Leaders who are committed to causing a transformation in their organization would be smart to get THE key area where they need to focus - "It's the culture stupid!"
The literature of failed change programs is extensive. The list of failed acquisition and merger integrations is also extensive. Competent and successful executives moving to new organizations find that what worked for them in corporation X where they built their reputations does not work in their new organization. What's going on? "It's the culture stupid!"
What is culture anyway? There are almost as many interpretations about what culture is, and how important it is in our lives, as there are experts speaking and writing about it. This is what we (LPR) say that culture is.
Even when culture is clearly understood, at least intellectually, the biggest mistake leaders make is that they do not invest themselves in coaching and training people to live the organizing principles and values - pretty posters with value statements that don't reflect what actually happens will kill most organizations.
Look at Zappos core values and how they inculcate them in the organization. They engage people in creating the culture and training new employees in the culture, for example, here in this culture training class.
They even have a 400+ page Culture Book, in which employees express what each value means for them and how they see it being expressed. It is the best expression of a culture I have seen in 25 years of working with organizations to build strong cultures. It is a culture in which there is integrity between what is espoused and what is lived.
So to build a vibrant, healthy, growing company with a personality and a following, "It's the culture stupid!"
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