Cultural Entropy

Entropy is a measure of unavailable energy and thus cultural entropy is the amount of energy in an organisation that is consumed in unproductive work. It is a measure of the friction and pent-up frustration that exists within an organization.

Richard Barrett has done the most work in this area. He's identified the four major causes of cultural entropy.

A lack of Personal Alignment: A lack of alignment between the stated values of individuals and their behaviours, particularly among the leadership group. This occurs when leaders show a lack of personal integrity or a lack of authenticity – when they do not walk their talk. This leads to a lack of trust in the leadership and a lack of commitment of the employees to the organisation.

A lack of Structural Alignment: A lack of alignment between the stated values of the organisation and the behaviours of the organisation as reflected in the structures and systems of governance. This occurs when there is a lack of collective integrity – when the organisation does not live up to its stated values. This leads to cynicism and mistrust, and undermines the commitment that employees have to the organisation.

A lack of Values Alignment: A lack of alignment between the personal values of individuals and the collective values of the group. This leads to a lack of coherence exemplified by silos, fragmentation and empire building. In companies with low values alignment, self-interest takes precedence over the common good.

A lack of Mission Alignment: A lack of alignment between the sense of purpose of individuals, and the sense of purpose of the organisation. This leads to a lack of focus and fragmented intention.

The key to creating a constructive culture is to keep supplying energy to the culture; culture is not something that takes care of itself but needs tending and nourishing much the same way as you nurture any relationship.

This links nicely with an article written by Chris Chittenden:

One of the biggest challenges facing leaders who seek to shift an organisation’s culture lies in developing a clear understanding of the culture they want to create. At first this may appear quite complex, but in many ways it is relatively simple. Ultimately an effective culture lies in “creating balance”.

“Creating” refers to a way of doing things in the organisation that focuses on what is a better way of doing things rather than protecting what we already do – being constructive rather than defensive. “Balance” refers to an equilibrium between an organisation’s financial and commercially desired outcomes and how people feel about being in the organisation – a balance between task and people.

The key to understanding “balance” is recognise that it is not an end state rather it is the constant dynamic interplay between task and people that allows for things to get done whilst creating engagement for the people who are doing the tasks.

The danger here is that leaders confuse “balance” with harmony. In his recent newsletter, Jon Gordon pointed out that:

“John Gottman's pioneering research found that marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce.

Additional research also shows that workgroups with positive to negative interaction ratios greater than 3 to 1 are significantly more productive than teams that do not reach this ratio.…The key is to intentionally cultivate more positive interactions to fuel success.…However, please know that this doesn't mean we should never have negative interactions.

There is research by Barbara Fredrickson from the University of Michigan that shows if a work group in a company experiences a positive to negative interaction ratio of 13 to 1 the work group will be less effective.”

Leaders, who confuse “balance” with harmony, often hold that they want people to work in an environment where everyone “gets on”. This then gets translated into everyone is nice to everyone else. These leaders don’t want people to feel uncomfortable because they see this discomfort as people not being engaged. Yet, it is clear that discomfort is part of every organisation. How can it not be when there will always be decisions or ways of doing things that people will not like?

Ultimately being an effective organisation involves accountability and accountability will create discomfort and involve difficult conversations. If the underlying cultural premise is harmony, it is almost certain that the culture will become passive rather than constructive as people are not prepared to create the balance needed between task and people by holding others accountable. Unfortunately this is a scenario that is seen all too often.

So the key to culture is simple. Focus on what you want to create and do so in a way that constantly and effectively balances people and task. Therein lies the great challenge.