What is Culture?

This article looks into the question of What is culture? through a number of complementary lenses.
While the focus is on organisational culture, it is well established that culture is not a stand-alone
aspect of organisational life. Rather, cultural trends and decisions are closely related to the nature of
the forces that bear on the organisation from its operating environment, to what strategy will best
respond to those forces and to what level of leadership maturity senior managers can contribute to the
enterprise.

Culture is . . .
It would seem there are as many definitions of culture as there are people who attempt to define it.
Lets make this one as simple as possible, at least in the first pass at it:
Culture is basically what an organisation has learned over the course of its history to survive and to
achieve success.
Through this learning, culture conserves solutions that have worked in the past so they can be used in
day-to-day organisation functioning, without need for reinvention every time a challenge arrives.
Through cultures genetic code - made up of dozens of shared assumptions, beliefs, values and
behavioural norms - an organisations members are guided and directed on how they should behave
toward each other and how they should approach their work. Culture, in a sense, serves as an
organisations autopilot.
Culture is pervasive and ubiquitous: not simply a
variable that affects the organisation, but
indistinguishable from the organisation. A better
understanding of culture thus helps generate insight
into organising activities that would be overlooked or
presented differently in other approaches.

Culture is . . . the sum total of an

organisations assumptions and beliefs,
values and behavioural norms that result in
the way we do things around here which
is the patterns of behaviour and the
artefacts that reinforce them.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast, has become a

popular phrase. However a cultural approach complements strategy, systems and skills by focusing on
largely ignored issues such as assumptions and beliefs, and brings underlying values and motives to
the surface. Any incongruence between the strategy and the culture sets up a battle which culture will
always win. The only exception to this is where a holistic strategy includes the intention to consciously
develop the culture in support of the strategy.
Also, by focusing on culture, one inevitably focuses on the daily routine and sense-making that is the
process of building identities and shared reality among organisation members. And understanding
culture offers a better insight to leaders across an organisation not necessarily for them to better
shape the culture (although that is often necessary), but to better understand and participate in the
sense-making activities of employees and key stakeholders.
Lets unpack some that . . .

Culture is . . . Layered
One useful way to think of an organisations culture is like a tree (no it doesnt have to be an olive tree).
Some of the tree you can see, but much of it you cannot. And when we look at a tree, we may enjoy
admiring the strong trunk or the beautiful flowers, but we rarely think about the root system. However a
tree does not last long if the roots are weakened or rotting.
There are five elements of culture: two above the ground, two below ground. And one is partially
visible, partially hidden (if you like, a bit like the roots of a mangrove tree).

What Is Culture?

The aboveground elements are obvious. They express,

in various formal and informal ways, how an enterprise
perceives itself and what it considers to be important to
its success. The artefacts of the organisation are on
display for all to see. Behaviour is also observable, but it
may take a little time to see the patterns of behaviour
and to interpret what they mean.

2 Aboveground Elements
ARTEFACTS
The most visible layer of culture is the physical things
that are found around an organisation that have
particular symbolism for its culture. What an organisation
intentionally displays may include its first products,
certificates, awards and prizes won in great challenges.
Significant tangible items may also include the Purpose
or Vision statements, the Rulebook or the Policy manual.
They can also be more everyday objects, such as the plants or flowers in reception, the dcor, the type
of furniture, office layouts, desk locations, etc.
People too may become cultural artefacts. Heroes in a culture are people who are named and lauded,
to act as prototypes, or idealised examples, by which people learn of the right behaviour. The classic
heroes are often the founders. They may also be an individual or a team who have done something
exceptional to protect the organisation or its people, to stand up for the shared values or to go out of
their way to delight a customer.
From a cultural perspective, each of these may have a special meaning, at the very least for the people
in the culture and there may well be stories told about them that define and reinforce that meaning. In
such stories they symbolise and teach people the ideal behaviours and norms of the culture.

PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR
This is where one really sees how we do things around here. These are the consistent and recurring
actions and interactions across an organisation that both directly and indirectly affect the enterprises
effectiveness. The patterns displayed by team members either emulate or respond to those displayed
by leaders, especially those in more senior positions.
Some of the significant patterns are in:

how decisions, large and small, are made,

how performance is managed,

how challenges and crises are responded to,

how people respect time,

how goals are set,

how authority is delegated,

how people are treated,

how customers are served,

how teams communicate within and with each other,

how failures are dealt with and

how success is celebrated.

