Changing the Culture of “Culture Change” in Our Organizations: “The Awesome Example of Fabulous Functioning, Inc.”

As a leadership coach and consultant, I’ve had the opportunity to observe countless instances where the organizations led by my clients have sought to institute a “culture change.” A variety of circumstances can warrant a conscious, intentional, and directed shift within an organization’s culture. But what works and what doesn’t? Furthermore, what “culture change” measures can actually work against our efforts and desired outcomes? 

I’d like to offer some considerations before you begin to implement cultural change so you can avoid the common pitfalls and find measures that support powerful and permanent changes. And I’d like to do it by telling you a story! 

A hypothetical example: Awesomeness as an Organizational Value

Let’s consider a fictitious organization: Fabulous Functioning, Inc., which has been publicly accused of being distinctly NOT awesome. “Fab Func,” as it’s become known, recently made headlines for not being awesome. Internal whistleblowers have exposed multiple egregious incidents of not being awesome. Leaders at various levels have been caught making comments showing their lack of support for awesomeness. A survey of employees has found that Fabulous Functioning is the least awesome place to work in their field. And all of this is very problematic for the organization in the larger cultural context of a society that is increasingly beginning to value awesomeness. In fact, the “awesomeness factor” has been cited as the MOST valued criterion as the emerging Generation Omega finds their place in the workforce. The general public has also shown a preference for organizations that are perceived as solidly awesome. 

So what is the leadership of Fabulous Functioning, Inc. to do to address their negative perceptions around awesomeness and become a recognizably awesome enterprise? 

Let’s take a look at first at what they tried that didn’t really work. 

What Wasn’t Awesome

Focusing on External Perception 

The first mistake that Reginald W. Bossy, the CEO of Fabulous Functioning, Inc., made as he set about to rehabilitate the organization’s lack of awesomeness was to prioritize external perceptions at the expense of true, deep, and lasting internal cultural shifts. He had the PR people create a catchy new slogan: “Fabulous is Awesome After All” and embarked on an aggressive public image campaign. New commercials used actors to depict employees being awesome in the workplace and out in their communities. Bossy sent his executives out to speak in public forums such as professional conferences in an attempt to highlight their awesome efforts. And, considerable funds were donated to awesome causes (always within the spotlight, of course!). 

So why wasn’t this effective in transforming the culture? 

Bossy and his leadership team may have been doing everything right, but the disjuncture between the performative public efforts and the internal non-awesome reality only further turned off Fabulous’s workforce from the concept of awesomeness. The workers, trying to relax by watching TV after a hard day in a non-awesome environment, were confronted with TV commercials expounding how awesome their company was. Managers received texts from friends at other firms mockingly sharing instances such as: “Your VP of Whatever is here in Vegas talking about how awesome you guys are. Ha ha!” In these cases, the response of people truly in-the-know was to roll their eyes and foster resentment at the disingenuousness of the company’s insincere strategy. The people who most needed to buy-in to the cultural shift were the most alienated by it. 

“The people who most needed to buy-in to the cultural shift were the most alienated by it. ”

Establishing the Desired Value as the Domain of One Person/Department/Office

Reginald Bossy believed that in order to ensure a cultural shift toward awesomeness, he needed to appoint a Chief Awesomeness Officer, a “C-level” leader who would oversee the Awesome Office and be responsible for implementing awesome changes across the organization. Press conferences were held to introduce Wanda Wonderful, a noted and highly-respected awesomeness expert, who would be taking on the role of CAO. “Now we’ll be awesome for sure,” thought Bossy, thinking he had removed the awesomeness issue from his plate. 

What went wrong? 

Once awesomeness had been assigned to Wanda as her exclusive purview, other leaders at Fabulous began to adopt an attitude of “not my job” with regard to being awesome. In fact, there was resentment that a so-called “expert” from outside the company was suddenly moving furniture into her new office in the executive suite. One VP even remarked “Wanda’s doesn’t care about making us awesome; Wanda is all about creating her own awesomeness empire and she’s using us to do it!” Wanda and her initiatives were viewed by other employees as ridiculous, idealistic, and out-of-touch. Additionally, since Wanda oversaw no other organizational units than her own Awesome Office, she was poorly positioned to exert any influence over corporate decision making. Lacking institutional clout and sincere respect among the workforce, Wanda Wonderful’s Awesome Office gained little traction and became the object of contempt and snide humor, which was definitely NOT awesome.

