Power of Culture--use it don't blame it

In our Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program we spend a significant amount of time on the criticality of culture to successful mexecution of strategy through project-based work.  Jon Katzenbach and Ashley Harshak have an excellent article in the forthcoming issue of the execellent journal, strategy+business, Stop Blaming Your Culture. Some of the many practices they discuss include:

• start pragmatically
• use both formal and informal ways to reinforce behaviors (Katzenbach has explored the power of informal structures in large organizations.  An excellent overview can be downloaded here.)
• build on and use the culture you already have
• seek out role models for the new behaviors.
• model what matters most
• clarify specific implications of the new behavior.

If you lead large initiative, projects, programs, global teams--this is worth your time to read and learn.

Repeated behaviors have cultural impact because they are contagious. People unconsciously imitate what they see others do.