Culture and the New Leader

It is commonly acknowledged that success (or even survival) in a new role depends on a Leader's ability to understand and successfully navigate the operational culture. Edgar Schein, a recognized authority in the field of organizational culture, has said, “The bottom line for leaders is if they do not become conscious of the cultures in which they are embedded, those cultures will manage them.”

In our experience an accurate understanding of the culture is one of the most important aspects of Leader transition, but it comes with significant challenges:

• How is the culture described?
• Is it the same for top leaders as it is for others deeper in the organization?
• Did the organization "tell the truth" about the culture to the New Leader, or describe how it hopes to function someday?
• What about the discrepancies between how the culture is broadly described by its inhabitants and how its subcultures really function?

There seem to be as many definitions of culture as there are people observing these transitions -- and without a common understanding, it becomes impossible to provide a consistent approach to successful culture navigation. 

What is Culture?

Organizational culture has been described as:

• “The way we do things around here.”
• “Lessons learned that are important to pass on to the next generation of employees.”
• “What we do when no one is looking.”

Of course, those are the ways people describe the culture of an organization from their own unique perspectives -- sort of an anthropological view. Many experts on culture, including Dan Denison (Chairman of Denison Consulting), agree that some things about culture are visible, including the behaviors and norms. Some other aspects of culture are talked about and less visible -- like values and attitudes. Finally, there are those components of culture that are part of the organization’s subconscious, and therefore rarely discussed or questioned. 

Importantly, all aspects/levels of culture inform and impact the performance of an organization. Research performed by Denison Consulting clearly demonstrates that organizational culture drives financial (and other measures of) performance. For our purposes, “culture” is defined as the performance climate of an operation -- measured on four key traits:

• Mission -- the organization's direction, and means of accomplishing it.
• Adaptability -- the extent to which the operation can respond to the need to change.
• Involvement -- how the people connect with the work and each other.
• Consistency -- the ability to predictably work together to deliver results.

 
Culture is at the root of many of the paradoxes for those onboarding into new roles (see our January 2013 post). New Leaders are hired to make changes, fix broken things, “take us to the next level,” have early impact, etc., and they must act in the context of the organizational culture in order to accomplish those imperatives. In addition, not only is there a corporate culture that New Leaders must navigate, but there is also a culture in their own operations that New Leaders have to “get.”

  

Navigating the Corporate Culture 

To navigate the corporate culture, New Leaders must figure out both “the way we do things around here” and “the way we don’t do things around here.” While Leaders are hired to lead their operations, the organization will (directly and indirectly) signal to the New Leader what they can and can’t do to drive success. Leaders who take the time to observe and ask questions about the best ways to operate, and then follow that advice, are ultimately more successful.

Leaders also have diagnostic tools such as Culture Snapshot available to them that give them an early view into the performance climate of their own operations -- the culture that will make or break their results.

  

"Getting" the Operational Culture

In order to figure out the culture of the operations they lead, New Leaders must step back during their first months on the job and focus on learning rather than working to change things and make an immediate impact. New Leaders sometimes mistakenly assume that “because people downstream report to me, they will follow my direction.” They then move forward with in a manner that runs counter to their operation’s culture/performance climate. The outcomes can range from lack of communication, to frustration and complete failure. New Leaders who work with their Hiring Managers to construct deliverables that:

• Facilitate learning about the corporate and operational culture,
• Demonstrate that they have incorporated that knowledge, and
• Start moving the New Leader’s operation toward desired goals and performance levels will ultimately be more successful in both the short- and long-term.

Working with (and within) the operational culture that existed before New Leaders came on board will help smooth their transitions, balance the paradoxical nature of onboarding, and deliver results.