Walking the Talk

by Carolyn Taylor
Random House Business, March 2005
416 pp.


Carolyn Taylor provides a ground-breaking guide to all aspects of the crucial discipline of building an effective culture, showing readers how to lead, define, plan, analyse and capitalise on culture to transform themselves and their organisations. Divided into two halves, the first part of the book shows how a company culture is created and sustained (and the implications for company growth); the second half provides a practical step-by-step guide, covering everything you need to know about planning and implementing a culture programme in your business.

www.walkingthetalk.com



Walking the Talk

by C Taylor

Many books have already been written on the importance of culture. Carolyn Taylor’s Walking the Talk: Building a Culture for Success, is probably one of the most comprehensive for HR professionals and other executives in Australia.

Taylor has done her research in Walking the Talk, and takes a realistic but practical approach to cultural change. She begins with an overview of what culture is, how to measure it and how to work out where to go.

She examines some common roadblocks – both at the personal and organisational levels – and presents a number of strategies for overcoming them. Getting the executive to take ownership of cultural change is one of the biggest challenges HR professionals face, and the book details strategies for tackling the issue. Importantly, Taylor dedicates a number of chapters to influencing key stakeholders across an organisation and assisting them in changing their beliefs and values and improving their self-awareness.

Walking the Talk also looks at cultural change in a number of organisational environments, from mergers and acquisitions to managing cultures in small to medium size businesses. She concludes with an in-depth and well-known case study of Lion Nathan – one company that has got it right and the financials to prove it.

Essential reading.

Culture change: Does HR have a role?

Much has been said lately about culture and the impact it can have upon organisational performance. In the first part of a two-part article, Carolyn Taylor looks at how culture change works and details HR ’ s role in the process

Recent high profile corporate disasters have moved culture to centre stage as an executive priority, risk management issue for the board and an opportunity for real performance differentiation. Culture was named as a primary cause of National Australia Bank’s troubles last year by the APRA and PwC reports on the fiasco; for Enron’s self serving arrogance; and for pushing Shell executives into overstating oil reserves. Culture accounts for Virgin’s quirkiness, Apple’s innovative spirit and Flight Centre’s frontline passion.

It remains one of the last untapped management disciplines, with most organisations spending more to update computer systems than they ever would on figuring out how to align employees’ behaviour to their strategy. Once harnessed to competitive advantage, the power of culture makes it hard for others to catch up, at least in the short term.

HR professionals can help and sometimes initiate the culture change process; they can, however, also be left behind in its wake. Many organisations today are undertaking some form of culture work, so it is important that HR professionals stay ahead of latest thinking on what culture is, how it can be driven and, importantly, what HR’s role in the process can be.

How culture works

Culture is best described as ‘how we do things around here’– it is created from the messages that are received about how people are expected to behave. Cultures develop in any community of people who spend time together and who are bound together through shared goals, beliefs, routines, needs or values. Cultures exist in nations, in corporations, in sporting clubs, in schools, in families, in religious communities, in professions and in social groups.

We humans are basically tribal animals, who are hardwired to fit in with our tribe. We read the signals about what it takes to fit in, and we adapt our behaviour accordingly. This is a survival strategy. If we absolutely cannot do this, we either leave the tribe, or the tribe ejects us. As we adapt to fit in with our new tribe, we in turn reinforce these tribal norms or accepted behaviours and thus reinforce the culture.

The process is reinforced through peer pressure. Existing tribe members, concerned about the threat to the tribe a newcomer represents, work together to ensure that the new member does not rock the boat and thus expose weaknesses in individual members.

So, to change a culture, you have to change the messages people receive about what is valued. Once people really experience new values emerging, most will adjust their behaviour accordingly. Culture management is message management. Most of these messages are non-verbal – the ‘walk’ rather than the ‘talk’– and are received from three sources: behaviours, symbols and systems.

Of the three, behaviour is the most powerful. A small but significant change in a leader’s behaviour (starting to listen and ask questions instead of telling, for example) will send the message over time that others’ opinions are valued and that this culture values openness. Symbols, such as changing how time is allocated in meetings, are also powerful.


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