The definition of culture in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. Although accurate, I find this definition wanting as it doesn’t begin to reveal the extent of its importance or influence on those within it. My definition of culture would go something like this: the powerful and often invisible deterministic force that drives the behavior of those within it.
Like it or not, the cultures we inhabit tend to have a greater influence on what we do, like, and become than we think. We all like to think of ourselves as individuals governed by our own thoughts and desires, but the truth is that external forces impact us every minute of every day, and often outside of our own awareness.
We like to think ‘we are who we are’ and that we can predict how we would behave in any given set of circumstances with reasonable certainty. If I were to ask you if you would cheat on a test where you get paid a dollar for every correct answer, you would probably be pretty sure that the answer you gave to that question (whether you cheated or not) would be true. This is because you have full control over whether you decide to cheat or not, right?
The truth is, there are several subtle things you could do to make it more or less likely that you will cheat, regardless of how you answered the question. If you were sure of your answer to my question, you probably think that I am wrong in stating this premise. You’d probably be even more certain that I’m ‘crazy’ for stating this if I told you that all the things you would do to change your behavior (cheat or not cheat) would be completely outside your conscious knowledge.
Let me give you an example of how little it would take to start influencing your behavior: You could drastically increase or decrease the level of deception by changing something we all take for granted; simply by adjusting the brightness of the lights in the room.
Since our mind and body respond to subtle things in our environment that are completely beyond our awareness, the results are predictable. In a study at a major university, students in the slightly dimmer (but more than adequately lit) room inflated their scores by 50 percent over those of students in the brightest room. Perhaps former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was right when he said that “sunlight is the best of disinfectants.”
If changing the brightness of the lights in a room can drastically change the behavior of people, imagine how the culture of your team or company not only affects everyone, but also determines its success or failure. We often see teams and companies change leadership, and these leaders bring new initiatives with them in hopes of turning their fortunes around. Problems arise when new initiatives clash with the existing culture.
Few organizations take the time to do everything necessary to change the culture of their team or business. It’s easy to bring in new leaders and ideas and feel like you’re on the right track. It’s hard to go through a culture change because it must be modeled from the top to be effective, and most leaders are too lazy to put in the effort necessary to lead a culture change.
Without a leader who is seen to lead change by example, any attempt at cultural change is doomed to fail. At the first sign of not living up to the declared ideals of the new culture, people will begin to revert to their old, comfortable ways.
Conversely, if you have a leader who prides himself on leading by example and follows his idealistic words with actions to back them up, mountains can be moved, championships can be won, and fortunes can be made.
So the question is: do you have the determination to implement a culture change and see it through?