Significant patterns also include specific rituals: processes or sets of actions that are repeated in
specific circumstances and with specific meaning. They may be used as rites of passage, such as when
someone is promoted or retires. They may be associated with company events such as the launch of a
new product or a winerys annual vintage release. They may also be associated with everyday events
such as Christmas. Whatever the circumstance, the predictability of the rituals and the seriousness of
the meaning all combine to sustain the culture.

Peter Follett 2016

What Is Culture?

BEHAVIOURAL NORMS
Behavioural Norms appear at and just below the surface. Some of them are visible, others not so.
Norms are the rules of conduct that people learn they must follow. They indicate which behaviours
other people approve of. Failure to stick to the rules can result in punishments from mild to severe, the
most feared of which is exclusion from the group. They may be visible, explicit and apparent, or they
may be unwritten and implicit.
The Explicit Norms

The most apparent of the explicit norms are the Core Values statements that are posted around an
office or that appear in the intranet. A Code of Conduct or a Statement of Values and Commitments
may also appear in a similar way. Some workplaces display inspirational posters, of precarious rock
climbers say or rowing squads, with a similar intention: to highlight that particular way of behaving.

2 Underground Layers
The more powerful drivers of culture are less visible, and some are deep underground. These
dimensions are largely unwritten and can often only be inferred. They are simply taken for granted and
rarely discussed, at least directly, by managers and employees. Yet they shape every aspect of human
decision-making and interaction that composes organisational life. At the most fundamental level are
values and assumptions things we know so well and believe so deeply that they need not be voiced
and are only surfaced for re-examination in extraordinary circumstances.
The Implicit Norms

The first underground layer is of those norms that are the unwritten rules; the implicit expectations of
how people should conduct themselves, and which exert a collective pressure on the individual to
conform.
Although implicit norms are not openly stated, you find out what they are when you transgress them.
They are often transmitted by non-verbal behavior, for example with 'dirty looks' when people act
outside the rules. They may also be transmitted through stories, often about heroes, plus via rituals
and role-model behavior.

VALUES
Like Norms, there are different types of values
defining what matters most to us.

Culture is the collective programming of the

human mind that distinguishes the members of
one human group from those of another. Culture
in this sense is a system of collectively held
values.
Geert Hofstede

Core Values were defined by Collins and Porras as

the organisations essential and enduring tenets a
small set of general guiding principles; not to be compromised for financial gain or short term
expediency. There will usually be only a small number of Core values, never more than six. And they
are enduring because they are so fundamental to the organisations identity.

Espoused Values are the important things declared by management that team members are supposed
to know and adhere to because they create a desired image for the organisation. These are the ones
that become Norms when people actually do sign up to them. However if they are not truly Core just
hollow exhortations then they may not carry cultural
weight.
Culture is the deeper level of basic
Not every organisation publishes its values to promote
them and not all values are core. It is also possible that
there are things that are important, but have not been
made explicit by management. These values can be
discerned by observing behaviour patterns that provide
the clues as to what is really most important.

Peter Follett 2016

assumptions and beliefs that are shared by

members of an organization, that operate
unconsciously and define in a basic taken for
granted fashion an organization's view of its
self and its environment.
Edgar Schein

What Is Culture?

BELIEFS
At the deepest level the driving forces are quite tacit, not easy to discern. They are the fundamental,
often unstated, assumptions that people make about working in the organisation. This is what people
assume will happen as a consequence of what they do. It is also where leaders and team members
experiences and views shape their beliefs about how the world works and how their industry and
organisation actually work. These beliefs may be consistent with or contrary to the espoused values. If
contrary, then the behaviours will tend to follow the actual beliefs, and the Norms that arise from them,
despite managements exhortations.
This hierarchy of cultural factors can be summarised simply as:
(1) The fundamental assumptions or Beliefs - people form about how the world and their
workplace work, and what consequences they can expect, shapes what becomes important
their Values.
(2) The Values - written or implied become operationalized through the explicit or implicit
Behavioural Norms.
(3) The Beliefs, Values and Norms determine the Patterns of Behaviour.
(4) And the desired behaviour patterns are reinforced through Artefacts, which also give insights
to the types of Values and Beliefs held.

