QUITE A LOT
Learning how culture and strategy go hand in hand.
Culture is wonderful but requires a lot of work. This applies equally to corporate culture. So, what does a publicly listed industrial company with around 15,000 employees do when it realises that its new strategy also sets new cultural expectations and conditions for its leaders and employees? It sounds like a lot of work.
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
How do employees, managers, and the management perceive our culture? Why do we need to change our culture at all, and how do we communicate this? Do we need a purpose? Where does culture end and corporate branding begin? Who is responsible for our culture?
WHAT HAS NOT HAPPENED SO FAR
The organisation is divided into three large divisions and other business areas, some of which have been acquired. So far, corporate values and culture have not played a strategically relevant role and are not embedded in a target system. This is in stark contrast to the strategy.
CULTURE DOES NOT FOLLOW STRATEGY
The strategy is developed by the C-level and implemented top-down. Culture is influenced by the C-level but is already present everywhere—in the organisation, at locations, in leadership styles, and in teams. There is the official version and the lived version. However, we do have a cultural model at hand, in which we can locate the current and target culture and describe their opportunities and risks.
“We viewed coaching as a
sign of weakness.”
MAKING THE IMPLICIT EXPLICIT
Observing, sharing, and reflecting on behavioural and communication patterns is active cultural work, whether in C-level or team meetings. This requires attention. We link strategy projects with cultural projects to bring leaders from all departments into contact with hidden beliefs, values, and potentials when it matters.
A FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATION AND NAVIGATION
In our interviews and team workshops, various perceptions, beliefs, and narratives emerge. With management and employees, we develop a "framework" that is a mix of map and compass, with a legend, current and target locations, action triggers, training camps, theme landscapes, and communication routes.
APPRECIATIVE COMMUNICATION CAN CREATE RESONANCE
Appreciative communication provides psychological safety and facilitates change. Whether at the C-level or team leader level, sharing successes AND failures in corporate and team public forums builds trust, stimulates change, and enables new narratives. Perfect material for coffee breaks and the employee magazine. This is how cultural resonance is created.
