(Excerpt from my upcoming book “Taming the Dragon: Transforming Culture for Success”)
“These are deep waters, Watson, deep waters. And I have to go deeper still” – Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
In my engagement with organisations over the last few years, I have realised that organisations are a lonely lot. Nobody talks to them!
Imagine for a moment that you are having a conversation with a person. As the conversation starts, you notice that this person is talking to the little finger of your left hand. After a few minutes he shifts his attention to your right ear. So the conversation continues but somehow he is not talking to you as a whole.
The same is the problem with Leaders and external consultants. Usually, they focus on specific areas to solve and find solutions and strategies for the same. Of course, its important to focus on specific areas to solve problems, but sometimes, the leaders or experts should talk to the organisation as a whole, and get the ‘big picture’ of what is going on.
One way to accept this perspective is to realise that after we have counted all the employees (say number N) of an organisation, there is a N+1 employee, who is the whole organisation itself.
This ‘person’ for want of a better word, has all the characteristics of a human being. He (or she) has a gender (is masculine or feminine), has emotions, habits, ways of engaging with clients, vendors and other ‘outsiders’, idiosyncrasies, addictions, likes and dislikes, competencies and beliefs.
The sum total of all these areas is the Culture of this ‘person’.
Take a step back and look at your organisation (or for that matter, your family, any social group or society) with this perspective and slowly you will see the ‘personality’ emerging.
Is the organisation fearful, addictive to work, pushy, profit oriented? Or generous, happy, laid back, altruistic? Is it a nerd, who is focussed on technical brilliance without bothering to build relationships with clients and vendors? Or is it a gregarious social person, more focussed on relationships to get business, without bothering to develop quality products?
Is your family a disciplined, ‘focus on work’ person, who has less place for humour and fun? Or is your family a relaxed, self indulgent person who enjoys good food, not inclined to physical fitness and gets along with just enough hard work?
Let’s look at some famous brands and sense the ‘person’ behind them.
McDonalds: A highly efficient, smiling, professional person who delivers good value at low cost. He (yes, seems to have masculine traits) does not pamper or indulge you and is a bit of a hustler, encouraging you to have your meal and move on.
Apple: A technically brilliant guy who develops amazing products, a bit arrogant about his capabilities and loves to innovate. Does not bother too much about your feedback and decides what is best for you. Take it if you like it! Seems to have this ‘zen’ like approach to marketing, wanting you to enjoy the process of buying the product. He is health conscious and may be trying innovative ways to be fit, instead of the usual ‘jog in the morning’
Microsoft: This mature old man, tough and competitive, who keeps a tight hold on his territory, pushing back competition or buying them out, bringing in consistent quality and efficiency, knows his strengths, disciplined and stays on course. Most probably health conscious and goes for jogs early in the morning.
Virgin: This fun, gregarious guy who maintains great relationships with people, collaborates, builds on competencies of others, and finds a way to deliver good products to people. Highly risk taking and enjoys the thrill. Parties hard on weekends.
My experience has taught me that unless a leader or a Culture Coach does not ‘engage’ with the Organisation as a whole ‘person’, one can never get a full understanding of the organisation’s culture.
What is the ‘language’ of organisations? They talk to us in multiple ways. Everything from the office layout, the dressing norms, the way people talk to each other, work stations, adherence to deadlines, how decisions are taken, conflicts are managed, rituals, group lunches, social gatherings, hierarchy, espoused values and so on.
The leader cannot miss anything, because they all add up to tell the whole story.
As Sherlock Holmes famously said in one of his stories “Watson, you look but you do not observe!’… the clues are right there in front of us, but we miss them.
As the clues drop off from our awareness, only a partial picture comes up in our mind, and we end up grappling with our understanding of the organisation’s culture.
The first step to understanding the culture and deciding on what has to be changed, is to truly talk to the organisational ‘persona’ and try to understand what drives the organisation, its habits, likes/dislikes, behaviour, priorities and beliefs.
The organisation is eager to share all the information and waiting for someone who is willing to listen to the whole story.
Key areas for ‘listening’ to the organisation:
a. What are the physical aspects like the office layout, dress sense, colors, cleanliness, noise, office timings, late working?
b. How are people engaging with each other, smiling, interacting, physical touch, distance, duration of conversation.
c. How are they taking decisions, managing conflicts, fighting with each other, making amends,
d. What is the language they are using, technical, slang, formal?
e. How to people behave in front of their boss or authority figures?
f. What do they believe in, what is right or wrong, reward/punishment, good and bad, acceptable/not acceptable, secret to success/causes for failure etc
g. How is it perceived by clients and vendors
As the leader dwells on and understands these areas, slowly a clear understanding of the Culture and challenges will start surfacing.
Lastly, I would refrain from slotting Organisations into predefined ‘personalities’. I would say that just the way each human being is a unique person, the same way each organisation is a unique ‘personality’. He (or she) is surviving in a specific environment, competing with others, managing internal conflicts, building strengths and having his own core values.
Post a comment