How to implement your strategy within, not against, the culture of your organisation.

1. Acclimate or fail!
- the implementation challenge!
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An Olympic gold medal athlete must acclimate in a new country before they compete. They
prepare within the new altitude and climate so they can function at their personal best within that
particular environment. In the same way, an executive or change leader1 embarking on a strategy
implementation will need to acclimate to be successful – understanding and adjusting to execute
the strategy within the culture.
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The ability to acclimate varies across the amateur, professional and gold medal level of execution
performance. At the basic amateur level, the change leader is working against the culture. At
professional level, the change leader is typically aware of the cultural issues but cannot seem to
overcome them. At gold medal level, the change leader deeply understands the culture and is able
to adapt the style, execution architecture and pace of work to be successful within that culture2.
They are not expending unproductive effort to battle against the culture. Gold medal level means
the change leader is maximising their execution productivity – achieving the highest business
impact for their efforts.
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The term “change leaders” is used here to include CEOs, executives, transformation managers, program
directors or anyone trying to implement a strategy or transformation.
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This is one of four key steps in achieving gold medal strategy execution. For more information, see
“Winning the Gold Medal for strategy execution” by Lisa Carlin at www.futurebuildersgroup.com
© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

2. Why acclimate?
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You can’t achieve change if you aren’t accepted by those you’re trying to change!
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Change leaders often have a mandate to change the organisational culture itself, yet ironically the
culture can be the very thing that causes them to fail. Culture can be a subtle, invisible barrier that
is not understood by those trying to achieve the change, or it can be something the change team
takes time to understand and works purposefully to acclimate within, to gain acceptance, so that
they can then successfully challenge “the way we do things around here” – changing the culture
from within. The onus is on the change leader to acclimate, to be accepted first, before they can
begin to change the very system that is entrenching the undesirable behaviours.
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If the change leader does not acclimate to the culture, they are unlikely to gain acceptance by those
they are trying to change. Some change leaders have outstanding resumes and strong change
mandates, yet are rejected and forced out of their organisations. Others find themselves sidelined
and rendered useless.
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Case example!
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A newly appointed executive aimed to introduce a new ambitious strategy for a division
of an Australian business. The culture was highly collegial and participative, and
everyone was used to “having their say”. She failed to build relationships or gain
acceptance by her peers and their team, sealing herself off physically in a separate office
while her peers and team were all in open plan. Fear and confusion increased
significantly when she announced her plans without consultation. She was seen as cold,
remote and unknown. She left suddenly within months of starting in the role.!
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It’s easy to blame the culture for failure!
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You may hear of your culture being blamed as the reason things don’t get done - for example, trying
to implement a customer-centric culture when people won’t adjust what they are doing, or an
inability to improve sales because different divisions don’t work together effectively. It is easy to
blame executives for being overly focused on their own fiefdoms, when we want them to focus on
the greater good. It is easy to blame staff for being resistant to new ideas
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In my observations, the inability to acclimate is the most common underlying reason for project or
strategy implementation failure. It is sometimes masked as something else, such as a budget that is
suddenly removed or a program that is shut down because of a change in direction, but the
underlying often-unspoken rationale is often the inability of the change leaders to work within the
culture.
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

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How to acclimate!
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The change leader needs to start by understanding the culture. Some change leaders are naturally
intuitive, and have the emotional quotient (EQ) and perception to understand the culture, and know
what they need to do to acclimate. For many change leaders, various cultural diagnostic tools are
useful to diagnose the type of culture, and provide insights into the behaviours that are associated
with that culture.
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Once the change leader understands the predominant cultural style, they need to acclimate in three
ways: their personal style, the execution architecture and the pace of the change that they establish.
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Firstly, the change leader needs the flexibility to adjust their personal style to different situations. A
personal style that works in one culture may not work in another. This includes subtle symbolic
gestures. There are often unintended interpretations made in organisations about seemingly
straightforward decisions such as the change leader’s choice of dress, the choice of open plan or
traditional offices (see case example on page 2), or the location or timing of meetings. It’s about
figuring out what will work within the culture to gain sufficient acceptance, while still being
authentic, so that the change leader has a mandate for change.
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

4. !
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Secondly, to acclimate successsfully, the change
leader needs to establish an appropriate
execution architecture across the commercial,
project and people dimensions: !
• commercial perspective – strategic,
pragmatic and financial viability!
• project or program perspective – program
governance
• people perspective – understanding of
human behavior and change management
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Thirdly, the pace of change will need to vary to acclimate within the culture. Within some cultures,
if the change leader moves faster than the natural pace at which the culture can absorb change, then
they will do so at the risk of being rejected.
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Acclimating to different cultures!
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Here are some examples of how to acclimate to some common cultural types we see in Australia:
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In a high performance culture, people are strongly motivated and encouraged to drive hard for
business results. You may expect to see such a culture in an investment bank. The change leader’s
personal style needs to emphasise results. The commercial approach for any change needs to be
underpinned by a clearly communicated, logical, business case. The program governance approach
that works best is to manage through outcome, not process. The change leader can achieve very fast
change if they communicate clearly and ensure people understand the desired outcomes.
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one organisation is likely to have a combination of several cultural styles. Oppositional and Avoidance
cultural styles are derived from the Organisational Cultural Inventory (OCI) diagnostic tool from Human
Synergistics. Extensive benchmarking data indicates Oppositional and Avoidance styles are some of the
most prevalent cultural features of Australian organisational cultures.
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

