Peter Drucker famously wrote that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. It’s become something of a cliché because, frankly, it’s true! Whatever great plans we think we’re hatching to improve the organisation, its culture will make (or break) our prospects of success!
Culture acts as a lens or filter, determining what actually happens and how people behave. Every organisation has its own unique set of cultural norms about what is expected, tolerated, celebrated, or frowned-upon, and it’s essential that we take these into account when designing and delivering change initiatives.
In this post, I’ll examine how business analysis professionals can explore the culture of an organisation and use this insight to shape change initiatives and how they are delivered for more successful outcomes.
What is an organisation’s culture?
There are many different ways of defining what is meant by “culture”. Geert Hofstedter’s theory of cultural dimensions provides some helpful aspects to consider:
- Whose wishes and needs take precedence – those of the individual, or those of the wider group?
- Whether assertiveness (or even aggression) is preferred over harmonious relationships and consideration for others.
- Are ambiguity and uncertainty accepted, or are rules, order, certainty, and clarity sought?
- Whether power is dispersed or centralised, and whether people accept that power or privilege may be distributed unequally.
- Whether short-term or long-term thinking dominate.
These angles are often used to discuss national cultures, but they can readily be applied to industries and organisations – or even groups or teams within an organisation.
When I start working with a new client, I’ll be looking for signs that tell me what their culture is like. In particular, I want to understand what people regard as “normal”, and what behaviours and outcomes are rewarded or discouraged.
An organisation’s culture is typically unwritten; while a company may have grand statements about its values pasted across its website or documented in various policies, the reality “on the ground” can often be quite different. Cultural norms and expectations are often tacit or intangible, with people behaving in certain ways without necessarily being able to articulate why.
It’s worth noting that cultures can be a bit like clouds – they look solid from a distance, but are actually porous and ethereal, with blurred boundaries. Organisations typically have countless sub-cultures, and there’ll always be people who don’t adhere to (or may even chafe against) cultural norms.
Why should we care about culture?
Understanding an organisations culture is crucial to delivering business change successfully. Cultural insights help me shape how I approach my business analysis work, and inform what changes I recommend pursuing. Failing to address cultural expectations can lead to missed opportunities or delivery of change initiatives that totally miss the mark. And there are plenty of things that can go wrong!
If a change (such as a new system or process) isn’t aligned with the organisation’s culture, you might find people quickly returning to old ways of working – meaning the time, resources, and effort spent designing and implementing the change were wasted!
Cultural missteps can make it harder to implement changes. Not understanding how people expect to communicate – in terms of detail, frequency, channel, or tone – can quickly put noses out of joint. People can stop engaging, or become deliberately obstructive or confrontational. I’ve seen relationships turn frosty, people taking issue with every minor detail, and people failing to turn up for meetings or read key documents.
Changes to normal power or group dynamics, such as incentivising individuals, or introducing approval steps, can rapidly turn things sour.
When an organisation’s culture is well understood, solutions can be tailored to align with the culture. The change cycle itself becomes much easier, as those affected or involved will feel more comfortable that their worldview and ways of working are being accommodated.
How can we understand cultures in organisations?
Getting a handle on a new client’s culture is one of the toughest parts of my work as a consultant business analyst. While industries do have broad cultural trends (and the legal sector in which I do most of my work is a great example), I see huge differences between client organisations.
Conversations are a rich vein of cultural clues, and the more of them you have, the more clues you’ll uncover! People will often focus on perspectives that are really important to them. Asking about a process will reveal whether people are concerned with data and accuracy, or a customer’s experience, or getting things done quickly. In addition to explicit information, there may be clues in the things they’re not saying, or in their body language. Even the preliminary work to set up a meeting can provide hints about culture – how responsive are people? How formal is their language? Is an agenda demanded? How many people get dragged in?
Exploring what’s happened in the past can be very useful. Try and find out what happened in similar situations in the past. Is there a pattern – for example, where every system implementation has crashed and burned when it hit User Acceptance Testing?