Culture is . . . Locational
Each organisations culture is affected by many factors. One set of those factors is where and how the
organisation is situated. Such things as: what country it is in; what industry it is in; what its history has
been, what type of work is performed in what part of the organisation.
National Cultures: In 1980 Geert Hofstede
published Culture's Consequences: International
Differences in Work-Related Values, a pioneering
opus on the cultural differences between nations.
His continuing work has provided a plethora of
insights on how one will experience different
values beliefs and norms when you cross borders
into different nations. These go to explain not just
the different behaviour patterns one experiences,
but also how the national culture shapes the
culture of the industries and companies within it. So the wine industry in Australia is very different to
that in France. And the auto industry in Germany is markedly different to that in the USA.
Industry Cultures: And, of course, the nature of the industry also affects the culture of its participants.
So auto manufacturing in France displays quite different behaviour patterns to its wine industry. And a
winery in South Australia is very different to a car parts manufacturer in Adelaide.
Organisation Cultures: And within each industry one finds variation. So a family winery will typically
operate with very different values and norms to a winery next door that is a subsidiary of a foreign
owned, multinational corporation. And a new company in start up mode will usually adopt quite
different patterns to those that have developed in a 100 year old company.
Department Cultures: Within each organisation each team, while subject to the organisational culture,
may display different cultural orientations, depending on the nature of the work they perform or who
they work with. So the sales team in a fast-growing high-tech company may display quite different
characteristics to the finance or audit teams in the same organisation.

So for example, this might mean that:

the product development team in a young company in Guangzhou, that has recently been
taken over by a multinational,
will likely have a very different culture to. . .

Peter Follett 2016

What Is Culture?

the sales team in that multi-nationals 30 year old subsidiary in Israel,

and different again to . . .

the finance team in the 120 year old parent companys corporate head office in Toronto.

Further, if each organisation is in a different industry to each other, then one could expect even more
cultural diversity. And even if they are in the same industry, say electronics, if one manufacturers retail
products, another refrigerator components and the third innovates in high-tech health care, one could
again expect different cultures being expressed.

Culture is . . . Evolutionary
Contemporary research has identified that an organisations culture is not just a
type. As conditions change organisations must be able to adapt. Adaption means
a new strategy or business model, attuned to the new conditions. It also means
developing the worldviews of leaders and key team members to appreciate why
and how conditions have changed, and to adopt new ways of operating new
Patterns of Behaviour and new Behavioural Norms that will enable the
organisation to survive and thrive in the new conditions. And usually when the
world has changed, and a new worldview emerges, that means changing ones
Beliefs about how the world works, and how one can best survive and thrive in it.
The more, and the more quickly, conditions change, the more agile the
organisation needs to be operationally, structurally and culturally to capitalise
on changes. Ideally that would mean seeing the weak signals of those external
changes early and making internal changes early, to be ready for the new world
before it arrives.
So in reality an organisation is not set in concrete as being eternally of one ideal
type. Rather, strategies, structures and cultures evolve through different stages of
development as the turbulence of the world rises. This framework traces four
paradigms that organisation transcend progressively through as they adapt to
progressively higher levels of turbulence in their changing environment, to the
changing conditions and the demands those conditions place on them. As you
read through these do note that each stage of evolution builds on the previous
stage. So at the third stage the organisation has developed quite high levels of
cultural strengths, which include all of the cultural capabilities they developed as
they evolved through the earlier stages.
(1) CONTROL
The earliest stage of development is the Control paradigm. In stable operating environments, where
there is little or no change, and where change happens slowly an incrementally, there is not a great
deal of demand on the organisations strategy, leadership and culture. In these conditions the pace
and scope of change in the operating environment is less than the organisations capacity to respond.
Thus it is rarely threatened by what comes at them. In these conditions cultural orientations take hold
that allow people to focus on more basic ways of operating, such as how to:

Protect oneself personally and to preserve the organisations impetus: its core purpose, and
what it stands for.

Exert power to take daring action

Maintain order and adhere to known truths to keep people and situations under control and
to maintain efficient operations.

(2)

PERFORMANCE

But when external changes begin to be faster and greater than the organisation is accustomed to, they
elicit a new cultural paradigm. If a changing environment the organisation will develop a more
aggressive strategy, with incremental strategic development based on extrapolation of current ideas

Peter Follett 2016

What Is Culture?

and capitalising on observable opportunities. This type of strategy is best supported by a Performance
culture, a paradigm that focuses on new types of cultural orientations, such as:

Setting and achieving organisational and individual objectives.