5. !
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In an oppositional culture, people will challenge new ideas. The change leader needs to be
tough enough to handle direct confrontation. The commercial approach must be underpinned by a
robust business case, as it will be strongly questioned and challenged. A segmented stakeholder
strategy is needed - which means different forums and approaches for different groups of
stakeholders. If the change leader focuses on converting some of the influential skeptics, they can
gain ground quickly.
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In an avoidance culture, decisions are avoided and there is an avoidance of closure – which can
mean constant “reinventing the wheel” and re-prosecuting old issues. You may expect to see this in
old-style government departments. The change leader needs to be firm but not pushy – if they push
too hard they will be rejected. There is typically a strong respect for authority in these cultures, so
the executive needs to firmly reinforce their support for the change. A strong project and program
governance structure is needed where initiatives are carefully prioritised and accountability is
locked in, thus avoiding “analysis paralysis”. The change leader will benefit from finding
“insiders” who will tell you what is really going on. While there are often high levels of business as
usual activity in these cultures, this may be an excuse for a slow pace of change.
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In siloed cultures, there are independent, often fragmented business units with different subcultures that tend to compete rather than cooperate. An astute change leader will acknowledge the
differences, but de-personalise the debate and galvanise everyone around a common cause. To gain
traction within the silos, divisional executive support is most critical. The program governance
requires a divisionalised program approach, with integration at the corporate level. The change
leader needs to avoid the convenience of a one-size-fits-all, corporate mandate and a different pace
will be needed in each division to suit the various sub-cultures.
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In risk-averse cultures, the change leader needs to take a conservative and carefully considered
approach to change. Examples are found in accounting and law firms. The change leader must
acknowledge and follow due process, which can result in a slower pace of change. The business
case needs extensive risk analysis, with large investments divided up into palatable increments.
Pilots will be helpful in achieving a proof of concept for small “manageable chunks” of work.
Confidence is built through demonstrated success.
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

6. The following table summarises these cultural types and how to acclimate successfully to make
change happen.
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Cultural
types
Personal style
Execution architecture
Commercial
Project/gov
Pace of
change
People
High
performance
Emphasise
results
Logical
business
case
Manage thru
outcome
Ensure
Fastest
understanding
Oppositional
Be tough
enough
Robust
business
case
Moderate
governance
Convert
influential
skeptics
Moderate
Avoidance
Be firm but
not pushy
Executive
support
Tight
governance
Understand
what’s really
going on
Moderate
to slow
Siloed
Depersonalise
the debate
Divisional
exec support
Divisionalise
d program
Avoid one size Varies
fits all
Risk averse
Acknowledge
due process
Risk
analysis,
incremental
Proof of
concept
Build
confidence
Slowest
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939

7. Case example!
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A large, decentralised organisation was trying to develop a new business model that
implied significant upheaval for Executive and management roles. Each Executive had a
siloed view from their own division’s perspective, which made it hard for the CEO to gain
critical input to the new model. After a 6 month internal “talk-fest” with no resolution (in a
culture that avoids decisions), we were invited to assist them accelerate their business
model and execution. We de-politicised the process by hosting an Executive discussion
based on key focus areas, rather than discussing their current functions. Each focus
area was then assigned a task force, including a cross-section of staff and Executives
from across the business. They were given specific tasks that they then had to present
back to the Executive within a defined time frame. By removing the “wriggle-room”, and
de-personalising the debate, we were able to help them gain consensus on the model,
and ultimately to implement it.
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Patience and Persistence!
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Understanding and being able to acclimate to the culture will help you maximise your execution
productivity and business outcomes. This is about perception and empathy, as much as it is about
rigorous analytics and cultural tools. It is about patience and persistence, a “tweak and nudge
approach”, trial and error, trying different things, and modifying your own behavioural repertoire to
fit the situation. Execution typically follows a path that is not linear or straightforward. If it was
easy, then everyone would be doing it well, and we wouldn’t be seeing such high failure rates for
project execution.
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Lisa Carlin is a strategy execution consultant within the FutureBuilders
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Group.
She mentors executives, program and project teams to
successfully plan and execute business transformations – accelerating
strategic, multi-disciplinary or complex change.
She assembles
integrated execution teams, drawing from within the client organisation,
and from her deep network of experienced consulting colleagues. Prior
to establishing her own consultancy in 1999, she worked across 3
continents for McKinsey & Co, Accenture and other global consulting
firms.
FutureBuilders Group!
www.futurebuildersgroup.com
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Join our mailing list - click here
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© Lisa Carlin 2013 • lisa.carlin@futurebuildersgroup.com • 0418 115 939