Although I’ve shared a fair amount about me in my blog articles, this is more of a personal post than I typically do.  I was going back through my 2020 calendar the other day and reflecting on my time spent this year.  I counted the number of medical appointments that I took my mother to.  It totaled 81.  Yes, you read that right…eighty-one medically related appointments so far this year.  All for a variety of things.
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I left my CHRO job early last year.  I worked for a large hospital system and I’ve often thought this year, as the U.S. has tried to handle a global pandemic, how would I have juggled my executive responsibilities and all of my mom’s needs had I stayed?  At the time that I left my job, I was barely hanging on as it was.  Having hit burnout myself, dealing with being the medical POA for my mother and all of her medical needs as she aged, I could no longer juggle the demands of my job along with the needs of my family and it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, so I threw in the towel on my corporate life and focused my attention on my family.  

Organizational culture is squishy.  It’s elusive.  It’s hard to define.  Organizational culture is a living thing that is always changing.  That also means it can be influenced – either positively or negatively.  Organizations need to be thoughtful about developing their culture.  That takes some expertise and intentionality in doing so.
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Early on in my career a wise consultant told me it takes seven years to change a culture.  In my 25 years of human resources, organizational change and leadership experience, I have found that to be true.  You can certainly start to see the effects of intentional change earlier than that, but to really make a culture change stick, seven years is about right.  True culture change won’t depend on a leader to sustain it.  You’ll know when it sticks if a leader can walk away and the changes are lasting. They’ve become systematically embedded in what is happening throughout the organization.  It takes intentional effort, consistency and time to make happen.