Culture and habits

As an individual, I have found that it is easier to pick up a new habit than it is to drop an existing one.

I have also found that it is easier to abandon a bad habit when I replace it with a good one. Not an unrelated good habit but one that goes in the opposite direction.

It seems that the same must be true with corporate cultures. After all, culture is simply an outcome of our processes, of “how we really do things around here.” In other words, culture is an outcome of our habits.

I have suggested before that if we don’t like an aspect of our culture, we need to change the process associated with it. But change it how? By eliminating it? Perhaps. By adopting an unrelated process? Unlikely. My intuition tells me that the best way to replace a bad process is by adopting an opposite one.

I intend on testing this theory at my next opportunity. In the meantime, I would love to read your thoughts about this idea in the comment section below. Thank you.