It is widely quoted that when Field Marshal Goering heard the word "culture" he reached for his gun. I have had the same experience with clients who have been sold the 'cultural panacea'. They have been assured that culture is the driver to achieve business results. That is true. But the version of 'culture' to be implemented has no more of a strong correlation with improved business performance than 'wildly casting runes to the winds'.

A business culture should be tangible, observable, measurable and the results quantifiable. If it fails to measure the specific impact of improvement upon the bottom line, forget it! The culture of the business reflects how we focus people and processes to create a strong emotional value and attachment of the customer to the business - thus generating bottom-line results. My definition of culture is "the strategic focus of the business being actualised in actions and behaviours that deliver outstanding corporate and competitive performance".

A common myth which must be exposed is that cultural change is about "being nice to people", "tree hugging", "working together", "developing a caring environment". This approach is seriously flawed and misses the point completely. Cultural change can only be about shaping behaviour and processes to become more competitive. It is about maximising the potential of people to drive business performance. Improved business performance does not accrue by just "being nice to each other".

An interesting paradox exists. The majority of people in industry and commerce have a strongly analytical background, either financial, banking, engineering etc. They trust in that which is tangible, observable, specific, practical and quantifiable. In order for 'culture change' to work it must address the key issue - what precisely do we need to do to influence how people work, in order to drive and deliver corporate and competitive performance? Devote attention to answering that question, and there's no need to reach for the gun.

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