Page 95 - Make Work Great

4 Beginning Your Crystal

ne reason organizational culture change is such a compelling
Onotion is because of the sheer scale involved. Change a com-
pany’s location, business processes, or even product line, and you
only change aspects of how it does business. But change its culture,
and you’ve changed everything about what it’s trying to be and do in
the world and what it’s like to work within it. When a culture change
happens, changes to things like business process and product line
fl ow naturally; everything ultimately aligns to fi t the new culture.
That’s the ideal, anyway, and it can happen. But in what time frame?
Most of us tend to think in terms of quick, noticeable changes: the
quarterly report mentality. When you’re changing a new product line
or office location, you can imagine or perceive what’s different. Culture

change, on the other hand, is not implemented immediately; it develops
slowly because it is a natural, organic process. Attempts to “manage”
natural processes without respect for their inherent timelines tend to fall

flat. You can no more mandate a change in your workplace culture than
you can the growth rate of a plant. Wanting things to go faster may
be very human, but using Gantt charts, developing project plans, and
exerting time pressure won’t make your oak tree grow more quickly.
If there is a way to speed up a natural process, it involves focusing
on how the process works and what it requires. In the case of a plant,
you must not only sow the right seed, but you must fi nd a location

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