13 Feb Your culture is a shadow not a citadel
There’s a not-so-subtle warning woven into work around culture. That you need a citadel to protect you from plundering outsiders.
The word “citadel” was first used in English in the 14th century. Referring to the fortified towers and walls that protected mediaeval towns and were a refuge for civilians in the event of an attack.
Does the analogy ring true for your culture? Eyeing anyone who wants to enter as potential invaders. Always alert. Monitoring those who are admitted to the organisation for signs of subversion.
Aside from the undercurrent of suspicion. The paranoia carries a cost. Consuming finite energy better spent helping those who do join the you understand what matters and how to put that to work, every day.
Moving beyond the would-be marauder mindset, you first need to accept an uncomfortable truth.
In his book Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan says about culture, “It isn’t happening to people, it’s happening among people.” The same passage1 continues, quoting tech-minded economist and thinker Niels Pfläging, “Culture is like a shadow. You cannot change, but it changes all the time. Culture is read-only.”
Culture changes all the time; it’s a shadow. There’s a thought. And in accepting it as fleeting, I wonder what there is to defend.
So, instead of jumping at your shadow, perhaps the individual acts you can control are a better place to focus your culture efforts.
And a clear guide for what those things are was laid out by famed Stoic Epictetus, in early A.D. Then later captured by historian Arrian as part of Enchiridion (or handbook).
“Of things some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion, movement toward a thing, desire, aversion (turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever are our own acts: not in our power are the body, property, reputation, offices (magisterial power), and in a word whatever are not our own acts.”2
Those acts—behaviours and choices—contributed by each person in your organisation, are where culture accumulates. It is simply how you do things on repeat, and is visible only when you look at what you are doing.
Acts reveal what matters better than any of the pretty prose or high-minded sentiments which pass for culture statements. And what’s often obscured in everyday activity is often a wasteland of misplaced motivation, conflicting choices and broken promises.
So, let go of the pretence of control—that culture is something to build, manage, measure or transform.
Instead, double down on the only things in your control. Making sure the next action you take lives up to what matters, and helping others understand how theirs does too.
Do that on repeat, and your culture will change with you. No citadel in sight.
Thanks for reading.