Make It Matter

CHAPTER 7

Cultures of Consequence

There is a common misconception that a company’s culture is something to address once the fundamentals of performance are sound. The truth is, as work culture researcher Douglas Stewart found, if you want to change the performance of an organization, start with its cultural norms. Norms, attitudes, and beliefs that the workers adopt reflect directly on the organization’s performance. For example, an organization where people say, “Around here, you’ve got to watch your back and don’t make waves” produces very different results than one where you hear people say, “Around here, everyone really cares about each other and the quantity and quality of work we output together.”¹ Accordingly, establishing a cultural norm ...