Culture is King

Culture is King: I was fortunate enough to catch up with Martin Chalkley the other evening, (www.consultandomi.com) and he was commenting on the differences in the way in which people from Ghana, the Middle East and Afghanistan interacted when taking his five-day course on contractual management.  And so, this got me thinking about my own experiences as a Software Asset Management consultant.  As a consultant, I am always of the mind that my presence in a company is as an agent of change (and, hopefully, change for the better).  However; having been employed in numerous organisations one thing that crops up time and time again is how the culture of “status quo” continually seeks to get in the way of the very change the company has paid money for.

How do we get round this?  PR is vital, and so it’s not merely enough to create our own mechanisms for communication, but rather we have to tap into the existing communications channels that exist within a company.  We can extol the virtues of change, and do so in our own style and very quickly that format or delivery can be easily dismissed, or in the worst cases, cause angst or belligerence.

Another way to ensure change is adopted is to involve them in the decisions on how that change is implemented PRIOR to making formal recommendations.  Otherwise, any grand delivery comes across as a fait accompli and is bound to rub certain individuals up the wrong way.

Most individuals understand that change is inevitable – comprehending the “what” is not the problem; having the “why” explained to them could be an issue, but the method and means of that explanation has to be in a language they understand, otherwise the message dies and the consultancy and hard work is for nought.

Culture is King – for sure! But a great point to interject culture is at the top, and with the Corporate Governance Process.  This, and numerous other processes are given a video walk through on our videos page.

1 comment

  1. Your comments around PR are just as valid for SAM projects are they are about a longer term SAM process improvement. A lot of people are touched by a SAM project and in large organization a strong awareness campaign with sponsorship from the top can be the difference between success and failure

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