The organisation may have written statements about its culture and the values it promotes. Look at the website, or policy documents, or press releases. Does the organisation say different things to different audiences (e.g. internally vs externally)? Are these values reflected in what you’re seeing and hearing in your interactions with people?
A great indicator of cultural values in an organisation is the reward structure! Try and find out what leads to tangible rewards for people. This could include bonus schemes, promotions, or awards. Look for performance measures, objectives, and reward ceremonies or cycles.
Intangible or ad hoc rewards such as verbal praise are also worth exploring. Who gets praised, and what for? Does the organisation value heroes that save the day at the last minute, or careful planners that applied a dozen controls to ensure success?
Look out for who is leading or shaping the culture, and who is acting as its guardian to reinforce things. While managers and executives may like to think they’re defining the norms, others elsewhere in the organisation (or even outside it!) may be driving behaviours. Compare the cultural messaging at leadership level with what you’re seeing and hearing “at the coalface”.
Cultures can be exclusionary, leaving some individuals outside or behind. Other individuals may be consciously bucking trends. Identifying these people and exploring their perspectives can tell you as much about a culture as talking to those “inside”.
While we’re often concerned with the culture in the domain being changed, it’s also worth taking time to understand the culture in the team implementing the change. This can include project managers, product owners, business analysts, sponsors, developers, and testers. Many organisations have formal change processes “on paper”, but the culture of change teams can mean that what happens in practice looks somewhat different! Understanding the cultural norms here can help you align your approach to play to the team’s strengths and sidestep potential pitfalls or blockers.
When exploring and analysing the culture of an organisation, it’s important not to make assumptions based on limited evidence. Be sure not to stereotype or pre-judge. Aim for a rounded view, borne out by examples, and be prepared to keep refining your understanding. This isn’t a “once-and-done” exercise!
How can we apply insights about culture to unlock success?
Getting a good handle on the organisation’s culture improves both how you go about delivering changes, and the choices made about what changes to pursue.
Culture should always be considered when analysing or developing business strategy. A SWOT analysis can be really handy for examining how best to play to the organisation’s cultural strengths while addressing or avoiding potential weaknesses. Note that “strengths” and “weaknesses” here depend very much on the context of a particular change!
Consider addressing cultural issues explicitly in the formulation of project objectives or in how project benefits are described and advertised. Where a project’s aims align with the business culture, it’s worth highlighting this; the project is more likely to be successful, and easier to deliver! Where there’s a mismatch, think about how this can be addressed directly.
The scope of the project may need to be adjusted in light of what we discover about the organisation’s culture. Perhaps the change needs to be less ambitious to begin with, or needs to include particular features that will address a cultural concern or behaviour pattern. Think about whether specific tasks should be included in the project plan around communication or support to address cultural points, or if cultural issues may need to be addressed in delivery prioritisation.
Ensure any cultural risks are flagged to the change sponsor and project manager so mitigation strategies can be formulated and deployed.
I like to consider what business analysis techniques are likely to work well with the organisation’s culture. While I do love a lively and creative workshop with a bit of gamification thrown in, that might not go down well with a client company that values formality or seriousness. It’s also useful to think about how your own personality or work habits align or conflict with cultural norms. Ask yourself if you need to do things differently to help smooth things along?
Changing the organisation’s culture may be an explicit goal of a change initiative, or fundamental to achieving its aims. Doing this needs great leadership, with clear expectations and consistency of messaging. I have seen plenty of change initiatives fail in law firms where Partners failed themselves to adhere to new ways of working they expected their lawyers to follow! And at least once I’ve discovered senior leaders had bonuses rewarding the opposite behaviour of what a project was trying to achieve!
In conclusion
Organisational culture is a huge a topic, and I’ve barely scratched the surface here!
Trying to understand all the cultural nuances in a particular organisation is never going to be feasible, particularly if you’re not part of the organisation yourself. Instead, it’s useful to develop a habit of looking for clues about cultural norms and expectations at the outset of any change initiative, and apply conscious effort to ensure the scope of any change, and the approach to delivery, both take the organisation’s culture into account.
Understanding what will align with the business culture and where conflicts might arise is key to successful change.