Training, encouraging and supporting people to excel: engaging them in achieving their
personal or team goals

Continuously improving the business system to perform at a consistently high standard of

quality and productivity

(3)

CO-CREATION

In an even more dynamic situation, with unpredictable changes in a complicated environment that is in
frequent flux, the organisation will adopt a more creative strategy: an entrepreneurial approach to the
market with discontinuous new or novel strategic thrusts, based on creative innovation. This is best
supported by shifting to a Co-Creative paradigm, where people do great things and new things
together, oriented towards:

Operating as one team with a shared sense of purpose

Generating creative, new ideas and taking risks to bring them to life in the real world.

Collaborating with communities and key partners to improve society.

(4)

INTEGRATION

Finally, in a highly complex environment, in high turbulence with often chaotic effects, an organisation
can still thrive by responding with an emergent approach to strategy formation, adapting to the big
shifts as required, or a transformative strategy, with radically discontinuous strategic thrusts, based on
redefined fundamentals. However, these are only enabled when the culture shifts to an Integrative
cultural paradigm. At this stage organisations focus on:

Exercising whole-systems thinking to adapt and thrive, by combining and coordinating all
cultural, strategic and operational capabilities.

Operating the enterprise with a global view to transform industry, economics and society
and planetary environment systems.

Creating an environment where people can authentically express the essence of their being;
for some, their spirituality.
Evolution from one paradigm to the next happens in response to changed conditions in the operating
environment. At the first three levels, a decision to embrace one paradigm is almost always
simultaneously a decision to reject the prior paradigm, as it has failed to meet the organisations
needs. The judgement leading to that decision involves the comparison of both paradigms with nature
and with each other. However that judgment and decision are almost always an emergence over time,
rather than a cut and dried decision at one point in time.
At the fourth level a quantum shift take place. Instead of judging each prior orientation and capability
as ideal, worthy or favourable, people discover that they can all add value and learn to discern what is
the right combination of cultural orientations to deal with or capitalise on a situation.

An example through the following pages describes a real situation that presented a great, almost
existential, challenge to a company, Oil Saint Oils. It is provided to highlight how a sophisticated,
multifaceted response to challenging situation can enable an organisation not just to survive but to
thrive, grow stronger and succeed beyond expectations.
Its a bit of a feel-good story, and all the more so because it is true. However there is no company
called Oil Saint Oils. Really. But do read on: only the names and the industry were changed for the
usual reasons. The context, causal factors and responses are all very real. And while the context and
environmental forces are important, think mostly about the range and type of responses the leaders
put in place. Consider how in many organisations their actions are often quite defensive and narrowfocused. Then consider how this enterprise had a much wider view, a more expansive mindset to the
tactics they employed, because they had a much richer suite of cultural orientations available to them.

Peter Follett 2016

Oil Saint Oils

Simone Templar built from ground up a company that makes olive oil. But she did not make just any
vegetable oil that you slosh into a pan to stop the food from sticking to the surface. Her strategic
positioning for her company was premium quality oil that is appreciated for its taste. Were talking now
about experiencing olive oil in a way that many appreciate great wine.
And because they were really good at it, the company produced, and built a reputation for, a great
product. In the past Simone, their leading oil taster, had gained such a reputation for her nose and her
palate that she became known as the oil saint. And they took that up in the companys name and
brand: Oil Saint Oils.
In the decade to 2007 with their growing reputation and success they expanded their production. With
the assistance of her bankers Simone and her Finance Manager decided to buy new groves, plant
some of their own, and purchase a large processing plant. The company grew rapidly, having
established export markets into the USA and Europe and they could sell every drop of olive oil they
made, some at really premium prices.
In that same period the National Olive Association (NOA), the national peak industry body,
representing Australian olive growers, had done a great job of talking up the industrys prospects. It
had been promoting strong growth in pursuit of challenging stretch objectives, with the view that theirs
could be the leading olive oil exporting nation in the world, taking over from Mediterranean nations
long-term dominance. With great promotion this theme was
picked up in the business press, by state and national politicians,
and by the wider media: the industrys reputation was greatly
enhanced.
And with great lobbying, in their home market the industry won
great assistance through generous government concessions.
And unlike many products, they didnt necessarily need huge
quantities of water to survive. Many new olive groves were
planted: it seemed that wherever you would drive in Australia
there were new olive groves popping up. Some of those new plantings were primarily to gain shortterm tax benefits but they all contributed to fantastic growth in the Australian industry.
At the same time many developing nations also supported their industries. The result was that, after
rapid expansion in trees and processing plants for a little over a decade, the global potential for olives
grew at a meteoric rate.
And there was good reason for this extraordinary growth, because demand was increasing too. In
cooking magazines and cooking shows on TV, in local farmers markets and leading retailers, a new
appreciation of the merits of good olive oil was being promoted. The need for olive oil also rose
because the Mediterranean diet, including generous use of olive oil for cooking and as a dressing,
was identified as a great way to reduce heart disease and prolong a healthy life.
They say "a rising tide lifts all boats", and these industrial, social, market and political forces were
highly favourable for many companies for over a decade. The olive products industries rode a
wonderful wave of growth in status, in appreciation, in demand, in quality and in production. And
because their product was in the highest echelon of quality, Oil Saint Oils growth even outstripped the
industrys.
The industry had gone from strength to strength and industry leaders projected that the future looked
even stronger as they rode this fabulous long wave.
However, as waves do, the wave reached the shore; for some, somewhat unexpectedly.
As the new groves around the world matured, all that new product began to come onto the market.
Most new producers didnt have Simones refined palate, didnt have her technical expertise, and
didnt have Oil Saint Oils marketing flair. But they did have large volumes of oil that seemed good

