LeadershipHQ Magazine 3rd Edition September Issue | Page 12

Cultural
Transformation

silver bullet or lead balloon?
By Mel Tunbridge

Why do conversations about an important topic like
culture typically go nowhere? How many thousands of
dollars have been wasted on “cultural change efforts”
which very seldom work?
Here is one of the big problems: First, virtually no one
clearly defines what they mean by “culture” or if they do
they don’t define the goal of the project. Culture can be
defined as “the pervasive values, beliefs and attitudes
that characterize a company and guide its practices”.
Therefore the goal should start with “purposefully &
actively building capability for new ways of working.”
A culture project needs to be run just as that……..a
project, with the same discipline any other project
within your organisation has.
So many organisations that I am in contact with talk to
me about cultural transformation. But when probed on
12 | © LeadershipHQ 2015

the topic there is very little detail they can articulate
about what they need differently & what is & isn’t
working now. It’s as though a brochure on cultural
transformation has done the rounds & they feel they
need to get on the bus & quick – surely it’s going to fix
all what ails me & my organisation. The cultural grass, it
seems, is always greener.
What might be possible if we stopped trying to transform
organisational cultures, and instead, started leveraging
them? Clients often tell me, “We need to transform our
culture.” Some want to be more innovative, while others
want to be more consistent. Most want there to be
more accountability & collaboration. They’re convinced
that a comprehensive overhaul of the culture is the
only way to overcome the company’s resis [