Good people in a bad culture will fail. On the other hand, those same people in a healthy culture become innovative, customer-focused, empowered, and entrepreneurial. But conventional wisdom says that changing an organization s culture takes years. So it may seem futile to start. Because it s typically approached the hard way.
Leaders try to change what people value or how they feel.
So teaching, measuring results, and rewarding progress are very difficult. Moreover, there isn t a clear connection between values or feelings and people's every-day work habits. For example, teamwork requires good work habits, like gaining team members agreement before finalizing delivery dates with customers. Feelings of trust alone can t and won't make busy team members available when you need them. And teamwork is only one example.