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Culture change models, in our view, are best achieved by the right mix of emotions, intent and order. Emotions, because they are such powerful motivators for change. Intent, because everyone wants to know where they’re going. And order, because structure brings surety. Stepping up to a Principled Culture is no exception.

Fit is the f word of culture

So often, cultures seek to squeeze the humanity from what’s expected of people while parroting jolly memes that try to sound more meaningful than they actually are. Imaginative, inspiring and challenging statements are watered out. Instead, rules, policies and expectations establish behavioural grid lines in the name of defining our way.

It’s miserable.

We absolutely hate the word “fit”. If you’re building a culture based on fit, you’re assembling a crowd mentality where the skills, experiences and interactions of the people across your buildings (and beyond) are herded into lowest-common-denominator parameters. A fit-based culture seeks to compete on singularity. In the worst sense of that word.

Of course, there needs to be discipline and boundaries and all that stuff in every culture. But there also needs to be freedom of expression, an atmosphere where sub-cultures can thrive, a decision-making approach that recognises the different ways people think and process, a backstop feeling of safety and mutual belief, and enough emotional and communal sophistication that people can infuse positive emotions and, at the same time, don’t feel they have to hide anything “adverse”.

Depth and breadth

Recently, we’ve started characterising these tensions dimensionally.

• Latitude – the areas of greatest emotional freedom within a changing culture. The things that enable people and teams to maximise themselves at work. Defined by what’s it going to take to achieve purpose and vision within the key cultural codes (values, behaviours etc)
• Longitude – the journey ahead, and the go and no-go areas within which that journey must take place. Intent and order, defined by the best mix of possibility (imaginative problem-solving) and constraint (regulation, ethical behaviours, sustainability).

The reason you need both dimensions is that there are times when the focus needs to be on what you’re working towards collectively and in the longer term. And there are other times when the onus must be on personal adjustment and what people need to be doing to get ready.

The Principled Culture model

Our culture transformation programme, Culture to Thrive, steps brand cultures through three stages that, not surprisingly, reflect the emotions, intent and order paradigm:

Agitation deals with the emotions and realities that are provoking the need for change, so the dynamics are longitudinal as those involved look ahead to what’s needed.

Activation focuses on the intentions of the organisation, teams and individuals, defining what people need to know to move forward, so a combination of longitudinal and latitudinal factors as those involved define the culture they need and the changes needed at a personal and team level.

Articulation The storytelling that brings the Principled Culture to life is intended to present the new ethos in a clear and ordered way that maximises understanding, engagement and advocacy. This part of the Principled Culture also has mixed dynamics in terms of longitudinal and latitudinal, as the culture looks ahead, and people apply the new cultural codes to what they’re doing.

Nine defining actions

Stepping up to a Principled Culture this way centres on nine actions that take place at different times across the model.

Agitation

1. Identify precisely why this is the right time for change. Analyse your strategy for the precedented and unprecedented things it asks of people.

Activation

2. On that basis, recognise the type of culture you need to bring your strategy alive. Various people have models for this. Ours builds on work by Denise Lee Yohn and identifies ten culture types – each with its own characteristics.
3. Give people ownership of what must happen, which means recognising them and then giving them real input. Align C-level direction with bottom-up feedback via the sub-cultures.
4. Shift to the new culture via the present culture. Work with and from emotions and behaviours that already exist and that work. In Jeremy Dean’s words, lift the emotional suppression order.
5. Set a benchmark question – the one question, cued back to the purpose and vision, that anyone can ask of anyone else and that acts as the common basis for actions
6. Signal you’re serious via not just rewards and recognition, but also the contributions of different functions are recognised in the organisational structure. (All the signals must align)

Articulation

7. Build a common language – give people a deep sense of belonging by encouraging them to build their own internal lexicon
8. Transform rules/principles into a story and reinforce via anecdotes – everyone learns from examples, not just proof and rules. The Anecdote team are doing some great work in this space.
9. Give people simple tangible things to bind them. Link them to how people like to work, so that they literally incorporate shared artifacts into many of their interactions.

Next steps

Culture to Thrive is a strategically focused change programme. It takes time and investment. But it’s not the only way to step up to a Principled Culture. We also offer rapid-resolution strategy sessions if you want to focus on a particular aspect, Culture-fy workshops if you want to bring people together to formulate or feed back on what defines your culture, and focused consulting if you need a starting point. More on how and when we can help here.

Acknowledgements
Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash
Graphics designed by Fuller Studio.