Strategies
Pay Attention to Culture
R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., 07-12-2009
In my first book, Beyond Race and Gender: Unleashing the Power of Your Total Workforce by Managing Diversity, I argued that a supportive organizational culture is essential to any successful diversity effort. At the time I felt the lack of sustainable diversity progress could be attributed directly to nonsupportive cultures.
I defined “culture” as the basic assumptions that drive life in an organization and compared it to the roots of a tree. I contended that these roots gave rise to tree branches such as values, systems, heroes/heroines, informal systems, practices and “undiscussables.” I also asserted that unless the roots supported a change in the branches, modifications could not be sustained.
It is not sufficient to come up with quality and creative thrusts. These efforts also must be compatible with the culture. This requires understanding driving assumptions and their manifestations and making modifications as needed.
In practice, Diversity leaders continue to ignore cultural issues, or they focus only on cultural manifestations. As a result, gains from their efforts are often short-term.
Consider the case of one diversity executive with great plans for achieving diversity in his corporation. He envisioned the organization immediately would become the diversity frontrunner in its industry. Yet, his presentation made clear he had not ascertained the compatibility of his company’s culture with his diversity plans. It is safe to predict his accomplishments will unwind and — if he is still in the position — will haunt him as lost potential and opportunity.
Diversity executives often neglect to examine corporate culture because few managers understand or have experience with changing it, especially where culture is defined as driving assumptions. By and large, managers are not asked to change culture, but to proceed as if the culture is supportive.
Further, culture change is not a quick fix. As a result, diversity executives with mandates to define progress “as soon as possible” have little schedule flexibility with which to address the multiyear commitment necessary to change culture.
Then, diversity executives often underestimate the complexity and the challenges of making significant, sustainable progress with diversity. Many believe the requirements for progress are straightforward and require only a will to succeed. They see little risk in taking corporate culture for granted.
Until recently, most leaders felt their corporate cultures were working just fine. Their mantra had been, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
As a result, many entities are saddled with unworkable diversity plans in an era when effective strategy could positively affect their organization’s continued success. Diversity executives who wish to change their situations by ensuring the existence of a culture that supports diversity aspirations can begin with the following suggestions:
- Conduct a formal cultural audit. Do not trust an informal assessment of your organization’s culture or roots and branches. Everyone may feel they know an entity’s culture, but as a basis for action planning, there is no substitute for developing documented collective knowledge through research.
- Relate the cultural audit to other change efforts. Anyone planning to dig in a front yard needs to know where underground utilities are buried. Similarly, leaders of any significant, planned change need to know whether the existing culture will be supportive.
- Once the audit results are available, determine any gaps between the existing culture and one that will facilitate diversity success. This will require solid understanding of how the culture must change for diversity plans to be implemented effectively.
- Establish a cultural change task force with an expected multiyear tenure. This task force should construct a detailed plan for cultural change and be responsible for its implementation and continuous updates.
- Immerse the task force in a crash course on cultural change. Do not assume task-force members know how to bring about cultural change. They probably do not, since most managers are inexperienced in doing so.
These fundamental steps are vital to ensure a culture that supports the diversity leader’s change efforts. Without attention to culture, diversity executives are destined for an uphill struggle that has little likelihood of success. «
Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. is CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training, founder of the American Institute for Managing Diversity and author of six books including Redefining Diversity. He can be reached at editor@diversity-executive.com.
