What is culture?
John O. Burdett
A
n owl doesn’t know it’s an owl. A goldfish has no sense of the water that
surrounds it. Even we, the storytelling ape, are mostly oblivious of the
culture in which we are immersed. And yet, culture matters. It matters a
lot. Culture has a profound effect on our lives and our work. Businesses that don’t
measure, then manage culture, set off for a distant land without a compass. Leaders
who ignore culture put their careers at risk. And teams that don’t discuss culture are
destined to become more of what they have always been But, what is culture?
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Culture and change
Culture is to business what character is to a successful leader. Culture is what
enables successful organizations to ride out the storms that overwhelm others. And
the rest of the story is:
 Organization change has been a conference topic for at least 40 years. The
problem: other than technology, little has changed.
Indeed, research
suggests that today’s employee has less ability to make decisions than did
his/her counterpart of a generation ago.
Consider also that in most
organizations only about a third of the workforce is highly engaged. If you
want to do things better - identify the problem and fix it. If you want to do
things differently - find out what’s currently working and do more of it. If you
want to reinvent possibility - change the culture.
 Drawing on personal experience with businesses in over 30 countries, it’s
clear that only about 10% of organizations actually manage culture. The other
90% are caught in a self-defeating philosophy best described as “cultural
drift.” Cultural drift is the assumption that if we ignore culture (or make it an
HR project, which, in most cases, amounts to the same thing) we will,
magically, end up where we need to be.1
 Culture is story and story is culture. Great organizations have a great story.
In sharing that story they outline: (1) where the business is heading; (2) what
makes the organization special; (3) what those who lead the business believe
in; and (4) how what the business does makes a difference in peoples’ lives.
 What puts culture on the backburner isn’t lack of intellect; it’s that the
dialogue around culture is a very different conversation. Symbolism, story,
shared values, stripping out structure, speed of learning, servant leadership
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An 11-year study on organization culture by John P. Kotter and James L. Haskett included 207 companies in 22
industries. They found that companies that managed their corporate culture significantly outperformed similar
companies that did not. Revenue growth of 682 percent (managed) compared to 166 percent (unmanaged). A
stock price increase of 901 percent compared to 74 percent. Corporate Culture and Performance. John P.
Kotter and James L. Haskett. 1992.
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and strategy as an adjunct to culture demand a way to think and act that moves
beyond traditional problem solving.
 Culture will change whether you want it to or not.
 Culture is that part of the business climate that “engagement” doesn’t get at.
 Culture is a system - change one aspect and you impact the whole.
 Strategy is a good guess. Culture, on the other hand, will be around long after
the strategy has been shredded. Strategy is a bicycle, culture is a bus. It’s
naïve to assume the bicycle can pull the bus. And if the bicycle and the bus
collide the bus will win every time.
 In moving culture in a new direction it’s important to identify both the roots
(what we have to keep) and the wings (what we have to create). A focus on
today’s culture at the exclusion of where we need to be is like having a $100
bill printed on one side only … it might look good at first glance but you can’t
spend it!
 Without measurement it’s all but impossible to capture and keep the attention
of the organization’s influence brokers. The form of measurement employed
is dependent on the level within the organization that the culture conversation
takes place - and the scope of change demanded.2
 The most powerful force in shaping culture is to catch people already doing it
that way and celebrate their success.
 Beginnings start with endings. To move forward you have first to work on
what you need to let go of ... and then let go.
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We have developed several unique measures of culture. Partly it’s a matter of time and partially because they
see culture through different lens - although they lead to the same destination - we believe it’s helpful to
engage the Board, the top team and front-line employees in a different culture conversation We also believe
that taking the culture to the next level demands a very different measurement approach than the one
employed if organization transformation is on the agenda.
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 Remember, the competition can copy everything you do … except your
culture.
Culture and leadership
Change is a journey that demands three things: (1) a tough-minded appraisal of
where we are; (2) a courageous outline of where we need to be; and (3) inspirational
leadership. If one of these isn’t present, fail now and save time later. And the rest of
the story is:
 Culture is that stuff that leaders know they have to get to … soon.
 If you aren’t managing your culture - someone else is.
 Leadership of culture employs the head (direction); empowers the hand
(delivery); engages the heart (development); and enriches the spirit
(dialogue).3 If one of these is missing, it is as if they are all missing.