What Is Culture?

enough to many. So the company, and others like it, were threatened by a global glut in olive oil
production.
And wouldnt you know it, along came a global financial crisis. Like other organisations, Oil Saint Oils
bankers needed to tighten their belts too; that meant reducing their exposure to companies with
threatened profitability. Companies like, well, Oil Saint Oils. The banks commercial lending manager
reviewed his portfolio, reassessed the value of their land, groves and plant and equipment (revalued
downwards, of course) and told them that they had to reduce their borrowings rapidly to meet their
loan security ratio requirements.
So for the next 18 months Simone, her leadership team and team members across Oil Saint Oils did
everything they could to generate cash and cut costs. They had a fire sale for their entire unsold
product. And selling at half-price hurt - not just their profitability but it put their brand at risk.
But what hurt most was letting people go. People who had worked with Simone for many years, some
since the company first started. But the trade-off to that pain was that the company would have a
chance to survive.
And survive it did, and then some. The following year one of their premium
products was rated the best in the world in a comparison of 650 premium olive
oils from around the globe. Recognition beyond anything before, even beyond
anything Simone or her team dared imagine.
The tasting notes from the judges were exceptionally favourable. And with their
recognition, the companys story, its products and its new found reputation were
written up brilliantly in industry journals, in cooking magazines, in investment
reports.

Oil Saint!

Oil Saint!

Within a month their order book doubled; and doubled again in the following two
months. With their reputation sky high, Oil Saint Oils stocks really looked up
again. They had survived their crisis better than most and had come out of it
thriving.
Through their strategy and culture leaders had found an agile way to resilience, just when it counted
most.

What does it take for an organisation to face such challenges, to survive them, to thrive through them,
and to come out on top? What do leaders need to do to make their organisation this resilient, this
agile in such volatility, and so capable of achieving and sustaining such wonderful outcomes?
Lets look at what Oil Saint Oils did to face their challenges, to survive them, to thrive through them,
and, eventually, to come out on top. What follows is a snapshot of what they did, seen through the
multiple lenses of different cultural orientations. What the leaders did to make their organisation
resilient and agile and capable of achieving and sustaining such wonderful outcomes.

CONTROL
Survival

Peter Follett 2016

In taking tight control, with drastic action to reduce costs, senior leaders informed
team members about the pressures bearing down on the organisation. And at the
same time they emphasised the importance of keeping the organisation alive, so
that it could continue to create great products and to provide employment for those
who would remain. Senior managers frequently reminded leaders across the
organisation that two Core Values Respect for the individual and Customer first
- remained essential; saying, in effect If we cant hold to who we are, then what are
we fighting for?.

What Is Culture?

Power

But concern for individual employees did not prevent leaders from taking tough
action for the greater good of the overall organisation. To cauterise the wounds,
decisions were made as soon as possible and action taken rapidly. Tough decisions
about who could stay and who would have to go. Action to cut costs and eliminate
wastage. This speed surprised some people, but explanations were always
provided on why each decision was taken, why each action was necessary. Over
time, people grew accustomed to this and needed less explanation, which meant
that decisions could be implemented even faster.

Order

Simone Templar and her leadership team believed that it was their duty to protect
the company and preserve its growing and production methods. A clear recovery
plan called Return to Growth - was prepared early and, excepting for two
occasions when issues arose that had not been anticipated, was adhered to
throughout. It did not just plan for an orderly fire sale. It envisaged and planned for
an orderly return to growth and profitability. It assumed the longer-term survival
and ultimate success of the company.

