Is culture ‘outsourcing’ undermining your org’s success?
As experience designers focused on employee experience, culture enrichment and learning programmes, we have a unique helicopter view of an all-too-common problem – culture outsourcing.
Culture outsourcing describes the phenomenon where senior leaders delegate to people and culture teams (or rather they erroneously believe they can delegate) responsibility for sustaining culture or driving cultural change. It is a very real symptom of a common (often unspoken) belief that culture is 'an HR thing'.
How do you know if your organisation has a culture outsourcing problem?
Here are some of the signs of culture outsourcing:
Disconnect between culture and business strategy: The organisation's culture is treated as a separate initiative, not integrated with the overall business strategy or goals.
Say-do gap: There are discrepancies (cavernous gulfs) between what senior leaders say about the organisation’s culture and the actions and behaviours they display.
A pile-on of programmes and policies: There are endless programmes, policies, tools and frameworks talking about culture, without any resemblance to the culture people experience. More stuff is created in lieu of actually working on culture.
Lack of leadership involvement: Senior leaders do not actively participate in cultural initiatives or model the desired behaviours. A few choice words at a town hall do not count.
Delegation of culture tasks: Culture change efforts – including leadership development, diversity, wellbeing and performance management etc – happen in silos, with no cross-functional or shared leadership accountability.
Reactive rather than proactive culture focus: Culture is addressed only when issues arise (eg low engagement scores, bullying complaints or high people turnover or absence), rather than as a strategic, ongoing priority led by senior leaders.
Lack of accountability across the organisation: There is no clear accountability for cultural outcomes outside of HR or designated culture teams, and other leaders do not see themselves as responsible for fostering and maintaining the organisation's culture.
How many of these are familiar in your organisation? One or two? More? Perhaps all of them. What’s the answer?
There is no magic bullet. However, a lot of the work we do with HR / L&D etc starts with helping to keep culture firmly on the exec agenda at a business, team and individual level. There are lots of ways to do this - it requires persistent effort, a great deal of diplomacy and a compelling business case.
Culture coaching can be a powerful ally. For HR and people teams, culture coaching can help create focus, confidence and build influencing muscles. For leaders and leadership teams, individual and team coaching can do a great deal to create awareness and understanding of the negative impact of of culture outsourcing, as well as clarity about what needs to change at a leadership level. And, vitally, coaching offers an enabling space where leaders can safely and energetically explore what they need to do individually to step into their role as culture enablers.
Get in touch to find out more about how how our coaching for culture programmes can help you.
