No, not of the political variety. Beyond the mission, vision and values statements, the coffee mugs and the pot-luck lunches, how would your describe your IT Culture? Who is driving it?
- Leadership (you): If staff were asked, would they say that you are actively building a culture around a specific vision you have for the team and the organization? Would they be able to describe that vision? Do you have followers within leadership/staff that understand your cultural vision and support you in this effort? Are you on your own?
- Rank & File: Is the rank & file culture a blank canvas waiting for you to begin painting, or are you fighting an institutionalized culture that doesn’t match your vision? Are there so many staff modeling old/negative behaviors that they are overrunning your efforts at the top (tail wagging dog)? Should you be actively enlisting more followers to assist in this task?
- Few Specific Individuals: Are there a few specific “informal culture leaders” that staff look to to determine the overall reaction to every new policy or program you roll out? Are these individuals supporting you, or are they working against you? How much damage might they be doing?
- Outside Threats: Is your culture defined primarily by you, and with an appropriate weighing of the outside world? A little paranoia is normally considered good practice in a competitive marketplace, but has that outside focus become the de-facto culture? If staff cannot articulate your vision for the type of organization you’d like to build, but can speak at length about negative external reviews or business partner ratings for services provided by IT, you might be in this category.
In my discussions with IT leaders from smaller organizations, one of the most attractive benefits they point to is the ability to build the type of culture they have always wanted to work within. This is often an etherial thing and hard to quantify, but may include working with individuals with similar levels of passion/energy, personal accountability, challenge, new learnings, work flexibility, and of course the fun quotient.
The cultures in larger, established organizations can be a real challenge to turn around, and a heads-down focus on execution and getting systems built is often held up by a negative culture that needs tending to first. And a memo won’t fix it. How are you changing or creating the culture you want? Are you modeling the behaviors that you seek? Do staff see that:
- You have a authentic passion for IT and are excited to be a part of this IT organization? In between the endless meetings, is there still time for you to show that passion?
- You personally value all aspects of the IT operation, and are actively staying current in the latest thinking for each function, whether its development, general best practices, project management or infrastructure? Can you quiz them on these items? Can they see that this is real for you?
- You hold yourself and them accountable to high standards?
- You can have some fun, and value fun in the workplace?
Each of us carries around questions that we ask ourselves whenever we are evaluating our progress in our careers. A valuable question, given to me by a mentor several years ago is:
Are you sharpening the organization, or is the organization dulling you?
If its the latter, can you change it, or is this the end-state?
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