As big companies aim to make big shifts in company culture … this is what I think is holding them back.
Nearly every C-Suite executive I have ever worked with had some sort of culture change objective. I can’t even count how many programs I have rolled out, promotional packages I have created, webcasts I have planned and tchotchkes I have distributed – all aimed at some big cultural shift.
And, in almost all cases, there was very little authentic, tangible change that took place. Then, before you knew it, another leader was appointed and we would start all over again. {big sigh}
Planning a sabbatical has given me two amazing gifts – heightened awareness of myself and, also, time and distance to reflect on my career to date in a more neutral and curious way.
And so over the last several months, as I have been following leaders on their quest to modernize and shift their company’s culture from top-down and bureaucratic to nimble and empowering, I have been thinking about my own professional journey – and others like me.
The Parallel Culture
We are Generation Xers who lean toward the noblest of millennial philosophies – freedom, flexibility, connectivity, diversity and social awareness.
Yet, we spent our entire careers being trained and managed by Baby Boomers – the generation that became wildly successful in the top-down, bureaucratic, competitive, power-play model focused largely on results at any cost.
Coming up through the ranks, a lot of us achieved tremendous executive success by learning how to straddle an “official” company culture that regularly evolved with the times … and a kind of parallel, hierarchical, power-play culture that seemed to stand still at the highest levels of organizations and fostered success.
This parallel culture looked something like this:
- Commitment, availability and loyalty at any personal cost
- Fear and Fall-in-Line (to anyone managerially “above” you)
- Power and Control (colleagues and teams managerially “below” you)
- Tolerance of behavior (from anyone managerially above you)
- Zero-mistake policy
Many of us have spent our careers beholden to bosses who helped us make it to the top and were comfortable with the way it used to be done – the parallel culture way. Unfortunately, many of us still are.
Reflecting on this paradigm, it is really no wonder that most of the company culture programs we rolled out didn’t work.
So, given these dynamics, is shifting from top-down and bureaucratic to nimble and empowering even possible for my generation of leaders?
While I am not a trained expert in organizational management, I do know a lot about making the decision to change, leaving the top-driven, bureaucratic model behind and finding the courage to embrace my millennial-leaning whole self at work.
The New Shift
Here are 5 observations from my own journey that I think companies should consider as they attempt to shift from the top-down, bureaucratic, power-play model to the innovative, nimble and empowering one … because, let’s face it, you can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do.
1. Become the #truth-teller
We need more truth-telling in companies. And I don’t mean the kind of truth that shows up in talking points and Q+A documents.
I am talking about genuine, right-brain, human truth. Humans will not change if they think you are holding back or if what you are saying in words doesn’t match the actual experience.
This is where truth-telling comes in. If there was a parallel culture in the past that has to be dissolved, say it. If there were dysfunctional values and behaviors tolerated, own it. If you are a leader who, on the rise to the top, tolerated things you shouldn’t have, admit it. If the new culture is going to be the only metric of professional success, emphasize it.
Truth has an energy to it – it requires courage, it is powerful and it leads to freedom and change.
2. Change what makes humans successful at work
It’s pretty simple, but rarely executed. Humans at work will pretty much do whatever will make them successful. Full stop.
I never intended to operate in these top-down, bureaucratic type of parallel cultures – mostly because it’s not who I naturally am. But over the last 30 years, it really was one of the most common and predictable ways to achieve executive success and that’s what I wanted to achieve at the time. So, I acquiesced.
Change the success metric and you will see a shift.
3. Nurture an “awake,” self-aware employee base and culture
When we aim to change a company culture, we are not asking humans to change a step in a process or create a to-do list and check off items.
We are asking them to wake up to themselves and then make significant behavioral changes that are often intertwined with ego and ambition and emotions like fear and anger.
This is incredibly complex work. I know because I have done it.
That’s why I do believe a drive toward embracing right-brain, personal self-awareness opportunities at work is a win-win.
You many not think it’s a company’s responsibility to help humans wake up and become more self-aware, but if you want real culture change, it certainly is in my opinion.
4. Embrace mindfulness and the mind, body and spirit / whole person connection
I hear of a big push from companies encouraging humans to bring their whole selves to work in an effort to shift culture and enhance life-work balance.
Newsflash – some of the most grounded, self-aware, whole, change- and freedom-loving humans are working for you and are in hiding. Why? Because of the social stigma attached to practices like mindfulness, meditation, intuition, yoga and the healing arts … all of which actually lead to self-awareness, wholeness and change.
The supporters of the top-down, bureaucratic power-play model DO.NOT.LIKE self-awareness, independent thinking and life-work balance!
You want change? Provide a safe, successful environment for these highly self-aware humans to come out of hiding and get on-board!
5. Make the EXPERIENCE more powerful than the messaging.
Culture change isn’t about consistent messaging, it’s about consistent experiencing.
Trust me, no amount of words in a brochure, talking points for a webcast or fun tchotchkes are going to change a culture.
What I do see is a great opportunity for courageous leaders to create right-brain experiences at work that act as a catalyst for cultural change.
You want to be a catalyst for real change one human at a time? Be a leader who encourages humans to become more self-aware and then give them the space to do it at work. Encourage meditation, going for a walk, doing yoga, sitting in a park, hugging a tree – doing whatever it takes while at work to feel more grounded and more aware of how they are showing up in meetings, on business trips, with customers or in the boardroom. Awareness connects humans with the deepest parts of themselves and this leads to change.
You want innovation? Be a leader that endorses quiet rooms and free time at work. I can say with certainty that most innovation does not result from 8-hour meetings in windowless rooms with endless PPT slides and no breaks. Give humans sacred retreat areas for rest and rejuvenation (that are not designed by architects but by those humans in hiding I mentioned above) and I can pretty much guarantee you will open up a whole new flow of innovation.
You want empowerment? Be a leader that trusts your employees are doing their j-o-b whether you can see them physically doing it or not. If you want their whole selves to show up at work, take away the social stigma and judgment that exists around paths to self-awareness, mindfulness and life-work balance. Support an environment where an executive can lead meditation or yoga classes at work and still have professional credibility.
You want to be the best human you can be in a leadership role? Be a leader that provides humans with sabbaticals and device-free, guilt-free and consequence-free time off to reflect and rejuvenate.
Well, now, that would be amazing. And, that’s a company I would change for.
PS – I love working with leaders who want to wake up (themselves and others) to make real change. Please join me, the world needs the whole, awake you!