Structure Constrains Culture
~530 word | ~2.5 min read
Human systems have long fascinated me. Whether mechanical, or social, I found them captivating! To be honest, I delight in a level of intentional complexity. But what always motivated me was a question: Why? “Why do some teams have a great culture when others don’t?”
I’ve even tried to answer that in fact. From a individualistic perspective, it’s about an individual’s choice. Specifically, the team’s culture is the product of the repeated choices of her members. If you want ‘psychological safety’, we have to behave in ways that make other humans feel it is safe. But this is not the whole story.
What influences our behavior? Certainly our upbringing, our values, even our hopes all affect it. But so does our hierarchy. The roles we plan, or we assign ourselves influence our actions. What is more, your role brings with it incentives galore!
Person A does X and, when X goes well, A benefits. Person B does Y, which is in tension with X, and when Y goes well, B benefits. What else could we expect except conflict between A and B in that case? Each, acting in their reasonable self-interest, would seek to maximize their experienced incentives! So much for how Structures, and Incentives interact with a Team Culture.
But let me ask you this, where did these Structures come from? Remember the True Nature of an Organization. Organization are voluntary associations of disparate people pursuing some goal. And our leaders usually set our goals, and the structures we use to pursue them. Hierarchy, Process, even labels are all structural tools. Each emerge from a Leader’s solution to the challenge they are facing. And the leader can only answer them from their present awareness and values. That is, a Leader can only create structure using the current culture as a reference point.
When those hierarchies or processes work, they persist… until the problem changes. Then those same structures which helped us, now hold us back. The structures once aligned the interested of A and B, so that X and Y went well. Now they ensure that since X and Y are in clear tension, A and B will be too. Today’s Culture, and Today’s Structure influence how we can response to Today’s Challenge. Today’s Structure, and Culture will constrain Tomorrow’s new Structure too. Just like they did in the past.
A Leader can only answer Today’s Challenge from their present awareness and values. And so the cycle continues… Unless. Unless you see the system, and choose to break from it. Remember that our Organizations are as much artifact, as they are entity. They are mutable in ways we often do not choose to pursue.
The Leader’s job is not merely to identify good goals. It is also part of their work to change the socio-technical system of our work. That is, changing the organization must be part of how they pursue new goals. Since our business challenges keep shifting, so should our culture and our structures.
The trick is to be intentional.
Observe your current culture.
Identify the structural incentives.
Try to remember the goals they once aligned with.
Compare the remembered past with your current goals.
Then re-build your structures, and thereby your culture.
Pursue your current goals in light of what you’ve learned!