Out of the Crisis.Org

[Louis Altazan]

I think every business has it’s own unique culture, an unofficial hierarchy of power and “the way things are done.” To those that are part of the culture, this may be largely invisible and not thought much of. Like many things, the culture of a business can also be health or unhealthy with regard to the business. The normal nature of people is to establish hierarchies. In a healthy culture this may be based on ability or knowledge of the operation of the business. Some people have more natural leadership and others tend to follow their lead.

In less healthy cultures, the passive members tend to be nearer the bottom and more aggressive members nearer the top. This is with little regard to ability. This can be unfortunate as an aggressive nature does not automatically make a person a “leader for good.” The result is often an unpleasant place to work, loss production and a restriction on growth. A great deal of energy may be wasted “defending turf” and playing politics. Change comes very hard in such a culture.

The culture of an organization is often revealed when it is disrupted. One example might be trying to implement improvement. In a healthy culture, people will listen to the concept and discuss questions they have with it. If they do not feel it will work, they will voice this along with their reasons. Discussion may be lengthy but will always be civil. In the end, logic will prevail and given proper explanation people will accept the concept or at least agree to give it a fair trial.

In an unhealthy culture people will generally go along with what the “boss” pushes. This is while the boss is present. As soon as the boss is no longer present the “leaders” circle the wagons and start working against the change. This is not necessarily in a physical sense. It may only be passive resistance. Remarks about the program, defiance of new policy or less apparent “shows of power.” In the end only what is measured gets done and only in the minimum amount necessary.

With such a culture every change may be evaluated, not for it’s benefit to the company as a whole, rather only in terms of personal gain. Benefit can be defined in a varied number of ways. To some, control of information may be a personal benefit. The person with the information may feel empowered. Everyone would do better if information flowed freely, but this can also be seen as a loss of power. This does not only apply to employees. Many managers hold onto information, having their staff come to them for every decision.

The key to implementing change is recognizing the type of culture that exist. Realizing there will be concerns among the staff. Most unhealthy behavior stems from a lack of effective leadership and fear. People who are afraid seldom welcome change. A leader works to remove fear. First by not allowing themself to ever use it. Second by apologizing for it’s use in the past and making effective changes to prevent it in the future. They do not threaten and they communicate their message. Changes are explained in terms of how they will effect individual jobs and what safeguards are in place. There is an equal flow of information back to the manager, concerning problems.

Rather than opposing the “unofficial leaders,” a manager enlist their help. This is greatly aided by involving them in the decisions and providing them key roles where possible. A leader works with the culture of the company. Realizing people will always seek easier ways to do things, the leader finds ways to make it easier to do things right than to do them wrong. Lastly comes celebration of successes and having fun. If improvement is to be successful, it must be fun, not a drudgery. Sharing the tools, knowledge and gains of improvement should become the new culture.

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Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA