Would any of the following activities impact your corporate culture?
- From now on, anyone hired in the HR department has to be a licensed attorney
- From now on, no one in the company receives a bonus unless sales targets are met
- From now on, promotions are only given to those who have reported wrongdoing in the last 12 months
Answer: Yes, clearly.
How about these activities?
- We will acquire a competitor
- We will open our first international office
- We will reach new markets by using sales intermediaries
Surprisingly, many business leaders will not contemplate the effect of these activities on their corporate culture.
Now, how about these activities?
- Setting the budget
- Implementing a new ERP system
- Outsourcing the manufacturing of a key component
Getting more nebulous, right?
Yet, everything we do impacts the culture. Culture is an outcome of our processes, of how things are really done.
So the next time you set about to make any change in your organization, know that it will impact the culture in some way.
It always does.
HT to Rich Bohan
The Ethical Leader 