How To Tinker With Organizational Culture
…build on what is already working within your organization
Economic instability is still with us. And, we keep hearing it is going to take awhile to work ourselves out of this financial crisis of the new global age. Are there culture best practices that allow some companies to make it through hard economic time more easily than others?
Yes, recently deceased management guru Peter Drucker, recommended in 1991 that leaders build on their existing culture to make change happen. He gave examples about how Japan and Germany re-built their societies after the Second World War through rewarding new habits based on traditional national values.
Today, it is still the most reliable and quickest way to tinker with and re-direct an organizational culture. An important heads-up for leaders before they start tinkering is to first understand the lay-of-the-land today - what are their organization’s current beliefs and values…and what new habits are needed to move forward into the future.
Now comes Drucker’s best kept secret of culture change - DO NOT REINVENT THE WHEEL - seek out individuals or groups within your organization that already exhibit these desired new habits and ask them how they do it.
Next, shift recognitions, rewards and consequences in support of the new desired habits. And finally, here comes the hardest part.
Leaders need to practice the new habits themselves - be willing to make mistakes and tinker some more - until the formula is found that helps their organization move through the hard economic times and into the future!
Voila - best practices for tinkering with culture in five easy to read paragraphs!
