If you’ve been working in the same company for over 3 years have you ever wondered if your capacity for independent thinking has been reined in? In the course of my career I estimate that I have spent around 23 years working in major corporates. I honestly didn’t realise that this had had much of an effect on me. Until I left that is.
A month into setting up Perspective Matters I realised that I spoke ‘differently’. My tone and the language I used was, by other people’s standards, very ‘corporate’. Not considering myself to be a typical corporate guy, I confess I woke up to this reality with a degree of irritation and dismay. It was rather ironic as former colleagues used to describe me as ‘the least corporate guy they’d ever worked with’.
I had become the product of corporate culture. I consciously realised that I needed to ‘de-corporatise’ in order to thrive on the ‘outside’. One of primary benefits that you bring as an external consultant is the value of seeing problems through a clear lens. That lens cannot function effectively when it is geared towards a particular mindset or mode of thinking. Strong corporate cultures provide a range of wonderful benefits but the downside is, they can also lead to, a herd mentality manifested as thinking or behaving in a certain way.
Large organisations with strong cultural identities, are, in essence, like enormous sheep dips. The longer you work there, the more you are thoroughly dipped. Before too long the process starts to rub off on you. Putting employees through this seemingly invisible process - when the culture is in balance - can create a workforce with fabulous attributes: motivation, passion, resilience, togetherness. However, when cultures have elements that are out of balance, organisations can suffer the consequences of unintended and undesirable behaviours. Take, for example, a culture overly pivoted to, say, ‘winning’. All businesses want to win, it’s what makes business meaningful. Equally though, there are examples of companies whose desire to win has been overtaken by intolerance to failure. This over-rotation can create a culture that stifles creativity and suppresses independent thinking. These cultures can breed teams that prefer to stay safe - not daring to go off-piste with new suggestions - or blindly treading the party line.
In these types of organisations, the reluctance to ‘speak up’ can often mean that poor decisions are not subject to the scrutiny of the ‘alternative voice’. It can mean a predisposition to do things ‘the way they have always been done’ over a willingness to ‘try something new’. These cultures can be like the emperor’s new clothes, where employees can feel so intimidated they suppress or ignore what good sense is telling them. The consequences of placatory engagement can lead to shaky plans and strategies that are faithfully executed with either poor returns or unintended consequences.
There is a lesson here for both employees and leaders. At the heart of it individuals must have the courage and confidence to communicate either concerns or, great new ideas. Equally, leaders must get comfortable with views that might not be their own and should not view questionning as rebellion, but as an opportunity to explore other ways of doing things. Companies that manage to create a safe environment for transparency have better mechanisms for avoiding poor decisions and have a greater ability to innovate because they manage to sweat the intellectual capital of their workforce.
Cultures that do not demand and embrace independent thinking risk a variety of outcomes that range from underperformance to bankruptcy (either voluntary or as a result of more serious circumstances) - think of Blackberry, Pan Am, Toys R Us and Blockbuster Video to name but a few. All were well established businesses that failed to mitigate competitive threats by exploring new ideas. All believed that their past successes would ensure longevity. Whatever your view on the reasons for their failure, it is hard to argue that their demise was inevitable.
Looking now from the ‘outside - in’, I have learnt a few things. The first is that corporate culture has a direct impact on business success (or failure), the second is that the impact of culture is inevitable (for good or bad) and, as a consequence, the third must endorse the value of an independent perspective. I have also learnt that if you leave corporate life to start your own business, recognise that you may well need to undergo a period of ‘de-corporatisation’ before you can view situations through a clear lens.
Whatever type of culture you find yourself in, my advice is to try your best to maintain an independent perspective, seek out differing opinions and have the courage to put forward new ideas when those on the table raise more questions than answers. If you find it hard to break free from any ‘herding’ mindset, then consciously shift your viewpoint to see things through the eyes of your customer. If, after all that, you are still struggling for clarity, then seriously think about getting in a consultant to help you navigate.
For further reading: https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-law-of-the-emperors-wardrobe/