May
1
Can One Person Change a Culture?
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My partner got an email yesterday that was at first funny, to us anyway, but got me thinking about the question. The email was from a friend who is the president of a division of a larger company. His division does in the neighborhood of $90 million in revenue in a good year, so it’s no small thing. His division is affected by construction spending, so these are not the best of times. He is passionate about Lean and believes in Six Sigma and knows that embracing responsiveness would make this a better time. I’m paraphrasing here, but his email said –
“The wife and kids are fine and life is great. Except work sucks. The culture here doesn’t get it. Not only do they not get it, they don’t even suspect it.”
Wow.
Now to be fair and put things in perspective, this is a guy who has been turning around businesses since the early 80’s and he is in charge because he is making a difference.
But how many of us have said, “if only I was in charge”?
The truth is it takes several people moving in the same direction for something great to happen. Not every company can churn through employees like a GE; in fact I suspect not even the all of the Fortune 50 companies can. So many like my friend, have to work with the culture they inherit and with patience, perseverance, and time in time they will have moved the culture some. I believe it is much like a Ronald Reagan remark I heard once about asking for change of 180 degrees and being happy with 2 degrees (obviously paraphrased).
I had the experience of really being inside a true change culture twice in my life. The first time was confined to a department in medium sized factory. I had three peers of which two were completely in sync with me. The more important part was we worked for an old Scotsman who completely, 100% supported his people - even when they were wrong. The three of us who were in sync went and hired a bunch of really smart, talented people who also had the characteristics of being brave, willing to learn, and willing to teach. We were a force to be reckoned with and we did change the facility for the better. The second time was inside my time at Motorola. It was from 1987 – 1990, when I worked for a PhD physicist wildman who supported his people completely – 100%. Again my peers were in sync and we were allowed to hire really smart, talented people. The larger organization was also in sync and people were reading, discussing, and trying new ideas. It was not the least bit unusual for me to visit one of the six facilities I was responsible for and come home with five books to read. The people who gave me the books expected me to talk about what was good and what was bad about the ideas contained in the books the very next time they talked to me. Pretty heady stuff, we were all learning and changing a culture – and having fun.
Did one person make a difference in these examples – absolutely, with the help of a lot of other people moving in the same direction – a choice that only they could make.
Can change happen otherwise? A qualified yes. I have been involved in lots of change where there was no momentum of the organization. Changed big things, but they were only events, not a culture.
So can one person change a culture?
No.
And yes, if they can get a lot of others to move in the same direction. Every person has a choice.
God bless those brief moments in a lot of our careers where these things have lined up and I am sorry for those of you that have not been so blessed.
Keep looking and learning.
Gary