The invisible rules

How did you become interested in organisational culture?
In my early years of working as a consultant, I realised that my impact varied between clients. I concluded that the key factor was the organisation’s culture. Some cultures are simply more receptive to change than others.

Culture is sometimes defined as “the way we do things around here”. What does this mean in practical terms?
Go into any workplace and you’ll see that people tend to behave in certain ways. That’s because they are following what I describe as the organisation’s “unwritten ground rules” (UGRs). These rules aren’t usually talked about openly, but they drive the way people do things, and so give us a practical way of considering the organisation’s culture.