Cult creation through HR…..
Leadership has a contract with their employees. There is an unspoken contract that the employees will be placed in a position to succeed at accomplishing the aims of the organization. That starts with “intentional culture design”. Fostering an environment in which the the best ideas have to win, for sustainable success in the future. Not a hegemonic machine of “Me”. Those (like me) adept at regurgitating my thoughts and words. Those that have the same experiences as us, that see the world the same as we do and have.
This is not a culture, this a a “mini-me” cult. It is a cult because leadership has intentionally through hiring and promotion cut away the most important part of the word culture the “URE”. Look at the word “Culture”. Now visually dissect it to represent what I am speaking to “CULT/URE”. When spoken aloud, “URE” sounds out the critical component of a successful culture. “URE”, “You’re” or “You are” is the core of a culture. It’s the individual perspectives and experiences that bring about the most adaptable ideas, dynamic concepts and long range sustainability functions of any true self-sufficient entity.
In biology, its genetic variation that allows for not only species survival but adaptation to a changing environment. If 2020 has shown anything, it has put tectonic shifts of health and business at the forefront in the minds of the world. No longer can leadership take the most comfortable steps regarding the future of the organization. The most comfortable as well as most common being “Cult creation through HR”. Beyond 2020, this is a strategy tantamount to “Hopes and Wishes”. Base-lining it for any and all entities it starts with the people. The people are the ones that reinforce the culture set by leadership. Scan your org chart, if there is a glaring similarity with regards to positions of authority. Guess what, you have successfully established or are working in a CULT, not a culture as your marketing materials suggest.
Audit and secret shop your hiring and promotion micro-processes. Listen to the adjectives used to describe candidates with similar credentials but different paths to get to the same point in their careers. Dump, interview rounds it’s a waste of time. Trust your gut and pull the trigger on that one candidate, when you have the chance. Remove the always ill-fated and racially backed “Cultural fit” processes and verbiage. Shorten decision making to one week or less and stop allowing those doing the hiring to be “frivolous” with candidates time and resources. That one “Spectacular” candidate may initially prefer your organization, but choose a different opportunity because your hiring process is a red flag. GREAT CALL because, it always is. It’s a sign of leadership disconnect and fundamental to every business “Cult”.
Do yourself a favor and put the people back in the foreground of the cult to really build a credible CULTURE. That’s how to get started with Intentional Culture Design. Or not and watch as the change unfolds with major organizational leaders of all levels getting taken down by new or old social media posts and statements that would have never been posted or uttered if they were in a company that had a “Culture”. Watch as those “Cults” get taken out by newer more diverse, more adaptive organizations that are living on the horizon and experience the social, political and economic changes in ways that “Cult” leadership will never fathom. This is the future, this is NOW and will continue to be the new NORMAL. Fight it to your own demise.
Michael Stattelman
