Don’t Ignore Culture When Leading Change
Stagnation and inertia are two of the problems that can plague change efforts. In his book, A Sense of Urgency, Harvard professor John Kotter suggests that bringing people in from the outside can help. While Kotter is generally talking about bringing in the outside in the form of perspectives from customers, consultants and experts, he also mentions that it can be helpful to import new hires.
While I agree with Kotter, I do want to offer a word of caution about this approach. Leaders who come into an organization and attempt to implement change without understanding the new company’s culture are likely to create more problems and pain.
I recently consulted with a company with a legacy of having a very strong “people” culture. This particular company has brought in new executives from other industries that have more a “profit” focus. The new executives are doing their jobs by bringing in best practices and attempting to implement new systems and procedures. The problem is that the way some are going about it is ineffective.
When managers are used to being involved in decision-making, the worst thing a new leader from the outside can do is institute new programs, policies, and procedures without involving and engaging other leaders. Yes, it may be true that the change is a) needed and b) an improvement. But none of that matters if the change is resisted and if the new leader develops a reputation for steamrolling over anyone with questions or concerns.
In his seminal book, Communicating for Change, Roger D’Aprix writes, “Because corporate culture is an undeniable influence on what works in a given organizational environment, your task is to pick and choose those practices that are most likely to succeed in your own organization.”
In other words, you may have been hired to bring changes to your new company, but the way you go about making those changes has got to take the culture into account!
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