Creating culture is a misnomer, because culture already exists. You don't need to create it, but you do need to decide what culture you want, and move towards it.
“You see that rock over there?” I said to my friend, “it’s gneiss [pronounced ‘nice’]”.
“I can see it’s nice, but what’s your point?”
“No, no...I repeated, it’s gneiss. It was formed over a billion years ago through a metamorphic process resulting in foliation. It’s tougher that granite and even steel”.
“Nice”, said my friend. “Exactly”, I replied.
Gneiss forms the “basement rocks” that are below most land masses. These are just like the basement of your house, they are the foundation for the layers above.
Two important things about gneiss,
It comes from its parents, and
It’s formed through the experiences of its environment.
Your organisation’s governance and culture is similar. Formed from your past and shaped by your experiences.
All organisations have governance and culture, it’s the robustness and effectiveness which varies.
To get the quality of governance you want, you need to put in the effort.
To get the culture you want, you need to turn up and exemplar your values, day in day out.
Changing the governance, risk and compliance narrative, Gneiss!
