Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast - I

I was talking to a friend about organizational culture. She was discouraged that a year after their organization implemented a corporate culture change program, no material change in behavior was achieved from top to bottom. We both laughed, but then she was quick to inquire why I was laughing.

I narrated to her the story of the 5 monkeys. An experimenter puts 5 monkeys in a cage with a ladder. He put a bunch of bananas hanging at the top of the ladder. One of the monkeys spots the bananas and begins to climb the ladder. The experimenter sprays the climbing monkey and the other four monkeys with ice-cold water. After a few minutes, another monkey tries to climb the ladder. It is dragged down and beaten hard by the other monkeys, determined to prevent the misery of being sprayed ice-cold water.

The second part of the experiment outlines how culture is perpetuated in organizations. The experimenter swapped out a monkey and replaced it with a new monkey. The new monkey starts climbing the ladder, it was dragged down and beaten. The experimenter swapped another original monkey and replaced it with a new monkey. The new monkey begins climbing the ladder, and all the other monkeys, including the previous new one, drag and beats him up. The experiment continues until all 5 monkeys are 'new.' The experimenter noted that none of them have been sprayed ice-cold water, but they would still beat up any monkey that dared climbing up the ladder.

As we conclude the series- 'Values Are Not for The Walls,' the story above shows that humans learn behavior by observing others. No matter the length of a culture change program, quality of processes, and procedures an organization puts in place, what people actually learn is what they see others do. Hence, the series highlighted that leaders are the teachers of values in organizations.

So, the answer to organizational change is not about the program itself but about getting your leadership demonstrating the desired behavior. On this note, my friend did some reflection, and she established valid reasons why the culture change program had not produced the intended results and decided to revisit the issue with the leadership team.

Don't miss out on the upcoming series (coming in 2021) "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast." The material will be available on our YouTube Channel and on podcasts. (Watch out for Podcast details in the next post)