Why it matters
Culture never drifts into nothing; it drifts toward whatever is pulling hardest — the loudest voice, the behaviour that gets rewarded, the brilliant performer nobody challenges. A regular drift check turns "What is our culture?" into the more useful question: "What is it drifting toward, and who or what is doing the pulling?"
How to run it
- Look at three ordinary moments from the last quarter:
- How do our meetings actually begin?
- What happens when someone brings bad news?
- What happens when a brilliant performer behaves badly?
- For each, ask: What does this moment teach people about what really matters here?
- Name the pull. Who or what is our culture drifting toward?
- Decide for each moment: keep, redesign or remove.
- Redesign one moment this quarter — and check it at the next Drift Check.
Decay is free. Design takes work.
Watch out for
- Naming individuals instead of patterns
- Identifying the drift and redesigning nothing — pick one moment to change
When not to use it
If a specific person’s behaviour is causing harm, deal with it directly and privately — not in a group discussion.
Sources
- Roshan Thiran — You don’t have a culture problem. You have a culture design problem.
- Graham, Harvey, Popadak & Rajgopal — Corporate Culture: Evidence from the Field
