CULTURE CHANGE OR CLIMATE CHANGE?

Thinking aloud.

I am fascinated by climate change - the one affecting our planet and, at a more macro level, the one that impacts how people work in organisations.

I have found that if you really want to assess how an organisation is doing, measure the climate, not the culture. The climate is how people really feel about the way things are as opposed to the idea of the culture - how many leaders wish it were. This would probably explain why most culture change programmes fail.

The harsh truth is you can’t change the culture. The best you can do is influence it.

The more I write and learn about #leadership and organisational design, the more I realise many things are the other way around.

People focus on culture when it’s climate they need to be focused on. People focus on DEI initiatives when it’s the systemic way of working they must tackle first and foremost. People talk about corporate values more than individual values when it is the latter that is more of a measure of what is important. See Enron. People focus on values instead of behaviours. What people do rather than just what they say they believe.

As I research and write about #inclusiveleadership, I have been nerding out on concepts around organisational design. I have read content from Prof Katy Milkman, Charles Glisson, PhD, and Angelica Lee, PhD, amongst others. And despite this varied body of work, I see the same ole, same ole tropes for culture change and corporate values.

I wonder if it is because it’s easier to do this than do the heavy lifting and have the tough conversations in organisations where leaders ask, “Are we actually doing the best we can?”