Culture drives success (i.e., it’s all about the people.)
From Fast Company: Culture Creates Success.
From the post:
“I came to see in my time at IBM that ‘culture’ isn’t just one aspect of the game - it is the game.” — Lou Gerstner (1942- ) Former IBM CEO, credited with its turnaround
Last week, a colleague was venting some frustrations about a project at her company. She’d been working on a culture change initiative for 6 months and didn’t feel like she was getting much traction. When I asked her how much input she’d been getting from the executive team, she said very little. Then she started to defend them by saying they were too busy - until she caught herself. “I guess that’s the problem,” she smiled. “The executives being ‘too busy’ to focus on people issues is how we ended up in this situation in the first place.” - Bingo.
And, how many times have we all seen it? Companies think “culture” is one of the huggy-wuggy things those HR types keep pushing when, “Hey, we’ve got a business to run here!” Companies have cultures…intentional or unintentional…good or toxic. It’s our choice, as leaders, managers, and employees. And, if the people aren’t happy, the customers won’t be. (well, duh, Mary.)
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July 30th, 2005 at 8:33 am
The trick is somehow inspiring busy people to adopt a behavior change. Not an easy task. And I find that the more others try to effect that change, i.e. the more pressure is brought to bear, the more resistance is created. Time for some zen moments, create a vacuum and see who will fill it, rather than keep hounding people to “just do it.” I say this as I am experiencing my own frustrations, yet am taking your advice Mary (and my own!), shutting off the computer, and going outside for a swim. In New Mexico! I’d link to the club, but they actually took down their web site. Not sure why.