Culture: The Missing Link in Botswana’s Transformation

Botswana has spoken loudly in recent years about the importance of Mindset Change. This call to shift individual thinking was a crucial foundation – a much-needed movement to inspire personal responsibility, ambition, and positive attitudes among citizens. But today, we are standing at a different threshold. The time has come to build on that momentum and evolve from how we think to how we do. It is time to move from Mindset Change to Culture Change.

From Individual Thinking to Collective Doing

“When patterns of thinking change, it’s a mindset shift. When patterns of behaviour change across an organisation, that’s culture transformation.” – People Interface.  While mindset change focuses on individuals, culture change looks at the collective. Organisational culture is about shared values, behaviours, norms and expectations. It defines how we operate within institutions – whether in the public sector, in parastatals, or in private companies. Culture determines what is encouraged, what is tolerated, and what is rewarded.

A strong culture can drive exceptional performance. A toxic or risk-averse culture, on the other hand, can stall even the best strategic plans. In Botswana, we’ve seen well-articulated strategies falter not due to a lack of knowledge, but because the organisational culture didn’t support delivery. Implementation is not just about policies – it’s about the behaviours people adopt when no one is watching. Let us be clear: we do not lack ideas or plans in our country. What we often lack is an enabling culture that supports execution, collaboration, and accountability. In many institutions, a fear of failure, an obsession with compliance over creativity, and an avoidance of honest dialogue have become normalised. These are cultural risks. Like financial or operational risks, cultural risks can derail progress, reduce trust, and erode value.

Culture Deserves a Seat at the Table

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” – Peter Drucker. At People Interface, we believe culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is not a side conversation – it is the main course. This timeless truth underscores why culture must be given a seat at the boardroom table. Culture is not a soft issue, it is a strategic asset. Boards and executives must realise that organisational culture is not just HR’s responsibility. It shapes everything – from talent retention and innovation to customer experience and institutional resilience. A toxic culture can silently sabotage goals, while a strong one accelerates success.

Just as we monitor financial performance and operations, we must measure and manage culture. Do our employees feel safe to speak up? Do our teams collaborate? Are we rewarding execution, or just praising effort? If culture is everyone’s responsibility, how are we measuring each person’s role in shaping it? To what extent are we evaluating each employee’s contribution to our culture as part of performance reviews? These questions must guide leadership decisions. This is particularly vital in the public sector, where institutional culture influences service delivery and public trust. A culture of responsiveness, accountability, and delivery must become the standard. The public is tired of slow service and bureaucracy. These frustrations are often symptoms of deeper cultural issues.

A National Opportunity for Culture Transformation

Fortunately, Botswana has laid the foundation. The national Mindset Change campaign helped shift thinking. Now, the new administration has the opportunity to take the next step. This is the time to pioneer a national culture change agenda: one that builds high-performance cultures in our institutions, encourages innovation in our industries, and restores pride in public service.

To succeed, culture must be clearly defined and consistently measured. What do we mean by a high-performance culture? What values and behaviours do we expect? How will we know we’re moving forward? Because what gets measured, gets managed – and what gets ignored, gets repeated. “The greatest risk to any organisation is not adapting to change – and culture is often the invisible anchor that holds transformation back.” – Unknown. We must also acknowledge that culture, when left unchecked, becomes a critical risk. Toxic cultures lead to high turnover, low morale, reputational damage and ethical failure. Cultural risk must be identified and actively managed – just like any other form of risk.

Culture change must be led from the top, but owned by all. CEOs must ask whether their culture enables excellence. HR leaders must become culture architects. Government leaders must model the behaviours they wish to see embedded throughout the public service. Most importantly, we must stop treating culture as an afterthought. It doesn’t come after strategy. Culture shapes strategy. It shapes execution. It shapes results. If we want a Botswana that delivers on its promise and competes globally, culture change is not optional – it’s essential!

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford. We are ready. We are capable. And with the right cultural environment, we can close the gap between ambition and achievement. The call now is not only to think differently – but to do differently, together.

For organisations seeking to assess and enhance their workplace culture, People Interface, Botswana’s official OCAI partner, offers expert guidance. Contact team@peopleinterface.com to start building a thriving work environment.