The Invisible --- What is Culture?
“Culture - the final frontiers.. to seek out new life, and new civilizations..” When I started out as a young consultant, “Culture” was the “C-word” in the world of business consulting. It ranged right after “Change” the other “C-word, and back in these dark ages, only very reckless - or funny - people got to use these words.
Today this is different. “Culture” is a genuine buzz word in the organizational space. But what is Culture, really? and Why do you need to know your company culture?
Up to 90% of the components of any culture are invisible
Culture can mean literature, heroes, monuments, cathedrals, movies, music and more. Yet, this visible evidence of culture only represents 10%. Up to 90% of the components of any culture are invisible, for example assumptions, values and beliefs. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall set up this foundational “Iceberg Model” in the 70ies (Beyond Culture, 1976), and it is proving more than valuable in today’s age of ever accelerating change.
As Change Management practitioners, we know that the mindsets, coping mechanisms and reactions to the uncertainties of change are mostly located “under the water line” of the iceberg of organizational culture. Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner, in her book Launch Lead Live: The executive's guide to preventing resistance and succeeding with organizational change describes this as “the Whitespace”.
Simultaneously, - then - thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, I published several talks and articles on “Managing the Invisible”, and the parallel development of our insights, coming to the same conclusions from different backgrounds, has led me to working with Dr. Turner and her team today, a collaboration that will be productive and bring considerable value to the tables of our clients.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast (attributed to Peter Drucker)
Strategic decisions towards Innovation, Agile Transformation, implementing confident and competent positioning in today’s complex markets - all of these require knowing the current-state of your organizational culture and establishing a future-state vision.