Did you hear yourself mention “we need to work with the culture” at the last management meeting you were attending? If so, I hope that the people around the table responded with more that just a “yeah, agree”.

Lets agree on one thing - cultural change is not for kids. It is a huge investment in time, tenacity, and sometimes money but most importantly the biggest success factor is persistence. Persistence because time matters. I have seen way to many cultural change processes capsize due to the duration of the process.

But when you think of it, it is not that difficult to understand why it takes time. Organisational culture builds up from the second you are more than one in the room. That moment when you decide - or do not decide - on how we meet, how we present, how we dress, how we talk, the level of jokes allowed, who is in charge of what etc. The list is as long as you have the fantasy to write it. And then think of organisational changes in organisations that are more than a couple of years old, or old corporates that has been around for centuries. It is not impossible but it calls for a really tough decision that need support from all level in the organisation. But mostly it calls for an agreement of including the cultural discussion as an element whenever we embark on a new strategy, changes in the customer segment, recruitments of leaders or employees and all other activities we do. Keep focus all the time - even when you are so bored with the phenomenon or think “we must be through it by now”. You are not. It is when you think you are there, when it starts to look like you are there, that the tenacity starts to matter. Stay true to your decision about making the change. And continue to visit the commitments and the ambition regularly when you start to see the change in the organisation.

And if you need any inspiration or help - just reach out

BR Laila ;O)