15 years ago, I kept another blog. Because the Internet is forever, it’s still up.
I particularly enjoyed writing a four-part post about youth culture. I noted four elements (HT: Whis Hays) that make up culture:
While I still think all those categories are relevant, I’ve been thinking in simpler terms lately:
Culture = Behavior
That’s it! Culture = Behavior.
This idea comes from the awesome Manager Tools podcast, that I have listened to since the days of my early blog.
They put it this way:
“Culture is nothing more than the sum total of all the behaviors of all of the people in your organization.”
Culture = Behavior.
And behaviors come from specific people.
More from Manager Tools:
“We managers are the guardians of an organization’s culture, because we can see and hear the individual behaviors that make up its culture. The organization’s leaders… really can only proclaim, pronounce, educate, tout… and they can hopefully set an example. The key is: managers are the ones who make culture happen by communicating about effective vs. ineffective behaviors.”
And:
“As managers, as leaders, we have to do what we can with what we’ve got. And the way we can do that is at a behavioral level, where the results (are what) matter anyway.”
Of course, an organization has its own life, more than just “the sum total” of its parts. This is why the Yankees (and the Red Sox, for that matter) still can’t buy their way to a World Series. Systems dynamics matter.
But something as amorphous as “culture change” comes much sharper into focus when considering that culture change = behavior change.
So the leader looking to preserve organizational culture can ask: what specific behaviors are working well for us, creating this irresistible environment, and advancing our mission? And the leader can find specific actors who practice those behaviors, to hold them up as examples.
Similarly, the leader looking to improve organizational culture can ask: what specific behaviors are hurting us, creating this harmful environment, and working against our mission? And the leader can address those specific behaviors and actors, starting with one-on-one conversations.
Mobilizing others (and ourselves) for behavior change is still hard work. But at least it’s more specific than the more intimidating “culture change.”
Words on the Word 
It seems like a context of meaning needs to be in place, though, for the behaviors to occur, to be identified or evaluated as effective or ineffective (vs. what? towards what?), … eh?
Great point. I think somewhere in the podcast they talk about managing toward objectives, the mission of the organization, etc.