Organisations are like families. They have their norms and their eccentricities. When you go into a home, you immediately get a sense you of who lives there and even of how they live, from the lay out, the colours, smells and general ‘feel of the place’. This is the same for organisations. It is what we call organisational culture.
I have been consulting for 17 years, dropping into different organisational cultures along the way, being asked to make sense of them and offer something of value as I go. It still intrigues me how cultures form and stick, and the power they have. I think they are one of the most powerful forces in an organisation and go way beyond the individuals that move in and out of positions within them.
I have had many a ‘gig’ over my 17 years of consulting where I have been asked to lead, design and contribute to a culture change initiative of some kind. And while I would like to think I have had an impact, I am under no illusion about how binding culture is. I mean, if we return to the family analogy, how feasible is it to change a family culture?
And then Covid came along and started busting its way through cultural blockers: slow decision makers started to pick up pace; power structures started to crumble and digitalisation to take flight; remote working replaced presenteeism over night; more of the workforce started mucking in and playing their part; identity and purpose strengthened and solidified. Maybe a global pandemic is simply the true definition of a “burning platform”. Maybe this will prove to be expedient, temporary and short-lived. Maybe we can bottle it and reconjure it in the future. Or maybe we just need to enjoy seeing the blocks being busted ‘real time’ and remember what is possible when they re-emerge.