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In any organization a certain culture exists. Culture can be defined many ways, but we refer to it as "habitual organizational behavior". In other words, organizations tend to repeat behavior in certain ways depending on the way the organization is managed and the type of people hired.

A small minority of organizations take on a high accountability, high performance profile. This becomes the culture that employees become accustomed to and strive to meet expectations built around this culture. Most organizations, however, develop cultures that fall short of high accountability, high performance. They range anywhere from very low accountability and performance to just short of high accountability and performance.

The culture is a result of management and people. Over time, "behavior" becomes so deeply rooted that it becomes very difficult to change. New leadership/management is sometimes brought in to turn the business around and change the culture. But this can often be troublesome for the new manager or leader.

Because a culture is so interweaved in the daily activities and behavior of the organization, it takes time to change it. It is most difficult to shift a low accountability culture to a high accountability culture. Employees in a low accountability culture are often marginal in terms of their ability to perform at a high level. When a manager suddenly makes a shift toward higher performance expectations, these employees often fight back in subtle and not so subtle ways. Even the best managers in these situations can sometimes fail.

A culture can fight change in such a way that the old guard becomes convinced that any planned change is bad and will have no part of it. Change in a low performance/low accountability culture is a threat because the employees fear being able to execute the plan and they fear being held accountable for high performance......something they might not be able to achieve.

To avoid a culture backlash, move slowly in making changes. Get a good feel for the type of employees and what they will fear most. Try to minimize those fears through strong communication and a commitment to helping them become better employees. Assure employees that any change will be accompanied by necessary training and patience in moving to a higher level of performance and accountability.

But bear in mind that even by moving slowly and trying to put employees at ease, there can still be significant resistance. Remember that most of the employees in a low accountability/low performance culture are comfortable with that culture and would rather leave it that way….even though sustained low performance can lead to business failure.