Game-changing new book rewrites the rules on how to get organisational culture right
Counting the Dance Steps: Game-changing new book rewrites the rules on how to get organisational culture right
Sharing over twenty years’ experience at the top of his field, in Counting the Dance Steps,Andrew Cocks questions why our business leaders and the media are so quick to talk about culture while it is a concept which remains so poorly understood. He confirms that whilst business leaders like to think they’re in control, they are not and explains why sensible, intelligent people can so regularly come together to do things which are far from sensible and intelligent. In this definitive guide,the author challenges all we think we know about organisational culture and provides frameworks and measurements to better support the collective behaviours which engender organisational integrity and more effective risk management.
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UNITED KINGDOM – Whilst most people in business believe the culture in their organisation is positive and thriving, Andrew Cocks encourages leaders at all levels to undertake some navel-gazing and to acknowledge, possibly for the first time, that their perceptions bear little resemblance to reality.
The author suggests that we only have to look at recent situations and scandals within financial, political, healthcare and law enforcement institutions to appreciate that something needs to be done about organisational culture, and that change needs to happen now.
Informative and insightful, this ‘bible’ for all business leaders and people managers (from micro-SMEs to blue-chip chief execs) demystifies what corporate culture actually is and explains why we’ve been getting it so wrong. It also provides step-by-step advice on how to change the status quo and most importantly, how then to measure and quantify the benefits of culture change.
Written to challenge conventional wisdom about organisational culture and to promote a more meaningful dialogue, all those who invest the time to Counting the Dance Steps will be eternally grateful to Andrew Cocks for bringing some much-needed clarity to a subject which has such profound consequences for us all.
Synopsis:
The need to understand and manage organisational culture is one of the most pressing business priorities of our time. The growing litany of scandals across political, public and commercial institutions illustrates how we are continuing to fall well short in this regard. Counting the Dance Steps explores the reasons behind these collective failures and challenges many of the myths that are perpetuated about organisational culture, how it works, how to measure it and how to change it.
The author says:
“What prompted me to embark on this endeavour was my growing belief that much of what was said about organisational culture is either lazy and questionable, wilfully designed to obfuscate and confuse, or just downright false. In this book, I have attempted to challenge the current orthodoxy and provide some suggestions for new and potentially more productive ways of conceptualising, measuring and changing culture. Hopefully it will contribute to a more thoughtful and less dogmatic conversation around how we manage organisational culture, which is after all far too important and consequential to continue getting so catastrophically wrong.”
Praise for Counting the Dance Steps:
The approaches outlined in the book have been endorsed by the leading figure in Organisational Culture research and practice, Edgar Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management. Professor Schein says;
‘Counting the Dance Steps takes a deep dive into the problem of how to think about and measure culture without falling into the trap of brief surveys and simplistic typologies. This book offers a valuable and detailed critique of oversimplifications and argues for a more nuanced understanding and assessment of culture’
Published by Conflux Publishing, Counting the Dance Steps is available in paperback (£12.77) and Kindle format on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3MST2Zl and https://amzn.to/3kCjivd respectively
About the author:
Andrew Cocks is an Organisational Psychologist and thought leader in the areas of culture and employee engagement. He says:
“ I have worked with some of the world’s biggest employers over a 25 year career, including large financial organisations, NHS Employers and many Government Departments and Police Constabularies, and have been Group Head of Engagement and Employer Brand at HSBC and European Head of Employee Engagement for management consultants Towers Watson.
“I designed CultureQuest, a multi award-winning assessment for organisations to help them measure culture and develop inclusive workplaces. I am also a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts. This is my first book.”
