Anyone who has ever tried to change an organisation’s culture can attest to legacy’s sticky hold, where the pull of the past routinely stymies good intentions.How to break through the inertia is the question wrestled with by every organisation taking a deliberate approach to their culture. Culture is built one action...
Federal politics. Private schools. Law firms. It feels like every day reveals another allegation of sexism, sexual harassment and worse. And, following close behind the claims are shocked utterances from people in those organisations saying, “this doesn’t reflect our values”. I’ve got a news flash. Most simply put, values are ‘how...
The team of five peered out from their respective Zoom screens. It wasn’t the ideal way to do the work we were about to begin, but after navigating some dicey days, exploring how to work together better was too important to wait until we could meet in person.Values and culture...
Late afternoon in early April, Eric Termuende sat down across a table in a small cafe on the jostling main drag of Vancouver hip Yaletown district.We met in 2019 while I was spending a short sabbatical there, and we bonded over our shared fascination about how organisations work together. Eric is an...
The combination of hubris and aspiration, liberally sprinkled with puffery make many value sets mosh pits of self-delusion.So there’s every chance your company values are complete bullshit. And if they are, it’s a quick ride on the slip slide to cynicism and ridicule when actions reveal them to be naked...
Ask people what their organisations need to do better, and nine times out of 10, they will say communicate. Whether it’s too much or too little, it’s never just right. When it comes to communication, we have a Goldilocks problem.If you think communication is not your job, you’re wrong. Everyone...
Take a look around at the broken promises you see. How did it happen? Was it neglect, poor planning, a deliberate act?My research side-project examines what wasn’t considered and leads to the downfall. So along with reading philosophical essays about promising and agreements, I’m an avid student of what’s missing...
So many of my conversations right now circle around, or go back to, issues of the organisation’s culture. People struggle with it because you can’t treat culture as a project. It’s never a settled state, you’re always working on it. Part of the unheroic work I talk about. Every action and...
Cult-like cultures are alluring and powerful, right up to when they aren’t. There’s a growing pile of people who, inflated by messianic zeal, march their organisations off a cliff. Adam Neumann, Travis Kalanick and Elizabeth Holmes are recent high-profile examples, but it is hardly a new phenomenon, or even one only...
The sign on the counter said: ”If you’re not satisfied with your stay, let us know and we’ll make it right.” I’m sure plenty of similar signs litter hotels worldwide. It’s a reassuring sign. A promise to fix things. Pity it was rubbish. In the grand scheme of things, our problem was...