Page 29 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

But where is “elsewhere”? The phenomenal change in the working
environment isn’t limited to those sitting near us; it extends across
the workforce and—literally—around the globe. Nor is it employers’
fault; it’s just a natural outcome of the “new normal.”
Recall also our working defi nition of culture from the Prologue
to this book. This nebulous “environment,” with all its quirks and
fl aws—the one that we’re waiting for someone else to change—is little
more than the result of accidental precedents set at a time in his-
tory when both the organization and its challenges were different and
arguably much simpler. How can “it” be changed at all, if not by those
of us living within it today? Many business analysts have agreed, sug-
gesting that real change comes from within, not above. 9, 10
Of course, some people will argue passionately that change can
come only from the top. They draw a clear line between management
and leadership, and they maintain that only the uppermost echelon of
leaders can ever create real change. Until those leaders do something,
nothing can happen. Of course, these are often the same people who
go on to declare that those executives don’t understand today’s chal-
lenges, don’t live in the real world, don’t care about the plight of the
workers, and so on. The “obvious” conclusion is that it is hopeless
for the rest of us to try to change things.
Suggest to one of these fatalists that change can originate anywhere
in the organization, and their response will be simple and graphic:
asking an employee or manager to build his or her own culture at
work is like asking a third-class passenger on the Titanic to steer
the ship around the iceberg. This analogy is compelling, but it has
a fatal fl aw: it assumes the old, linear model of organization. Pas-
sengers below deck are detached from their ship’s direction, but each
employee’s and manager’s behavior is causal to both the company’s
environment and its output. We all know “one rotten apple can spoil
the whole bunch”; indeed, that’s the problem statement for many
of our workplaces! But it works both ways. Studies confi rm that
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any individual’s emotional state can influence a whole group. This

extends to that individual’s levels of productivity, engagement, and
honesty. There are no passengers in the information age workplace.

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