Change The Culture, Change The Game

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By Rob Wright

If you have been to my LinkedIn profile, you may have noticed I added the Reading List by Amazon. This is part of my own personal culture change. Is Facebook in my future? Time will tell. Anyway, I wanted to let you know I recently finished reading “Change the Culture, Change the Game” by Roger Connors and Tom Smith. It is currently number seven on the New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list. There is a whole host of books I have read about culture change, i.e. “Fish,” “Who Moved My Cheese,” and “Gung Ho,” just to name a few. The difference between those and this book is the others I would classify as quick reads, and this one, not so much. There is a reason for this. “Change the Culture, Change the Game” is designed to be much more interactive, with sections where you can enter information about your own company, such as areas on which you want to focus your efforts.

As I pondered this, it really made sense to do it this way if you are serious about changing your company’s culture. The other books I mentioned are very inspirational, where as this book is more of a handbook. I read “Gung Ho” more than 10 years ago and still remember, “The spirit of the squirrel, the way of the beaver, and the gift of the goose.” So, if you are serious about wanting to change the culture of your organization, I would suggest you read a book like those mentioned first, to truly get you in the spirit of things, before picking up this book. Doing so will get you in the mood for the work that lies ahead, which “Change the Culture, Change the Game” can help you implement.

One of the takeaways I really liked in this book was the explanation provided on the skill to be facilitative in your communication style. “Getting everyone to engage in a meaningful dialogue about what needs to change and making sure that conversation occurs at every level of the organization is essential to accelerating culture change.” Having been in management during the implementation of a culture change initiative, I believe this to be true. There are plenty of people who will tell you what they think you want to hear, not what you need to hear. I had several members on my team who gave me honest feedback, as well as suggestions on how to improve. My advice — surround yourself with those kind of people. If you have everyone telling you what a great job you are doing and asking for you to “pour them more Kool-Aid,” you will not make lasting culture change.