CLIENT NEED: BEHAVIOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL NORMS
CLIENT NEED: BEHAVIOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL NORMS
Culture
Culture
We help leadership teams identify the behaviors their strategy requires and change the practices that reinforce competing ones.
We help leadership teams identify the behaviors their strategy requires and change the practices that reinforce competing ones.
DIAGNOSE
OCP makes the culture—and the gap—visible.
OCP makes the culture—and the gap—visible.
The Organizational Culture Profile is a research-based survey that describes the values and norms employees experience in the organization. Leaders compare the current culture with the culture the strategy requires.
The Organizational Culture Profile is a research-based survey that describes the values and norms employees experience in the organization. Leaders compare the current culture with the culture the strategy requires.
The results give the leadership team a shared, quantitative view of the current culture, the needed culture and the gap between them.
The results give the leadership team a shared, quantitative view of the current culture, the needed culture and the gap between them.
CURRENT CULTURE
What the organization values in practice.
What the organization values in practice.
THE GAP
Where present behavior does not support the strategy.
Where present behavior does not support the strategy.
NEEDED CULTURE
The behaviors the strategy requires.
The behaviors the strategy requires.
ACT
LEASH organizes the actions that follow the diagnosis.
LEASH organizes the actions that follow the diagnosis.
OCP identifies the gap. LEASH gives the leadership team a disciplined way to address it through leader actions, employee involvement, rewards, stories and symbols, and people systems.
OCP identifies the gap. LEASH gives the leadership team a disciplined way to address it through leader actions, employee involvement, rewards, stories and symbols, and people systems.
Leaders use the diagnosis to choose what must change, assign responsibility and review whether people experience a different set of signals in the work itself.
Leaders use the diagnosis to choose what must change, assign responsibility and review whether people experience a different set of signals in the work itself.
Leader actions, employee involvement, rewards, stories and symbols, and people systems reinforce the behaviors the strategy requires.
Behaviors the strategy requires
Leader actions — what leaders do and attend to
Leader actions — what leaders do and attend to
Employee involvement — participation in shaping the change
Employee involvement — participation in shaping the change
Aligned rewards — reinforcement of the expected behavior
Aligned rewards — reinforcement of the expected behavior
Stories and symbols — visible examples of the culture
Stories and symbols — visible examples of the culture
HR system alignment — hiring, development and promotion
HR system alignment — hiring, development and promotion
Culture reflects what the organization repeatedly rewards and tolerates.
Culture reflects what the organization repeatedly rewards and tolerates.
A strategy may require candor, collaboration or experimentation while the organization rewards certainty, local performance or the avoidance of risk. People respond to those conditions. Stating a different set of values does not remove the tension.
A strategy may require candor, collaboration or experimentation while the organization rewards certainty, local performance or the avoidance of risk. People respond to those conditions. Stating a different set of values does not remove the tension.
We begin with the behaviors that matter to the business. Leaders examine which norms support performance, which have become limiting and how their own decisions reinforce them.
We begin with the behaviors that matter to the business. Leaders examine which norms support performance, which have become limiting and how their own decisions reinforce them.
We examine the signals that make the expected behavior credible.
We examine the signals that make the expected behavior credible.
We look at the decisions leaders make, who is selected and promoted, how rewards are allocated and what happens when people disagree. We also examine the stories employees repeat about the organization. Past experiences can continue to shape trust and behavior even after the formal arrangements have changed.
We look at the decisions leaders make, who is selected and promoted, how rewards are allocated and what happens when people disagree. We also examine the stories employees repeat about the organization. Past experiences can continue to shape trust and behavior even after the formal arrangements have changed.
Leaders choose a focused set of actions that reinforce the behaviors the strategy requires. This involves changing practices that send conflicting signals and making credible examples of different behavior visible. Employees need to experience the change in the work itself, including how leaders respond when collaboration or experimentation puts current commitments under pressure.
Leaders choose a focused set of actions that reinforce the behaviors the strategy requires. This involves changing practices that send conflicting signals and making credible examples of different behavior visible. Employees need to experience the change in the work itself, including how leaders respond when collaboration or experimentation puts current commitments under pressure.
Leaders make culture tangible through their decisions.
Leaders make culture tangible through their decisions.
Client teams translate the desired culture into specific actions and review whether people experience a difference. The test is whether the practices of the organization support the behavior the strategy depends on.
Client teams translate the desired culture into specific actions and review whether people experience a difference. The test is whether the practices of the organization support the behavior the strategy depends on.
Culture work connects closely with the management system. Priorities, measures and leadership decisions need to reinforce the behaviors the strategy requires.
Culture work connects closely with the management system. Priorities, measures and leadership decisions need to reinforce the behaviors the strategy requires.
Research for this work
Research for this work
Selected books from our professors that deepen the questions examined in this offering.
BOOK
Charles A. O’Reilly and Jeffrey Pfeffer · 2000
BOOK
Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati and Michael L. Tushman, editors · 2015
RELATED IDEAS
Research and perspectives for this client need.
Research and perspectives for this client need.
The LEASH model explains how leadership, formal organization, people and culture shape whether innovation can take hold inside an established company.
This article is reprinted with permission from Fast Company.
When the pace of change inside the company is slower than the pace outside, it is a key indicator that there is trouble ahead.