Do you remember the famous saying by Peter Drucker "culture eats strategy for breakfast"?

In my work as an interim manager for IT transformations, I am reminded of Drucker's saying every day. Even the most professional objectives and the best transformation strategy only bring results if the people in the organisational units concerned are supported and inspired by a good corporate culture.

But what can be done if the existing corporate culture does not support the transformation so well, or even hinders it, and time is pressing?

In such situations, I use my "Culture Boosters". This article is about how to bring about rapid and effective change in one of the most sensitive areas of a company without upsetting the CEO and other leaders.

In a nutshell, I use the Culture Boosters, a collection of short, catchy phrases like "tough on the topic, gentle on the person" to address good and bad behaviour. With the help of simple rituals such as the "Friday Afternoon Speech", leadership crash courses for the managers, and conscious demonstration of the culture boosters, I bring about a slow, steady overlapping of previous behaviour with new forms of behaviour, first among the managers and then in the entire organisational unit concerned. In this way, a culture is continuously created that promotes a feeling of security and cohesion among all employees. At the same time, an environment is created that is more aware of manipulation, abuse of power and meanness of all kinds and less likely to repress them. In this way, the brakemen and saboteurs of the transformation become more visible. Ultimately, the transformation can be better controlled in the sense of the company, better protected from the impediments and more quickly implemented.

Culture Boosters

This is an excerpt from a whole collection of rules or norms that are easy to explain, disseminate and reinforce in a short and memorable format. They should all be exemplified, which is not an easy task, especially in crisis situations or in transformations.

• Leadership by terror or leadership by trust
• Always fully loaded, never overloaded 
• We clarify purpose again and again
• Lead or you will be lead (but don't dominate)
• We prefer mission culture against instruction culture
• Tough on the topic, gentle on the person
• Winning is about using the strengths
• We do good things and talk about them
• Aim to be the preferred trusted advisor
• Functional value creation, not territorial defense

Friday Afternoon Speech

Every Friday at around 2 p.m., I give a short speech of no more than 15 minutes to all the managers in my area. At the beginning, I personally acknowledge all the achievements of the week and thank everyone. In the middle part, I present one of the Culture Boosters, with an explanation and meaning in our context. At the end, I thank all the leaders again, ask them all to do something equivalent in their own area and wish them a good weekend.

Leadership Crash Courses

Transformation often requires that new roles function in new organisational forms in the target state. However, leaders must not only get to know the new roles, but also acquire the necessary skills. Short, intensive, practice-oriented crash courses with exercises are suitable for this. Examples of such content are:

• Self-leadership and self-management (e.g. with the MCCLS model)
• Decision & Execution Cycle: high quality in decision making and implementation
• Recognition and avoidance of the "5 Dysfunctions of a team", P. Lencioni
• Coaching as a leadership tool
• Negotiation techniques, especially within the company
• Building and running partnerships

Manipulations, abuse of power and meanness of all kinds

Especially in situations with great pressure to change, there are people in the company who take a defensive stance and sabotage all changes. Because of the fear of losing power or other losses, amazing skills come to light which disguise the activities as brakemen and saboteurs very well. It often takes an equally great skill to recognise the manipulations, the abuse of power and the meanness.

Brakemen and saboteurs of the transformation

It is important to identify these persons quickly and to stop their negative influence quickly and sustainably. On the one hand, these people need help and support to deal with the new requirements and compensate for a perceived loss of power; on the other hand, the further development of the company must be effectively protected from such obstacles.