ACHIEVEMENT
Performance

Clear 'Return to Growth' goals were set. Not just downsizing goals, but also
longer-term success goals. And those goals were broken down to monthly targets
so that management could keep a close watch on their progress. Leaders at all
levels kept reminding people of those goals and reporting on the progress towards
them. And people threw themselves into achieving them, carefully executing all the
planned actions in the planned sequence and as quickly as possible. When
performance started to slip behind the targets, weekly meetings were dedicated to
determining what needed to happen to catch up with them.

Support

Senior managers coached other leaders on how to keep both the task imperative
and the relationship importance in balance. People who suffered through the
process, including those who were let go, were treated with respect; enabled to
retain their dignity. Where people had to change roles, or perform new tasks, they
were coached and given other support necessary to enable them to succeed.
Leaders encouraged team members to keep the long term in mind as they worked
on the short term. Importantly, they kept people informed on how things were
progressing.

Quality

Oil Saint Oils had been focusing on customer-focused quality for a long time. It was
one of their core values, and true to that principle, they did not relent on quality
through the hard times. In fact, as was mentioned above, they redoubled their
efforts to improve product quality, to make sure that people new that they were
holding to their cultural standards. In every team meeting when the financial
condition was raised, Simone and her team made a point of also raising an issue
relating to product quality and customer service, so that team members kept all
core values in balance.

CO-CREATION
Cohesion

Peter Follett 2016

At the outset Simone Templar invited team members and teams to meet with her so
that they could express whatever tension and frustration was arising for them. All
teams were also invited to suggest their ideas about how they could contribute to
the organisations goals. Although there seemed there was less to celebrate for
some time, leaders continued the frequency of whole team meetings where they
marked their progress and acknowledged individuals and teams contributions.

What Is Culture?

Innovation

Other than a particular tree-watering program that Simone Templar had devised
while at university the organisation was not renowned for being innovative.
However, the leadership team decided that, rather than just bunkering down, it
would be smart to find new, clever ways of operating. They kicked off a system to
generate creative new ways to improve efficiency and productivity and backed team
members who wanted to have a go at trying the new ideas.

Common Good

Oil Saint Oils had for some time supported three charity organisations: one in their
home city, one in Asia, where Simone had been touched by the sight of needy
children, and one in America, their largest market. Based on contributions
determined as a percentage of revenue, these initiatives had been instrumental in
creating a tone for the organisation that transcended just the products and the
profits. Although it would not easy to do so, Simone Templar discussed them in a
whole team meeting where the group committed to continuing to provide the same
amount of support as the previous year, whatever that would take. Simone
responded with great thanks, saying that if they could not sustain these good works,
the business would lose a lot of meaning for her. This was crucial in maintaining the
spirit of the team.

INTEGRATION
Synergy

Simone and her leadership team believed strongly that agility was crucial in these
times and that that the greatest value would come from taking an integral approach
to their problems. In addition to working on the systems, they recognised that they
had to capture the hearts and minds of their people, both individually and
collectively, as well as tap into their individual skills and abilities. They were
especially conscious that their Return to growth plan had to be multifaceted. Thus
each of the measures here was considered necessary, but not sufficient: the optimal
solution was to ensure a diverse approach, employing all of these orientations and
ideas.

This particular story was selected to demonstrate two key points.

Firstly, when structural changes in the industry or in other environmental conditions challenge leaders,
they may be an opportunity for a company to change its culture as well as its strategy. And the new
worldviews that emerge, and the development of new cultural capabilities can strengthen an enterprise
forever.
Secondly, success in complex volatile conditions is not a hit and miss affair one wild swing, land one
punch, hit the ball out of the park. A well developed leadership group may be able to perceive a
complex situation in simple terms. However their response will be multifaceted. Oil Saint Oils
leveraged their capabilities across all of the cultural paradigms to assure their success.
While the focus of this article is on culture, its intent is also to indicate the importance of integrating
complementary strategic and leadership actions that enable the organisation to respond to and
capitalise on whatever emerges. Thus the strategy, systems and structure, the culture, and the nature
of the leadership cannot really be separated from each other.
Each influences and enables the others. Each acts as a catalyst for the development of the others.

Author: Peter Follett works with leadership teams of significant private sector, public sector and notfor-profit enterprises, facilitating leadership growth through strategic development and cultural
evolution, particularly where turbulent conditions make the strategy more difficult to pin down and thus
a greater need for cultural alignment. He can be contacted at peter.follett@thinkhci.com.au.

Peter Follett 2016

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