Cultural change is a fascinating topic, partly because it is remarkable how something so intangible can be so profoundly impactful in performance and wellbeing. Another reason why culture can be fascinating is in the differences between observable culture and what the organisation says about it's culture.
Congruity with stated culture in decision-making processes is crucial for organisations. Today we look at two seemingly paradoxical concepts—changing organisational culture by not changing it, and leveraging friction in decision-making.
The Paradox of Changing Culture by Not Changing It
Organisational culture is often described as the collective values, beliefs, and behaviours that shape how work gets done within an organisation. Traditional approaches to culture change involve top-down mandates, restructuring, and new policies. However during pandemic lockdowns, a growing body of research was forming to suggest that effective culture change can occur by working within the existing cultural framework rather than attempting to overhaul it completely.
Intuitively this makes sense because culture change means people change. If people are able to realign their values, reassess their beliefs and change their behaviours, then culture change will have been achieved.
1. Leveraging Existing Strengths
One of the key principles of changing culture without changing it is to leverage the existing strengths and positive aspects of the current culture. This approach involves identifying and amplifying the elements that already work well. For instance, if an organisation has a strong culture of collaboration, leaders can build on this by encouraging more cross-functional projects and recognising collaborative efforts.
2. Creating Movements, Not Mandates
Culture change is arguably more sustainable when it is 'descriptive' rather than 'prescriptive'. In other words when culture change emerges organically rather than being imposed from the top. This can be achieved by creating movements within the organisation. Leaders can reinforce positive culture by framing issues in ways that resonate with employees. They can inspire change by demonstrating quick wins, and leveraging social networks to spread messages of alignment between actions and values. A grassroots approach fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among employees.
3. Role Modelling and Symbolism
Leaders play a crucial role in shaping culture through their actions and behaviours. By consistently demonstrating the desired cultural attributes, leaders can influence the broader organisation. Symbolic actions, such as celebrating small victories and recognising behaviours that align with the desired culture, reinforce the desired outcomes.
In an office redesign in a NSW government IT department, senior leaders reinforced the flat organisational structure by removing offices and designated desks. All colleagues worked from activity-based spaces appropriate for the type of work being conducted, rather than space being allocated according to the rank of the person using it. Many more meeting rooms were added, as were personal lockers and a variety of private and collaborative work spaces. In addition, a competition was held for employees to name the meeting rooms. These actions signalled to employees that the change was genuine and a culture of flat hierarchy was truly valued.
The Role of Friction in Decision Making
Friction in decision-making refers to the deliberate introduction of obstacles or challenges to slow down the decision-making process. For more on this, see our article Trust, Vision, Values and Tension. While it may seem counterintuitive, friction can be a powerful tool for enhancing the quality of decisions and fostering a more thoughtful and inclusive decision-making culture.
1. Preventing Groupthink
Groupthink occurs when a group prioritises consensus over critical thinking leading to poor decision outcomes. Often the 'consensus' or prevailing opinion is driven by a minority of influential voices. Groupthink can prevail even when the majority seem confused about how cultural norms came to be, because it can be so embedded that questioning it leads nowhere.
However, introducing friction, such as encouraging dissenting opinions and fostering a culture of constructive debate, can help prevent groupthink. Through actively engaging in policies that enhance workplace diversity, organisations can access a variety of opinions, resulting in more robust, informed and innovative decisions.
2. Enhancing Deliberation
Friction can also enhance deliberation by forcing decision-makers to slow down and consider all aspects of a decision. This can be achieved through structured decision-making processes that require thorough analysis and evaluation of alternatives.
Tendencies towards agile implementations may have sped up decisions, but checks and balances need to be in place to ensure these fast decisions are valid. Techniques such as pre-mortem or risk analysis, where teams anticipate potential failures and plan accordingly, can highlight sensible mitigation strategies that then introduce productive friction into the decision-making process.
3. Balancing Speed and Quality
While speed is often valued in decision-making, it can sometimes come at the expense of quality. Introducing friction helps strike a balance between speed and quality by ensuring that decisions are not rushed. This can involve setting up checkpoints or review stages where decisions are revisited and scrutinised before final implementation.
Remember when gathering requirements used to be a process of Business Analysts making enquiry into what the business did, and how it performed in-scope processes? Now requirements gathering is just as likely to be a quick group discussion on what features the group prioritises to build next based on a range of factors, including the workload of the team. Arguably, this approach runs the risk of addressing what the group feels able to achieve in the timeframe rather than strict adherence to what the business 'needs'.
Integrating Culture and Friction in Change
The integration of these two concepts—changing culture by not changing it and leveraging friction in decision-making—can create a powerful synergy within organisations.
1. Aligning Cultural Strengths with Decision-Making Processes
Organisations can align their decision-making processes with their cultural strengths. For example, an Australian University values collaboration. Thus decision-making processes are designed to include input from diverse teams. This not only leverages the existing culture of academic robustness but also introduces friction by requiring consensus and thorough deliberation.
2. Encouraging Reflective Practices
Reflective practices, such as regular debriefs and lessons learned, can be institutionalised to introduce friction and enhance decision-making. In the same NSW government IT department mentioned above, post-implementation reviews were run as standard after each project, encouraging employees to reflect on their decisions, identify areas for improvement, and share insights with the broader team. This continuous learning loop reinforced the desired culture and improved decision quality throughout the entire department as each team learned from the others.
3. Building a Culture of Psychological Safety
Psychological safety, where employees feel safe to voice their opinions and take risks, is essential for both cultural change and effective decision-making. Leaders can foster psychological safety by encouraging open dialogue, valuing diverse perspectives, demonstrating vulnerability and meticulously maintaining congruence between stated organisational values and observable leadership behaviours. This enables an environment where introduced friction can be seen as a positive force for growth and innovation. For more on this, have a look at Risk in Change: Mitigation through Intelligent Failure.
4. Celebrating Incremental Change
Rather than aiming for sweeping changes, organisations can focus on incremental improvements that align with their cultural values. In the Sales and Marketing department of a well-known auto manufacturer, change is never broad-sweeping. All projects, business cases and proposals need to be arguable in a single page report. Recognising incremental progress was a forte at this company, and reinforced the desired culture of encouraging continuous improvement. Along with celebrating small wins, this approach reduced resistance to change and made the process of gaining stakeholder buy-in quite manageable.
Broad-sweeping cultural change is not the only option. The concepts of changing organisational culture by not changing it and leveraging friction in decision-making may seem paradoxical, but they offer valuable insights for creating a resilient and adaptive organisation, with low resistance. By working within the existing cultural framework and introducing appropriate friction into decision-making processes, organisations can curate elements of cultural change to speed up and slow down. In this way they can foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and inclusivity.
Leaders play a crucial role in this process by operating the speed up-slow down lever: modelling desired behaviours, encouraging reflective practices, and creating an environment of psychological safety. Ultimately, the integration of these concepts can lead to more thoughtful, informed, and effective decision-making, driving long-term success and sustainability.
Agencia Change delivers change differently. Individuals, leaders, teams and organisations go through successful transformations, empowered to effectively communicate and manage change. We participate in, and lead, transformations with experience, rapid delivery, convenience and value. Agencia Change is accessible, flexible and online. We'd love to hear about your change management challenges in a complementary briefing session.
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