Why do culture change efforts stall? According to workplace culture expert Jamie Notter, it isn't because people resist change. It's because they resist doing things that make no sense to them.
In this episode of Unlocked, host Madelyn Blair talks with Jamie Notter, co-author of Culture Change Made Easy and the award-winning Non-Obvious Guide to Employee Engagement, about what organizational culture really is and how leaders can change it on purpose instead of by accident.
Jamie defines culture as the collection of words, actions, thoughts, and "stuff" that clarifies and reinforces what is truly valued inside an organization. He explains why a culture by design beats a culture by default, and why leaders need to explain the why behind every change.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Jamie's practical definition of culture, and why it's manageable like any other business function
• Why "traditional" culture isn't bad, and how a museum's fish collection proved silos can protect what matters
• The gap between valuing innovation and actually practicing it
• Why culture change doesn't take eight years, and why it never really ends
• How subtractive changes generate useful reactions far more often than additive ones
• What happened to two organizations that made different choices about their culture work during the pandemic
• How to spot culture problems in your own workplace: look where success keeps falling short