So What WAS Awesome? 

Finally, after leading an organization that, despite his best efforts, was becoming increasingly the OPPOSITE of awesome, Reginald W. Bossy decided to hire Jesse Katen Leadership Consultancy (www.jessekaten.com) and booked several coaching appointments with Jesse himself, a true master of the awesome arts. Completely respecting Bossy’s autonomy as an individual and leader, Jesse was able to create space in which Bossy could safely and effectively explore his relationship to that which is awesome and chart his and his organization's own path to awesomeness. 

Embodying the Values and Vision

With Jesse’s help, Bossy realized that it wasn’t enough to talk about awesomeness or direct people and offices to be awesome—he needed to lead by teaching. He needed to model awesomeness HIMSELF. He needed to do the internal work necessary to get in touch with his own natural awesomeness so that he could powerfully and sincerely demonstrate what awesomeness looks like for everyone he interacted with. He assembled his VPs and in truly awesome fashion, helped them find their own awesome access, thus inspiring them to do the same for the directors who reported to them. Supervisors and managers were encouraged to have prioritized but unstructured one-on-one meetings with their people to discuss their unique awesomeness and how their talents could continue to be awesomely developed over the long-term. 

“Awesomeness” became not just a motivational poster in the HR office, but an actual lived experience that was shared and exemplified in person-to-person interactions. “In order to HAVE an awesome organization, we need to BE awesome people,” Bossy had found himself saying aloud in one of his sessions with Jesse. Indeed, once visible embodiments of awesomeness were seen walking the halls of Fabulous Functioning, Inc. awesomeness became a cultural norm. 

Guided Decision-Making

It’s not enough for an organization to theatrically declare its values and virtues. It must LIVE them. And one of the most powerful ways to live one’s values is to use them to guide decision-making at every level. By embodying awesomeness and being a living example of how a professional can be genuinely awesome, the leaders at Fab Func made awesomeness a priority in their lived realities. During interviews with job applicants, hiring managers and HR partners began asking questions trying to delve into the unique awesomeness of candidates. They selected FOR people with awesome traits and selected AGAINST obviously non-awesome personalities. 

In shared governance meetings, chairs made it a habit to pose the question: “Before we approve it, how awesome does this policy make us?” If the answer was “Way Awesome!” the policy was approved. If the answer was “Not Very Awesome,” additional meetings were held to excise the non-awesome bits and committee members were encouraged to brainstorm awesomeness. Awesome ideas were acknowledged and adopted, which made those who offered them feel . . . well . . . awesome!

“It’s not enough for an organization to theatrically declare its values and virtues. It must LIVE them. And one of the most powerful ways to live one’s values is to use them to guide decision-making at every level.”

Enacting Cultural Change

By having vivid and vibrant examples of awesomeness walking around the office, awesome became not just a trendy buzz word but the new standard. True awesomeness began to inform, influence, and infiltrate the daily operations of Fabulous Functioning, Inc. “Fab Func,” no longer funky, could truly function. 

Culture change flows in two directions: from the top down and also from the ground up. The highest ranking people can set an example but then how that example gets interpreted and applied in the daily workings of those “on the floor” can also be the source of innovative new approaches to the values that an organization espouses. We need to acknowledge the various forms of awesomeness as it emerges from any direction. 

I hope I’ve made one thing clear: there is no substitute for leaders to vividly and visibly EMBODY the changes that they wish to see and to prioritize the desired values in a real way through their decision making. Just as corporate culture affects EVERYONE, so EVERYONE has a role to play in its creation, evolution, and sustainability.

Jesse Katen is a leadership coach and consultant at his firm, Jesse Katen Leadership Consultancy, based in Binghamton, New York. Visit his website at www.jessekaten.com or email him at jesse@jessekaten.com.