 A focus on culture means going deep.
Going deep, in turn, means the
capability to work at the level of mindset. The tools available include, story,
metaphor, asking great questions, affirmation, uncovering best practice,
creative tension, changing the patterns of play, breakthrough learning, and
being a role model.
 Being misaligned with the organization’s culture - as it is and how it needs to
be - is why leaders new to the business most often fail. The higher in the
organization the leader in question, the more important cultural fit becomes.
 The power of example is far more influential than power derived from position
- especially with the generation currently coming into the workforce.
 Because invariably, they see the organization through the rose tinted glasses
of “ownership,” the top team, when asked, tends to have a view of “today’s
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The four D’s of leadership is drawn out of the author’s work with over 15,000 leaders in 30+ countries.
measure the “balance” between the head, the hand, the heart and the spirit in your organization see
Attract, Select, Develop & Retain TALENT. John O. Burdett. 2013.
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To
culture” that is skewed to the positive. The group with the most realistic sense
of how things happen are middle managers; especially high performers who
meet the customer every day.
 The time to hang the company’s values in the reception area is when they are
already enshrined in the way employees behave - at every level. Not before!
 If you are a leader, the culture you leave behind is your heritage. Key leaders
within Apple will change; several have already moved on, but what endures,
what Steve Jobs’ was most proud of, what he left behind, was the culture he
created.
Culture and the team
It’s a well-supported notion but you can’t change the organization one person at a
time. Great organizations are built on great teams. And like the weakest link in a
chain, the team can never be better than its most recalcitrant member. And the rest
of the story is:
 Context matters. In examining team behaviour we tend to give too much
emphasis to the attitude and personality of individuals on the team … and too
little to the context. Similarly, if the team stumbles, the tendency is for the
team leader to ask “who on the team needs to change?” The first question
he/she should ask is “what do I need to do differently?”
 Culture is a container for diversity.
 Culture is “how things happen around here.”
More succinctly, it’s the
conversation that takes place when the boss leaves the room.
 When hiring, culture is about fit; in life it’s about fulfillment.
 Culture and learning are indelibly linked. To that end, how people learn is
more important than what they learn.
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 Strategy defines opportunity. Culture makes it possible.
 Culture dictates the team’s priorities.
 Culture is how we separate acceptable team behaviour from the behavior we
don’t want.
 Culture determines boundaries.
 Every organization has both formal and an informal culture. In getting things
done, the latter is the important one.
 Culture is the glue in collaboration and the chemistry in trust.
 In business there are two cultures; the direction charted from the top … and
how things really happen within the team. If they are misaligned you are
STUCK!
 Team results = outcomes.
Team performance = outcomes + fit with the
emerging culture.
 Culture is a cluster of established habits that, when delivered at a level of
team excellence, makes your business special.
Culture and the individual
Culture is the silent hand that guides our actions. And the rest of the story is:
 Culture lets people know if and where they belong.
 Culture is the platform on which we build our own story.
 Culture is what enables employees to decide what’s important in their lives.
 Culture has a whole lot to do with why people join the organization and,
having joined, why they stay (or not!).
 Culture gives people permission to act.
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 Culture shapes the questions we ask and the ones we don’t.
 Culture prompts why and how we should speak up.
 Culture dictates how we deal with those less fortunate than ourselves.
 Culture determines what’s humorous and what isn’t.
 Culture dominates our perception of what happened yesterday and shapes
what success tomorrow should, ideally, look like.
 Culture is knowing how and why to say “No.”
 Culture is the hope that echoes out loud when we move down a path that
others denigrate.
 Culture gives our actions meaning.
 Culture is how we know who we are.
 Culture is the hidden map that our subconscious constantly refers to.
 Without culture we are lost.
And the rest of your story is …..
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____________________≈__________________
John Burdett has worked in over 30 countries as an executive and as a
consultant, for businesses that are household names. He has worked
on organization culture for some of the world’s largest corporations.
He holds a doctorate in management development and has since 2000,
published six best-selling books on leadership, talent management
and organization culture. His next book focuses on taking the TEAM to
the next level. John lives in Toronto.
____________________≈__________________
To dig more deeply into and to measure culture see – Attract, Select,
Develop & Retain TALENT. John O. Burdett. 2013
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