An old French proverb states, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Simply reorganizing, or copying best practices, or putting in place new processes, or declaring new strategies with new visions and values, or urging people to relate, communicate, and act differently, usually does not produce lasting nor profound change because it is all imposed on the existing, embedded culture. The cause of many failed initiatives is culture.
Culture is elusive, much like air to the bird and water to the fish. Although unseen, it influences every aspect of corporate performance. A culture consists of the network of shared ideas, beliefs, taken-for-granted assumptions, and practices of an organization. It is what allows or disallows things to happen. It influences strategies, plans, and goals. It shapes the development of people. It makes an organization effective in certain ways and ineffective in others.
Culture circumscribes what is possible and not possible for an organization to achieve. Its influence is decisive. What you may find yourself fighting against when you go to implement a strategy, or realize an objective, or resolve a problem, is the undistinguished, pervasive culture.
Because of its ubiquitous effect on all aspects of corporate life, until a culture is clearly identified and made conscious—including what it allows and disallows, and what is possible or impossible regarding the future—until all this is seen and distinguished, you cannot transcend it or transform it.
Crossroads offers an incisive, to-the-point method of identifying the legacy culture and inventing a new one that allows and supports the goals and future that you want.