You can recognise a culture of a system by the behaviours adopted. Behaviour = what do people say or not say, and what do they do or not do?
‘Behaviour is the message’ when dealing with cultural changes:
– What type of behaviour do we want to see more of in our organisation? Wat else? (interaction, values)
– Suppose our client will notice us delighting him, what would he be able to see us doing with him? What can we tell him we have done well together then? What else? (client orientation)
– As of next week we would end up one point higher on the scale in terms of sharing information. How would the other teams notice that? How else will they notice? (process optimisation)
Words determine cultures and cultures determine words.
Start counting the number of times you use words and expressions like ‘problem’, ‘the reason of x is’, ‘I don’t want y’,…
Ask yourself the goaling question when you’re stuck: ‘What do you want instead of this?’
Or act like a poet, and use magnificent words for their own sake. Be a rebel – not a saboteur – in your systems. You will help to shape new realities, new worlds.
In Germany the 1991 splasher word was ‘Besserwessie’. In Belgium in 2013 the Word of the Year was ‘selfie’.
Signs of the times?
What are your words of the year in your systems, i.e. team, family, friend groups, in 1 to 1 relationships,…? What do they tell you about your cultures? What words do you want to hear more often? How would you wish to replace some words with others?
