Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBusinessArchitect/~3/n11I_sw0Q2M/
In previous posts, I have identified four types of contextual elements.
- Management: Understanding the Management Context
- Structural: Understanding Structural Context
- Cultural: Got Culture?
- Personal: Personal Context: The ME Factor
In my 30 years of managing and consulting, I have seen some really bright, talented, driven people fail, some quite spectacularly, by ignoring or misreading their organization’s cultural and contextual clues. I find it interesting, and a little depressing, that most people just accept the context around them and try their best to fit in while complaining about it on a daily basis. It is also somewhat disheartening to see change agents’ initiatives thwarted when they ignore their context. Though there are a few, it is incredibly rare to find an organization where culture and organizational context enable the behaviors and action needed for long-term success. So what should we do about it? Here are four options to manage your organization’s context to become a more successful change agent:
Leverage selected contextual elements. No matter how dysfunctional you believe your organization’s context is, there are bound to be a few elements that align with your goals. Cultural elements can be very powerful enablers. Identify the ones that can help you early and leverage them to the fullest extent possible.
Mitigate contextual effects. If your culture and organizational context support your goals, you are almost guaranteed success. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case, particularly if you are in a strategy, business architecture, or innovation role. Very few contextual elements can be safely ignored. If contextual factors cannot be changed or leveraged, then design and employ specific strategies to mitigate their effects. Design these in at the beginning of your initiative and make them a core part of your delivery process.
Redesign your initiative. Redesign your initiatives to be more culture and context friendly. While many people see this as the action of last resort, it is actually the easiest and most successful way to deal with context. Most initiatives can be adjusted so there are less contextual effects to mitigate without significantly affecting the overall goal.
Change the context. The vast majority of culture research revolves around identifying and changing cultural elements that inhibit success. Unless you are the CEO or other senior executive, this is an almost impossible task. It typically takes a very dedicated management team two to three years to drive a significant culture change in large organizations. Structural context can be changed much more quickly but keep in mind there is no guarantee the organization will respond as intended. Managers willing to take some risks and focus their efforts, can create a culture for their own organization different from the surrounding corporate culture. However, that can only take you so far. Changing your own group’s culture is more of a mitigating strategy.
The bottom line: _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Organizational culture and other contextual elements have a very powerful effect on every new initiative and project. Ignoring them or putting them into the “deal with it later” bucket is a very dangerous move that often leads to failure. Culture and context elements can be managed if you identify them, acknowledge their power, and design strategies to leverage and mitigate them.
Tagged: context, Organization 
