Have you ever worked in an organisation where everyone agrees the culture needs to change, but somehow nothing much happens?
People complain about endless meetings, ridiculous bureaucracy, too many emails, decisions that take forever, and the expectation that everyone should be available all the time.
And when you ask who's responsible, the answer is usually some variation of "the organisation".
Which is interesting, because organisations don't actually send emails at 10pm, schedule unnecessary meetings or insist that seventeen people sign off on a decision.
People do.
And some of those people are leaders who would be horrified to think they were contributing to a dysfunctional workplace.
Perhaps even you. Sorry!
I think one of the tricky things about organisational culture is that we're very good at noticing the things other people do that make our working lives harder. We're significantly less good at recognising our own contribution.
We complain about too many meetings, then schedule another one because we want everyone across the detail.
We encourage people to take care of their wellbeing, then send emails on Sunday night and wonder with some irritation why they haven’t responded.
We say we want people to take initiative, then get frustrated when they make a decision we wouldn't have made ourselves.
And of course, we can generally explain why our behaviour is perfectly reasonable. There are deadlines, competing priorities, difficult stakeholders. It's complicated!
Which it usually is.
But everyone else has their reasons too.
There's an old saying that you're not stuck in traffic. You are traffic.
I think that's a pretty useful way to think about workplace culture - and your role as a leader in the system magnifies the impact of what you say and do.
So next time you find yourself frustrated by some aspect of your organisation's culture, perhaps it's worth asking yourself a slightly uncomfortable question.
What am I doing that might be keeping it that way?
Until next week,
Madeleine
I help accomplished professionals untangle difficult career questions so they can thrive in work and life.
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