The Culture Rule Book in your HEAD!

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What it’s About: Everyone of us, whether we think about it or not, has a culture rule book in our head. This is a great insight from respected academic and consultant, Roger Martin. The following is an edited excerpt from his latest book: A New Way to Think, and the chapter on culture.

“So, what is culture—and why is it so persistent and limiting to strategy?

There are as many definitions of culture as there are for strategy, but I think of it primarily as a book of rules residing in the minds of employees that guides how they interpret situations and decisions. Culture is what helps people understand…,’how things get done around here,’ ‘what I should do in this situation,’ and ‘who must I pay attention to.’ The rules making up the culture are developed by each person’s observations of how people around them react to and explain situations and decisions, particularly those involving extreme outcomes with significant impact for the people involved, even if such decisions or events are unusual…

A culture is weak or diffuse if the rule books vary across people—so that employees’ interpretations of a given situation or decision are heterogeneous. Cultures are powerful when the people all have a very similar rule book and consequently interpret and react to the same decision or situation in the same way”

So What?: I remember a leader imploring his 3,000 plus retail bankers, with his full support, to break the rules if it was necessary and reasonable for a customer. The rule book for a major retail branch, in this case, was over 600 pages long. Even with this full “green light” top executive support, employees found it difficult to do so. The historic rules of retail banking were ingrained in their heads, and hence even more powerful than any edict from the top.

And that’s why culture work is hard. If you have a weak culture, diffusing the mental rule book in the head of every employee is a massive undertaking. If you have a strong culture, and want to change a mindset, it is also a daunting process because those rules are often deeply chiseled in.

And somewhat unexpectedly, we often underestimate how historic culture rules seem to be embedded in the walls, well soaked in after years of silently watching how things get really done. Simply changing a leader at the top is usually too simplistic. Stories and the metaphorical paint on the walls will outlast leaders.

Now What?: Martin believes that lasting culture change is micro behavior driven, and will only change by altering how individuals work with each other. He makes a very strong argument. My personal experience is that this starts with the way the top team in the organization works together daily.

Altering formal structure as a solution to culture change is often accompanied by the cynical sneers of employees that many of us have heard as, “they’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.” Why?

As Martin points out, the micro behavior changes happen at an interpersonal level. As an example, if leaders seek and value more self-accountable and collaborative behavior, that has to be improved in every interaction. The mental rule books of leaders need to change to embrace that new desired way of working. The good news is that organizations can learn quite quickly when they visibly see and experience a change in the ways leaders model desired ways of working. The tough news is that too often leaders don’t want to do the hard work, and hope an edict from top will work. It doesn’t.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: I’d have to imagine that a 600 page culture rule book is akin to the Terms and Conditions on an Apple account. NO ONE reads it, you skip down to “I agree,” and keep things moving. So, that culture rule book in your head, ditch it, and replace it with real time, case-by-case communication. If we’re seriously blaming the walls for harboring the poltergeists of rule book past, and letting that affect our current decision making, then we have to metaphorically perform an exorcism. It’s true though, leaders don’t want to do the hard editing process of making changes. However, the present is what matters, the rule book has fresh ink, and can always be re-written. First, you have to erase the word “lazy.”

- Garrett

One Gen Z View: I think that a rule book needs to be edited as the world adapts and changes to fit properly. I think as people, once the rule book is modified to help in the current environment, then we can do what we need to, as best as we can.

- Logan

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis.

The Culture Rule Book in your HEAD!

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