The biggest enemy (or ally) of Enterprise Transformation is Culture.

Do not underestimate the power of culture.

Do not underestimate the power of culture.

Do not underestimate the power of culture.

Culture Trumps Everything™ is much much more than just a saying. It is a very cold hard fact, which if ignored, literally has the capacity to destroy Enterprises. Culture trumps Physics, Truth, Best Practice, Good Intentions, Good Ideas, Passion, Inventiveness, Policies, Principles, Standards, Common Sense, etc, etc.

For any human based system, you can change as many Methods as you like, define as many Artefacts as you like and change the Environment used until the cows come home, but like a cork bobbing in the sea, they are utterly insignificant compared to the churning seas of Culture. Even when the sea appears calm there can be dangerous undercurrents and hidden dangers that can sink the unsinkable (as I have found from personal experience over 38 years of professional life). All Enterprises have to navigate the icebergs of culture, but many of them do not realise that they can only see 10% of the iceberg, or is it perhaps that many of them do not want to see the iceberg, preferring to deal with the obvious 10% and ignore the hidden and cynical 90%.

Perhaps we should also introduce the term politics. Politics on the face of it should be a force for good – our countries are run by politicians after all - however, within an Enterprise, politics normally equates to a force for bad. Bad decisions are made because of politics. The more politics exists, the more bad decisions are made.

So, while culture and politics could be viewed as either positive or negative, from personal experience: 5% of the time that equates to Culture/politics Enables Everything™. 95% of the time that equates to Culture/politics Screws-Up Everything™