The Winning Culture Formula: Breaking Through the Ceiling of Culture Change

Does your team or organization have the culture it needs to succeed in this new era of rapid disruption, accelerated succession planning or digital transformation?

Much has been written about culture, with most leaders seeing it as a critical lever for organizational health and effectiveness. Yet it remains one of the most ambiguous yet powerful elements that can either accelerate growth or just as easily destabilize efforts.

Most teams have some idea as to what kind of culture currently exists within their organization, but they often aren’t sure what kind of culture they should be building towards. Sure, many have opinions and leadership attitudes towards “how things should get done” certainly shape things. However, for teams to really move forward, they must get on the same page as to what kind of culture they believe is required for breakthrough success and start actively building these capabilities into everyday work life.

In general, your team and organization will likely have taken on one of four core workplace cultures that exist in some form of matrix with one taking the lead (adopted from Competing Values Framework, Cameron + Quinn).

Family Culture – The first is the family culture where a significant emphasis is placed on interpersonal connections, collaboration and internal team dynamics. These types of cultures typically celebrate a highly relational approach to workplace interactions as well as long tenured dedication and commitment. Decisions are based on consensus and promotions based on tenure and dedication.

Adhoc Culture – The second is the Adhocracy culture that is best characterized as the “start-up” environment. This culture celebrates quick pivots, decentralized decision making, flat structures and gut-based decision making. The advantage of Adhocracy is that it is highly responsive to change and deeply connected to the needs and desires of its clients. Overtime this culture can be experienced as chaotic, inconsistent and overwhelming.

Market Culture – The third is the Market Culture which is inevitably in tension with the Family culture. As an organization grows and professionalizes greater focus begins to be placed on achieving consistent results and holding groups and teams accountable for commitments. In high Market cultures competitiveness is high and there is a great emphasis on constant improvement, organizational learning and achievement.

Hierarchy Culture – The fourth, is the Hierarchy Culture that is the counter to the Adhoc perspective, where there is a strong desire for consistency, rules and procedures. Decision making rights are well laid out and there are clear levels of ownership and accountability. If overused, this culture can become stagnant and overly bureaucratic.

When defining your team/organization’s Winning Culture Formula it is critical to first identify what the current underlying core culture is and what parts of this need to be protected as this is the unique ethos of your success. There will also be elements that are no longer serving the group well and new aspects that will need to be added. Typically, you are looking to balance Family with Market elements and Adhoc with Hierarchy and vice versa. A sample of a winning culture formula is “Becoming the A Team” which was created for a department at a local municipality that was experiencing some friction:

• Achieve Results Together
• Talk Straight
• Earn Respect
• Act with Accountability
• Make Things Right

In articulating an organization’s or team’s winning culture formula, we like to first start with some form of culture and climate assessment. A culture survey is a powerful alternative to an engagement survey, as it focuses on culture or the way things happen rather than on individual behavior and experiences. This is significantly less threatening and encourages people to feel safe in sharing their experience and engaging in solutions. The four specific culture dimensions that should be captured in any culture assessment are: – Agility (speed & dexterity), Collaboration (dynamics between teams), Engagement (personal dynamics), Performance (success dynamics) and Trust (dynamics within teams).

The second phase is the fun part. In this phase results are shared, and the assembly of a small Culture Accelerator Working Group helps takes these insights into action. By first clearly articulating the organization’s/team’s Winning Culture Formula, the group is then able to build out tangible steps to advance the culture and see real results!

At the end of the day, culture change isn’t easy, but it is possible with the right formula to help shape future success!