The Storm created by Culture Change

I love a good storm. Truth be told, I have tried to ride a four-wheeler to see a funnel cloud. I was working on a farm in Kansas, my first summer away from home. And, we knew a storm was coming… the clouds were the darkest color of gray, and the wind was blowing dust and debris briskly all around. I did what seemed logical when I heard there was a tornado– I jumped on the four-wheeler, and jetted in the direction of the storm. I got probably a half-mile away from the farm, and my four-wheeler stalled. There I sat, as the rain began to fall, and I had no way back to the safety of the farmhouse. My adventurous spirit turned considerably more nervous when the rain began to hurt… as it became hail. Luckily, the four-wheeler started after my quite loud conversation with God, and I made it back to the farm. I didn’t see the funnel cloud, but I felt the impact acutely of the hail hitting me repeatedly as I sped home. 

Sometimes the adventure we seek doesn’t result in the experience we expect. Culture change can be like that. What seems somewhat possible, wise, and boldly aspirational can lead to the pain of the unforeseen. 

I was recently unpacking values with a group as it pertained to culture. Culture is a collection of shared values manifesting themselves in our artifacts, our behaviors, and our communication patterns. As the discussion unfolded, the layers of values began to overwhelm my thinking: global values, societal values, organizational values, team values, and personal values. 

Values can change over time. For a variety of reasons, we can be dramatically impacted by an event, a person, an experience, and even maturity over time. We are left honoring a new way of looking at things, believing about people, or making decisions each day. 

It is tempting to conclude that desirable cultural values must be precluded by a shared process of change: global change, societal change, organizational change, team change, and personal change. We can try to collectively change our values with intention, but, this effort is as fraught as playing Forecasting Roulette to predict the afternoon weather of the deep south.

The drivers of each value are founded in our perception derived from the very the core of culture. Edgar Schein would speak of Underlying Assumptions and Don Harrison would discuss Frame of Reference. Simply stated, it is the gut-level, oftentimes unexplored, beliefs that fuel our worldview. 

This nucleus of values becomes our intrinsic motivator for the daily decisions we make. It exists at a subconscious level, creating the guardrails of right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate, honor and shame. Until someone challenges, questions or – dare I say it – disagrees with our perspective, we coast peacefully through the still waters of life. 

Enter COVID. Enter social injustice. Enter work from home. Enter a spouse. Enter a new boss.

The hurricane of emotions from disruptions such as these cause us to shutter the windows and turn inward. Under the surface of all the upheaval, resides a guarded self, clinging to our hard-won values. Reflecting. Reacting. Doubting. The outward manifestation of our inward struggle is as varied as the sample paint pallets found in your local hardware store. At the root of our response is always a self-protective framing to hold to what we know, trust, and believe to be right. 

From the grace of time, our own processing, and the appropriate support of those around us, we crack the blinds to a simple ray of hope. We begin moving through Bridges’ Transition model; realizing there is an ending, a transition state, and a beginning of something new: a new possible way to view our circumstances.

Although this inward process is very personal, it is not conducted in isolation. The impact is escalated to- and experienced by the team. The depth and the length of transition are different for each team member. Yet, as we navigate the hurricane storming on our own worldview, we begin to see how our teams, organizations, and societies experience the impact of change together. 

When we intentionally commit ourselves to creating disruption in service to changing culture, we complexify the challenge. Many PhD dissertations have successfully defended the complexities of cultural change. Strip it all theorizing away, and you are left with a group of people who have been asked to challenge their core set of values. They are being required to do something new – an observable behavior – that doesn’t fit with their current reality. They see a storm on the horizon; they are disoriented. And, their trusty four-wheeler has just stalled out. Is it possible to help others anticipate the clouds? 

Predict the weather. As soon as you can do that, then you will be able to flawlessly navigate the complexities of culture change in an organization. For every book written about this topic, remember, they are all trying to forecast the swirl created. There are some helpful tools for navigating the process. But none give you a crystal ball to foresee the path ahead or exactly what you will get at the end.

Rather than being fearful of the storm, or overly ambitious, we need to realize that the pain of disruption forces each person to proceed cautiously.  That caution is both personal and reflective of us as members of a group. The only way to experience the change is to walk through the downpour. Sometimes the weatherperson is right, sometimes they are not. So put on a rain-slicker, rain-boots, and come prepared. The best way to tell is to step outside. Feel it. 

The impact of the storm is real. And culture change is hard.