When the Tide is Out – What does this reveal about your Culture?
When I was young I spent many a day on the beach at Flinders in Victoria. When the tide was out it revealed often 40-50 metres of beach that was usually covered at high tide. There were many things revealed at low tide from sea creatures like crabs and jellyfish to man-made materials such as plastic and rubbish. So, what if one day the tide went out even further beyond the end of the pier and stayed out – what would be revealed?
This unlikely event is what we are metaphorically experiencing in these strange and unusual times with the COVID-19 pandemic. For organisations when the tide is out and stays out, what has this revealed about your culture?
What has been buried and now exposed?
What are the hidden treasures you have found?
What foundations look strong or weak?
What rubbish has been emerged that was previously hidden below the surface that invariably damaged things on the surface?
What is now being observed and talked about?
How do we fix up what is now exposed and prepare for when the tide comes back in?
Each organisation is at a different starting point in developing their culture. Some organisations are already good and need some refining to be great. Others are toxic and need major re-engineering. Most are likely to be in between these extremes.
Culture change begins with having a clear vision and direction, alignment of leaders to its importance, a roadmap for change, a genuine interest in developing people and the resilience to stay the course.
Right now, the pressure is on. People more acutely feel and appreciate the gravity of getting it right as well as the weight of getting it wrong. How leaders act, how teammates collaborate, how individuals deliver accountabilities are all on show. We are all having both positive and negative experiences at such times. Most importantly, leaders and their teams need to demonstrate composure when the going gets tough.
Under this pressure, how would you describe your culture today? What behaviours do you see, and do those behavioural ‘moments’ help or hinder the ability of you and/or your group to perform at their best? These moments not only provide insights into how a group performs under pressure but will shape the history and mythologies that people will reference in the future. As we know, culture creates its roots from historical experiences. The question is what history do you want to create today for your tomorrow?
For those who get it right, culture becomes an enabler of significant organisational initiatives. Irrespective of where an organisation is in their journey, culture is not something they can do on the side. Instead, culture is formed and reformed by everything that is done in the business. Do not underestimate the impact of your culture and the required investment of time, effort, resources and money to make this work.
The question is how serious do you want to be about truly transforming your culture, especially when the tide is out?
Creating a culture in organisations is a unique challenge that all organisations face. In reality, a culture will create itself whether you like it or not. There is a way to reliably shape, shift and strengthen the culture of your organisation. Whether you want to unleash greater creativity and innovation, safeguard your reputation, deal with risks or attract and retain top talent by becoming a great place to work.
Unlocking the power of culture within your organisation will help ensure you fulfil your vision with less stress, greater composure, better outcomes and more enjoyment.
A key task in creating an effective culture development plan involves figuring out how to cause enough people to behave counter-culturally for long enough to establish and embed new norms within the right systems, structures and disciplines to ensure people don’t regress. Once people begin to truly believe the new way of working is a better way of working, changes in your organisation’s culture are here to stay and real momentum builds. This is happening right now as we have had to change our behaviours for a longer period of time than normal as the tide as stayed out.
For those organisations that remain committed, there comes a point in time when they get critical mass; a tipping point where enough people have picked up the new message and their behaviours begin to consistently reinforce the new way.
Don’t miss this opportunity whilst the tide is out.
Jeremy Nichols is founder of Composure a boutique consultancy specializing in culture and leadership and its impact on strategy. He is also author of the award-winning book The Power of Culture. Visit www.composure.com.au or call Jeremy on 0419548865.