Culture vs. Strategy Initiatives: What comes first?

by Rachel Harris

"Strategy: A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem.

Culture: Broadly, social heritage of a group, organized community or society. It is a pattern of responses discovered, developed, or invented during the group's history of handling problems which arise from interactions among its members, and between them and their environment." - The Business Dictionary

As an organization plans to make changes, leaders take into consideration both cultural and strategy initiatives. Some begin to question which initiative they should highlight the importance of, in order to see the most results. The answer is simple: neither. Cultural and strategical initiatives both have lasting benefits on any sort of change management initiative.