Cultures and Norms

The culture that you want to instill , and the norms of behavior that sit behind them are critical to setting the tone of your corporation and motivating your organization.

But how do you establish a global culture in a global multi-cultural organization, and still maintain the respect of local cultures?

I was talking to a colleague who values risk taking in his organization. It is a critical company value. For this leader, it is important that his people learn how to assess opportunities and take risks and to understand that its ok to make a mistake.

He is managing an organization whose culture has a deep-rooted hierarchical, respect-based approach to the boss-employee relationship. In a recent discussion with one of his employees, this leader apologized. His employee immediately responded that he should never apologize. Chances are, if that employee feels that his boss should never apologize to him, then they would never apologize to their employees - that is another way of saying they won't tolerate mistakes. My colleague understands that he must find a way for his "its ok to make mistakes and take risks" culture to exist in a culture that is rooted in hierarchical respect.

So we have to find ways to navigate long-standing cultural norms as we instill values that are critical across our organization. As long as we recognize the differences, we can always find ways to find a respectful solution that meets our objective.