There is no denying that culture is a powerful catalyst of organizational excellence. After all, culture is the organization's personality—it's "how things are done around here." Culture consists of the values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and practices of the organizational members. So how does this critical determinant of organizational success get established in most organizations?

"By default," according to Chris Edmonds, Senior Consulting Partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies.

"And if organizational cultures are created by default rather than intention," explains Edmonds, "then it's no wonder that people don't share information. If I win and you lose and that's OK, better luck tomorrow. It's absolutely what you would expect people to do with those kinds of expectations.

"So it goes back to that default intention idea. If you've got people who aren't consistently behaving in ways that deliver high quality solutions; if you've got people who don't share information, people who are not fun to work with, or easy to work with, or reliable; if you don't have those things appearing in your organization at the frontline day-to-day, then there is something in the organizational expectations that is making that OK."

The good news, according to Edmonds, is that culture can be changed, but you have to move away from seeing culture as a soft and fuzzy irrelevant concept to seeing it is as vital because of the unspoken and possibly undesirable expectations that get expressed.

"You have to make sure that the expectations are clear and that people are held accountable. This helps people see how culture contributes to making sure that performance gets accomplished. You have to focus on how expectations flow down from senior management to the front lines."

Defining and Measuring Culture
In working with senior leadership teams all around the world, Edmonds has found that the biggest challenge is helping managers become confident in defining and measuring culture.

"Culture can be kind of vague, and there are so many different definitions, and so many different elements that you have to pay attention to," says Edmonds. That's why he works hard to boil it down to something really simple when he works with clients. "What are the behaviors that you want to see from a standpoint of productivity, performance, and values?" he asks.

If you position it like this, Edmonds explains, then managers can begin to list all of the things they are looking for in terms of culture. But that is just the beginning. Next, Edmonds pushes for more clarity by asking leaders and managers if the things they want are observable. Or are they attitudinal, which are difficult to observe?