Peter A.C. Smith and Hubert Saint-Onge in their article on evolutionary organisations comment on the role of organisational culture in determining the ability of organisations to either break their organisation out of being 'normative' and into being 'regenerative', (a significant challenge for any organisation with a deep 'normative' culture) or hold onto useful 'formative' characteristics while entering a 'normative' stage in the company's life cycle.

This quote from a book 'Talking with Terrorists' by British journalist and author Peter Taylor, got me thinking about a recent conversation I had with a group of company directors about the ease with which departments within organisations could isolate themselves and become considered by other departments to have a culture so different from every other part of the business, that they became unapproachable in the views of other departments.

The trigger point for this 'separation' invariably stemmed from the attitude and thinking of the leader(s) of that part of the business. After looking at a number of situations where this dynamic had occurred, a pattern emerged. It wasn't so much what the leader believed about themselves or their department it was more about what that person thought about the people in the other departments within the business, and the leaders of those depts. The more difference the leader saw between other departments and theirs, the more divergent their thinking and actions became. Soon enough others saw that leader and their department as being isolated and unapproachable!

If you wonder how others are viewing your department, start by being honest about how you're viewing other departments and how those views are influencing what you think about those departments and how you act towards them.

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1 Work Worth Doing. When you support people to identify and stay connected with what they decide it it is that makes their work worth doing, then you're on step closer to having people doing work they want to be doing. How can you make this happen? Ask them!

2 Leaders Worth Following. When people decide they have leaders worth following then they'll follow by choice rather than compliance. When you have leaders worth following you're a second step closer to having people doing work they want to be doing

3 Cultures Worth Belonging To. When organisations are clear about the culture they have and the culture they want, they are able to have people decide if that is a culture they want to belong to, and when people are in a culture they feel is worth belonging to then you've got the third step in having people doing work they want to do and believing in it.

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I read with interest of Lord Justice Leveson's approach to the UK inquiry initiated after the news of the world phone hacking revelations. It appears Justice leveson is approaching the inquiry in two stages. The second is looking at the actions and behaviour of the British press. The first is "looking at the culture, practices and ethics of the press" Smart move, as you'll have a hard job of making sense of situations and effecting lasting behavioural change without understanding what's enabling or encouraging those behaviours in the first place.

It seems a common occurrence for world events, which at the time of happening grip our attention and emotions, to drift from our conscious thinking and our daily conversations. As this drift takes place

Elicitation: To evoke or draw out an answer - Selection: The action or fact or carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable

Values elicitation has always been available to coaches, therapists and consultants. It's a fast, easy way for people to give themselves feedback on 'things' they may consciously be aware of, that they would say were important to them. Things they valued.

I was reading a blog on creating online presence by Benjamin Lang founder of EpicLaunch in it, he gave a number of things people could do to create what I would call an engaging presence. As I read the blog I saw some, obvious parallels to steps people can take to help develop themselves as thought leading leaders worth following. The relevant points are listed below. I've edited the original points

A recent study of 228 managers, leaders and CEO's* Explored their commitment to improving their workplace culture. For me, as the corporate anthropologist, one of the most telling pieces of information in answer to this question was that the Ceo's interviewed,saw their top priorities as; Customer Service, Operational Issues and Safety. Workplace Culture didn't make it into the top three!

I've been reading with interest of the preparations for what is being hailed as one of the worlds greatest sporting events ever to come to new Zealand . Around the country works is speedily going on getting things 'sparkly' to show our visitor 'the way we do things round here.'

Chinese author Jiang Rong describes in his book wolf totem what happened to the Mongolian-Manchurian grasslands when the Chinese administration applied 'modern' farming methods to a natural system that had nurtured the steppe since it existed. In the space of 20 years,

"The psychological culture of an espionage service resembles that of a clan or tribe, in which individuals are united by some greater goal and a shared sense of identity, ideological or otherwise. When this is ripped open, a poison of distrust enters the system. Agents in the field, even if their work is unconnected to the area where the betrayal has occurred, suffer a cold chill of vulnerability when they next approach a dead letter drop or tune in to coded instructions from HQ."
Markus Wolf Former Head of East Germany Foreign Intelligence Service

What have thought leadership, business strategy, workplace culture & building leadership got in common with language?

Well my observations over the past 12 months highlight the use of euphemisms often in the form of an organisational language where generalisations not specifics are the norm. Not surprisingly, the more generalisation your workplace language has, the greater the impact on people's experience and contribution to all of the above.

I'll regularly talk with executive groups about the value of leaders, managers, team leaders, anyone involved in 'brokering a peace agreement' between groups, to understand about the significance of setting, language and symbolism.

It’s not unusual for me, when invited in to help organizations ‘change’ their culture, to find there have been a few attempts at cultural change that have already been tried and that have met varying degrees of ‘success’

When asked how i’d approach ‘changing the culture’ the conversation invariably ends up with leaders realising there’s a lot more to culture than they first realised.

It continues to interest me how many business improvement initiatives, strategy development sessions and even communication strategies are created from requests for creative and innovative ideas, provided by people (often in management and leadership positions) applying 'old thinking.'

Strategic planning, leadership development, organizational culture, and many aspect of sales and business are just some of the areas of business improvements that are hugely impacted by how readily leaders and boards can open themselves up to to picking up on new ideas and new ways of thinking. Too often, supporting leaders and board members to become more 'creative,' relies on techniques/processes that do not reflect what we now know about ways the brain can change old thinking patterns by

I’ve already had a number of conversations this year about the ‘power’ available to organizations from creating and nurturing cultures worth belonging to, one of my three culturing ‘passions’ the other two being, supporting people to to experience work worth doing and mentoring senior execs to become leaders worth following  

If i needed a reminder of why I am passionate about these aspects of culture it came from a question from a mate of mine.

If you look at any significant change that impacts how a culture views itself or changes long held beliefs you'll see there is a 'Symbolic Moment.' Sometimes known as a Tipping Point in epidemics or a Watershed Moment in social history a 'Symbolic Moment' is a moment when something happens that changes how everything was up-till that point.

It’s always interesting when starting culture work with people leadership and management roles. The strength of traditional leadership training and some facets of business culture is so great that when people in management and leadership roles are introduced to what organizational culture really is and what it impacts; turnover, strategy development,