What's The Epicentre?

Embark on a culture trail and discover the source of behaviours and practices that do not work for your organisation.

- Sameer Dua

GE’s global leadership institute in Carletonville is ‘often described as the epicenter of the GE Culture’. 1 In one of the HR Focus Group Meetings that I was moderating, I asked a group senior Head of HR what perhaps could be the epicentre of culture in their organisation. It could be a culture that works, or one that does not.

The epicentre could either be at one department, or at one unit within the organisation; one person could also be the epicentre of the organisation’s culture.

As people who have a role in shaping the culture of the organisation, the first step is to understand what may be the epicentre of the present culture. If that culture works for the organisation, then the question is how we can further amplify its impact. If that does not work, then we need to root it out from the epicentre rather than deal with the symptoms of it.

This question, “What could be the epicentre of your culture?” surprised several members of the panel conversation. It is not a question we often reflect upon.

However, before we begin this reflection, we need to understand what does culture even mean? Culture is a complicated word and can mean different things to different people.