As an industry, we could be better at supporting innovation.
By Lisa Hochgraf
What are three characteristics of a strong organizational culture? Beta Mannix, Ph.D., associate dean for executive MBA programs and a professor of management and organizations for Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, cited these three during CEO Institute II this August:
- Values are agreed upon and shared by leaders and employees.
- The culture is aligned with the strategy of the company.
- The culture supports innovation, risk-taking and change.
“Credit unions have very strong cultures and that helps you a lot,” Mannix said. “Where you get stuck is embracing some of the values around adaptation, risk-taking and change. Sometimes culture can get in the way.” To get better at supporting change and innovation, Mannix suggested that credit unions do the following:
- create a sense of urgency around solving a particular problem;
- create a vision, a large goal, that people can embrace; and
- build a guiding coalition that empowers people to act on the vision.
“It looks like a nice linear process, but it’s not at all,” she said. “You take several steps forward, a few steps back. It doesn’t ever work out quite this nicely. You do need to have most of these pieces in place to do a good job at change.” Remember, she added, “If you succeed at everything, you know you haven’t taken a risk. Culture change is tough, but has great payoff. It takes a team and strong commitment.”
Lisa Hochgraf is a senior editor for CUES. Classes are now forming for CEO Institute 2016. Learn how to build a culture of innovation when you attend CUES' two-part Strategic Innovation Institute. Strategic Innovation Institute I covers the latest in innovation theory, Sept. 25-30, 2016, at MIT--and also prepares you to become even more expert at innovation by attending Strategic Innovation Institute II at Stanford University in 2017.
