence of these entities within your organisation. A sub culture can exist within an entity as small as 2 or 3 people or a much larger group such as a whole department, or anything in between. It usually evolves around and is focused on a specific function such a sales or accounts and /or a strong personality or dominant individual. The importance of the sub culture is that reflects what the people within it really believe and their usually un-spoken attitudes and values - all of which are displayed in their behaviour and actions.
(2) Summary Definition This is based on the evidence of the characteristics of the organisational culture and demonstrated in the major focus of the key players in this entity. This definition is how you describe yourselves - the "look and feel" of how things really are e.g. a production or manufacturing culture, or a sales culture, or a typical family owned business. (3) Evidence - The Characteristics of the Culture This can include things such as:
(4) Key Issues Actions and Behaviours
(5) Major Areas of Focus - Areas of Impact These can identified by:
This template is not exhaustive nor is it meant to be difficult - it was designed to be [and has proven itself to be] a very useful guide to identifying and unpacking the differing cultures and sub cultures that comprise an overall organisational culture. Additional ResourceCheck out this excellent report on cultures and their significance in change initiatives from Neil Farmer of Informal Networks Ltd. Neil has led teams on 5 major successful change initiatives.
And just as a reminder:
How to do all this in practise
What I have outlined above in this section is the key to understanding and getting the best out of the Pre Programme Review and Planning Process. For more on all this and with a timely reminder about related topics
Pre Programme Review and Planning Process Go back to - How to do it! Home Page Return to top
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