Aug 3, 2018
When saying “it’s about the culture” means “we’re not going to do anything about it”
Of course culture is absolutely crucial
I recently took part in a round table discussion about an aspect of central government / local government policy. Many very experienced and smart people were in the room. They shared their experiences, what they had learned, what they were concerned about.
“Of course, culture is absolutely crucial”
Someone would say periodically, causing a ripple of nodding heads and muttered agreements.
This is pretty common in the public sector. Talk about how we can become better at using data, or more customer focused, or avoid Section 114 and everyone will agree that culture is absolutely crucial.
This is not reassuring
I used to find this reassuring. After all The Satori Lab is focused on helping public services with culture change.
I am no longer as reassured as I used to be. Increasingly I find that when people say culture is absolutely crucial, what they are really saying is culture is too hard to think about.
And that’s a problem.
Because culture is absolutely crucial. It’s slippery though, and addressing it requires concerted effort over a protracted period.
What does Schein say?
I’m not alone. In his classic Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein (grandee of organisational culture work) says:
“When someone asks me to help him or her with a culture change programme my most important initial question is ‘What do you mean. Can you explain your goals without using the word culture?’”
What do you mean?
Next time you find yourself nodding along with someone who has just said:
“Of course culture is absolutely crucial”
Ask them:
“What do you mean?
A useful way to think about culture is that it is the way that most people round here think is the normal way to behave.
When we say “of course culture is absolutely crucial” the subtext is that we want people to start behaving differently. Which they won’t, unless something happens to change their view about what is the normal way to behave.
So you can helpfully ask a supplementary question.
Who do we need to change their behaviours. And how do we need them to behave in the future?
Now you’re on your way to stating an achievable and understandable goal.
And the final, useful, supplementary question you can ask is
What makes it normal for people to behave the way they currently do?
Go change behaviour
And now we’ve broken down the vague, and intimidatingly large problem of “culture is absolutely crucial”. Into a slightly less intimidating “these people who currently do this, will need to do that”.
And now you have something you can get to work on. And get to work you should because culture really is absolutely crucial.
Thanks for reading.
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I work at The Satori Lab.
