Change

“Nothing ever changes around here.”

“We tried that, and it didn’t work.”

These are the familiar laments of those who have witnessed the seeming immutability of organizations. Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to implement major non-technical organizational change, and nearly impossible to sustain it?

Organizational culture plays a pivotal role in change. While small organizational changes that fall within the pale of the existing culture can take hold (as long as things are perceived as improved and as long as nothing too fundamental changes), it is almost impossible to initiate substantial and sustainable change without a culture change to support it.

With intentional culture change, things in the organization DO change, and attempted changes that didn’t work in the past CAN work in the future. Planned culture change that focuses on the organization’s vision and mission can guide organizational change successfully towards a desired outcome.

And herein lies the rub: the main job of culture is to sustain the status quo, so getting culture to support change is, to say the least, a huge challenge. But with a thorough assessment of organizational human dynamics, an systems understanding of the of environmental conditions in which the organization is operating, and the unflagging commitment of organizational planned culture change can take place.