I’m lucky, in the sense that the leaders I work with are obviously very actively focused on culture (which is why they hire me as a consultant). But I don’t think that’s the norm. The majority of leaders do seem to think culture is important—they’re talking about it all the time—but I don’t see them taking a lot of action on it. Here’s my take on the major excuses that prevent leaders from doing what they need to do on culture.
Our culture isn’t that bad.
This is the lack of urgency excuse. They can see that they don’t have a toxic culture, so culture moves down the priority list, allowing them to focus on other issues that feel more pressing. This one doesn’t make sense to me, because your culture—even if it’s not toxic—is likely contributing to those other issues that feel more pressing. Being okay with “not that bad” is like being okay with wearing small weights on your ankles as you compete in a professional sport. No wonder your performance keeps coming up short.
We’re too busy.
This is the “too much on our plate” excuse. Of course, when did you ever NOT have a lot on your plate? This one also misunderstands culture change, assuming that it is a super heavy lift, when it’s not. Yes it’s work, but it is typically done in small bites. This excuse also ignores the fact that your culture touches everything you do in your organization. The next time you want to ignore culture because you have too much on your plate, remember that your culture IS the plate. Your culture is the environment within which all those other things get done, so if you really want to free up some time/attention, fix the culture and you’ll make everything else work more smoothly.
We have to focus on the bottom line
This is the business urgency excuse, and it applies equally to nonprofits as well as corporate—it’s about focusing on short-term priorities. We are so tuned into the short-term results of the business that we don’t want to distract ourselves with culture and culture change. Culture is not the only aspect of business health that suffers from this excuse (technology, professional development, strategic human capital, etc.), and like those other areas, the long-term damage done by ignoring culture in the short-term can be huge.
Culture is intangible.
This is the simple metrics excuse. We all have business metrics that are tangible and reveal simple relationships. If sales go down, profit goes down, so we watch that like a hawk. And we should, but we should also watch our turnover numbers, and start tracking our culture management efforts against that. Because turnover costs are real, and improving culture is a great way to reduce turnover. The metrics with culture are not simple relationships, but they are real and have a huge impact.
It’s time for a “no excuses” approach to culture. Build your capacity to actively manage culture. It’s easier than you think, and it pays huge dividends.