Organizational Culture

Have you ever been in a situation where everyone seemingly agrees on a particular strategy, but somehow it never happens?

Companies, like 3M and Google, that allow employees to carve off a certain percentage of their paid time for innovation are rare. Most other firms want their people to stay focused on today's business -- and only work on innovation in their spare time.

There's no doubt that hierarchies can be dysfunctional and make it difficult to get things done. You would think the key to a healthy hierarchy is a well-drawn organization chart, but it has more to do with company culture and behaviors.

Building a coalition of the passionate and idealistic people within the organization is not enough -- in fact, it can be detrimental if people see your cadre as a band of zealots rather than committed and dedicated business professionals.

The reality is that everyone has the ability to innovate; and if you can tap into that ability, your organization has a much better chance of success.

My belief is that we need to move now to Diversity 2.0 and give managers and leaders the training, awareness, skill sets, tools that ensure we engage and capture the full benefit of the diversity we say we are so committed to.

Over the past few decades I've worked with hundreds of managers, and many complain that they work for micromanagers. But strangely, I don't recall anyone who ever admitted to being one.

The truth is that most leaders don't know how to develop a useful picture of their organization's culture, which is why they resort to platitudes.

The law of diminishing returns states that at a certain point adding more effort will not produce significantly more gains. The challenge is knowing when you've reached that point.

If senior executives can't correct the CEO on a relatively trivial issue, will they speak up on something more substantial?

Most senior managers struggle with culture because it's so difficult to define. Even less tangible than a "soft" concept, culture is more like a cloud: You know it's there, but it's nearly impossible to grasp.

The most daunting change in an organization is a change in its culture. It's hard enough to change one person's behavior -- how can you change the behavior of an entire organization?

I don't dare make any attempts to understand his mental state -- I'll leave that to Dr. Drew -- but I do see some organizational correlations, albeit to an extreme, that are worth exploring.

Have you ever wondered why mission, vision, or value statements are needed in the first place? After all, nobody wants to get involved with a company that lies, cheats, and tricks its customers.

Just like mice in a lab, managers and employees need to be rewarded and reinforced for taking risks, and not given mixed messages about whether or not it's acceptable.

Culture doesn't need to be abstract, mysterious, or the purview of only the most magnetic and magical leaders.

In many organizations, success becomes defined as a good set of recommendations, even if there is no tangible change. Challenge your teams to produce a real result and not just a report.

Like an electoral cycle, corporate rhythms are important for the organization to periodically and regularly push the reset button.

Creating context -- on a regular basis -- is a critical part of every manager's job and could be considered a core competency of leadership. Without it, you might find yourself ahead of schedule, but not sure where you are heading.

Just like me, most organizations are pack rats, accumulating goods and people that lose value over time. Why is it so hard for us to throw things out?

What seems like wasted or unproductive time for many managers is actually fulfilling important personal and organizational needs.

The tendency to avoid conflict in organizations creates disconnects between business units, unnecessary revisions in project plans, and lower standards of performance