Most people aren't proud of their organization's culture. But it is possible to make things better. It just takes some nudging, in small steps.
One of the many fascinating stories shared in Laszlo Bock's excellent book Work Rules! is about the author trying to convince a fellow HR manager (at another company) to introduce some modern management practices. No matter whether Laszlo Bock suggests recording staff meetings, asking junior people to join senior leadership, or introducing peer-based selection of ideas, the answer from his colleague is always the same: "Oh no, we'd never do that in our company."
The story made me think of the many times I've heard people say that the many suggested tools and practices in my own book, including the peer-to-peer bonus system, will never work in their organization. "Our people aren't ready for that, Jurgen." "That will never be allowed in our company." "All managers will resist it, I'm quite sure." "No, we can't do that. There would be chaos."
I can hardly blame these people because I resist many good suggestions as well.
Since more than a year, I've been exercising and developing myself as a runner. I've read many books and articles on the topic, and I adopted some reasonable suggestions, about things such as running form, stride length, and foot striking. But my enthusiasm always stopped at the mention of cross-training exercises. I become defensive and even hostile whenever I see a yoga mat; I keep all personal trainers at least fifty meters away from me; And the only way to get me inside a fitness school is by disguising it as a restaurant.
Why? For no good reason other than my silly fixed mindset.
For organizations, the equivalent of mindset is culture. And most suffer from a fixed culture.
People often say that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Well, I think that is too modest. I say that culture is less picky. It eats everything for breakfast. Whether it is strategy or tactics, goals or metrics, principles or practices, it is impossible to introduce anything in an organization unless you can find a way for the culture not to reject it. That's why the primary function of leadership is to nurture the right culture.
It is possible, though.
For several months now I have been able to add, consistently and successfully, 20 squats, 20 lunges, and a 60-second plank to all my regular running sessions. No yoga mats, no personal trainers, and no fitness schools were harmed in this latest development. The only thing I did was to figure out the smallest change that would not trigger a retaliation of my mental defense system.
That's how I'm trying to manipulate my own mindset: nudging, in small steps. In fact, I would say that nudging myself in small steps is the new mindset.
Yesterday, I carefully added 10 push-ups.
Likewise, without nudging the organization's culture in small steps, your efforts to introduce anything are likely to fail. Maybe I should say this is the best organizational culture: minor changes, steadily building up, without triggering the backlash. Who knows? After a year or more of this, you could be running a peer-to-peer bonus system.
Check out my newest slide deck on SlideShare if you want to know how to grow a company culture with values and small nudges.
