Is that a culture in the petri dish?

Now that you've secured support from C-Level management you may feel lighter than a hot air balloon rising over a early morning sun on the Serengheti. Of course you do! That was the easy part and often mistaken as a sure fire ticket to success. Enter at your own risk as you are about to face the biggest challenge of them all... The Corporate Culture!!!

It is the corporate culture that has been breeding untended for possibly decades. If it is a positive "can do" or "let's try" culture you may have a good chance of smooth sailing. Ironically enough a predominate experience is that many organizational cultures have undergone a mutation resulting in a working force that doesn't trust management or coworkers, and is rife with politics. I say ironically because, after all, don't you all work for the same company? Don't you share the same goals and objectives?

In line with our comments that suggested senior management support would enhance your chance of success: If you are in a situation where the culture has grown around empire building, mistrust and contention, where the individuals desire for control and political maneuvering inhibits positive evolution you will not, let me repeat, you will not succeed.

How the organizations culture got to be this way may be an interesting intellectual endeavor, suffice it to say that it didn't just happen on it's own. More often than not the behavior of the organization is a reflection of the behavior of it's senior management and that could mean you as well (yes, we are pointing directly at you). Does "monkey see, monkey do" ring a bell? From a practical perspective it makes sense to become a change agent and start at the senior leaders and aim to adjust their thinking and practice to dramatically and significantly improve the odds of success.

The bigger and broader the changes you need to make for your business process improvement goals, the more important it is to focus on the organizations learning and growth potential. You will, should and better make it a point to focus on the individuals who will be doing the real work day after day with the changes before moving on to any implementation. Enlist your HR group to help in programs that affect an open and caring relationship with the entire organization. If you already have a communicative, collaborative and considerate culture that are all aimed in the right direction, count your lucky stars. However, most companies should consider addressing the culture issue as it stands to use some work... especially in todays environment.

There are numerous tome's written on the subject of being a positive change agent and one approach in particular is worth noting: Lift - Becoming a Positive Force in Any Situation is a insightful, thought provoking and practical perspective on positive influence that may be worth your time, and better enable you as a change agent.