Culture is a Symptom, Not a Cause
- Aug 14
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 25
How the right use of measurement becomes the tipping point for a true performance culture
When organizations invest heavily in changing culture by running workshops, revising value statements, and shaping the "right" environment and mindsets — the results often don't stick.
Because culture is a symptom, not a cause. It's a byproduct of what management focuses on, does, and reinforces day to day. Culture itself isn't the right lever.
That is more than anecdotal. In their Harvard Business Review article, “Culture Is Not the Culprit,” Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague examined four major corporate transformations and found that culture didn’t change first. Instead, it changed as leaders altered how their organizations operated — including decision rights, performance measurement, and reward systems.
When it comes to building a stronger performance culture, three key levers sit squarely in how your organization measures performance and uses that information.
Clarity — Creating a clear, shared picture of the results each team is responsible for achieving.
Ownership — Putting measurement in the hands of teams to help them understand and improve their performance.
Autonomy — Giving teams greater freedom to make decisions and improve results based on performance information.
In this webcast with PuMP founder Stacey Barr, we explore how changing the way your organization measures performance uses that information can become the tipping point for building a true performance culture.
At the center of the webcast is the real-world experience of Harald Matzke, a CEO who lived this out. Using PuMP, he built a performance culture so strong it allowed him to reinvent his company’s entire performance management system and move to self-managed teams.
If you’re trying to build a stronger performance culture in your organization, there is a better place to start: not with culture itself, but with three practical levers for how performance is measured and used.
3 Levers for Performance Culture - Case and Diagnostic
How do these three levers show up in your organization?
Download the 3 Levers for Performance Culture Diagnostic to see how Harald put the three levers into practice and assess how effectively your organization uses each one.
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Brook Rolter, Managing Director and Founder of Rolter Associates, helps organizations integrate strategy, performance, and management practices to improve results and mission outcomes.
You can reach Brook at 703-628-0340 or by email.
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