Ducks in a Row: Toxic Culture
by Miki Saxon
How would you feel as a member of a highly respected, world-class organization to hear it described as follows, not by a competitor, but based on an internal investigation.
In all, the documents painted a picture of a highly dysfunctional, top-heavy organization divided into discrete, rival factions, and weighed down by mistrust, poor communication, buck-passing and internecine squabbling.
The article refers to the BBC, but could just as well be describing any on of hundreds of companies ranging from Fortune 50 to tiny mom & pop businesses.
In most cases it happens when bosses takes their eyes off the cultural ball and make seriously erroneous assumptions, such as these,
- Once culture is set it doesn’t change.
- Culture takes care of itself, i.e., it’s self-sustaining
- People will follow my lead, so I don’t need to be culturally proactive.
- What culture?
Toxic culture kills everything in its path, including, eventually, the company itself—IBM nearly died of it.
As Lou Gerstner said, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game,” and he’s not the only CEO to feel that way.
The BBC is just one of the latest in a long line to be brought low by a bad culture.
Flickr image credit: Keven Law
