1. The document discusses organizational culture and how to lead culture change. It defines culture as the actions, behaviors and beliefs within an organization.
2. High-impact cultures produce direction, alignment and commitment - widespread agreement on goals, coordinated effort to achieve goals, and sustained passion to reach goals.
3. Creating a high-impact culture requires everyone playing a role, with senior leaders stepping up to change themselves and the culture, and informal leaders spreading the culture in their areas.
Este documento describe las competencias gerenciales clave para la eficiencia gerencial. Explica que las organizaciones dependen de los gerentes para guiarlas de forma competente. Luego describe siete competencias básicas para la efectividad individual y gerencial propuestas por Hellriegel y Slocum Jr: manejo propio, comunicación, diversidad, ética, cambio, equipos y transcultural. Concluye que en la sociedad actual, los gerentes necesitan desarrollar estas competencias para ser eficientes y garantizar la eficiencia organizacional.
The document summarizes information about family businesses and the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University. It provides statistics showing family businesses make up a large percentage of businesses globally and often outperform non-family businesses. It then discusses some of the resources and research supported by the Smith Family Business Initiative, including welcoming a new professorship in family business.
In order to be successful, it is universally accepted that organizations must ensure all employees are aligned with business objectives. But in a world where objectives inevitably change, how do your leaders keep employees aligned? In this session, Rich Been will discuss an emerging framework that defines leadership in terms of its outcomes of direction, alignment and commitment. This session also will introduce the Center for Creative Leadership’s latest, cutting-edge research on “boundary spanning” — the capability to create direction, alignment and commitment across organizational boundaries in service of a higher vision or goal.
Roland Smith, Ph.D., Senior Faculty Member and Lead Researcher, Center for Creative Leadership
Mark Onisk, Vice President, Learning Products, Element K
The document discusses boundary-spanning leadership, which involves creating direction, alignment, and commitment across organizational boundaries to achieve common goals. Boundary-spanning leadership is important because it taps into diverse perspectives to reduce costs and risks while increasing potential for innovation. The document provides strategies for developing boundary-spanning skills, such as building credibility through sharing information, listening, and engaging in learning with others across boundaries.
The document appears to be a website for an organization called hmc.org.uk. No other details are provided in the single line of text, so an accurate 3 sentence summary cannot be generated. The document simply lists a website address without any accompanying content to summarize.
Current state and future state using VECharles Palus
The document discusses a team's current and future state of performance based on a case study from the Center for Creative Leadership. Currently, the team members are performing solo like separate lines of crows and it feels complex. However, in the future, the team needs to have well-coordinated performance where everything fits and members know what to do while having fun and advancing the ball together with courage and guidance.
VE plus graphic facilitation for currrent / future statesCharles Palus
This document discusses using Visual Explorer Plus graphic facilitation to create a vision for an organization by defining its current state and desired future state. It suggests identifying key elements of the current situation and challenges, then envisioning an improved future state with goals and a plan to transition from current to future.
The Importance of Organisational Values Webinar SlidesValuesCentre
"Everything I Have Learned About Values" is now available for purchase! The book summarizes Richard Barrett's 30-year journey to understand how values shape our decision-making. In celebration of its release, we created a three-part webinar series to explore the importance of values.
To watch a recording of this webinar, please use this link:
https://youtu.be/1GXsNm249S4
This webinar focuses on the role values play in organisational culture. Richard will share insights on:
-How do you build a high performing values-driven organization?
-Why is it important to measure your culture?
-What role do leaders play in managing culture?
For more information please visit our website:
https://valuescentre.com
Este documento describe las competencias gerenciales clave para la eficiencia gerencial. Explica que las organizaciones dependen de los gerentes para guiarlas de forma competente. Luego describe siete competencias básicas para la efectividad individual y gerencial propuestas por Hellriegel y Slocum Jr: manejo propio, comunicación, diversidad, ética, cambio, equipos y transcultural. Concluye que en la sociedad actual, los gerentes necesitan desarrollar estas competencias para ser eficientes y garantizar la eficiencia organizacional.
The document summarizes information about family businesses and the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University. It provides statistics showing family businesses make up a large percentage of businesses globally and often outperform non-family businesses. It then discusses some of the resources and research supported by the Smith Family Business Initiative, including welcoming a new professorship in family business.
In order to be successful, it is universally accepted that organizations must ensure all employees are aligned with business objectives. But in a world where objectives inevitably change, how do your leaders keep employees aligned? In this session, Rich Been will discuss an emerging framework that defines leadership in terms of its outcomes of direction, alignment and commitment. This session also will introduce the Center for Creative Leadership’s latest, cutting-edge research on “boundary spanning” — the capability to create direction, alignment and commitment across organizational boundaries in service of a higher vision or goal.
Roland Smith, Ph.D., Senior Faculty Member and Lead Researcher, Center for Creative Leadership
Mark Onisk, Vice President, Learning Products, Element K
The document discusses boundary-spanning leadership, which involves creating direction, alignment, and commitment across organizational boundaries to achieve common goals. Boundary-spanning leadership is important because it taps into diverse perspectives to reduce costs and risks while increasing potential for innovation. The document provides strategies for developing boundary-spanning skills, such as building credibility through sharing information, listening, and engaging in learning with others across boundaries.
The document appears to be a website for an organization called hmc.org.uk. No other details are provided in the single line of text, so an accurate 3 sentence summary cannot be generated. The document simply lists a website address without any accompanying content to summarize.
Current state and future state using VECharles Palus
The document discusses a team's current and future state of performance based on a case study from the Center for Creative Leadership. Currently, the team members are performing solo like separate lines of crows and it feels complex. However, in the future, the team needs to have well-coordinated performance where everything fits and members know what to do while having fun and advancing the ball together with courage and guidance.
VE plus graphic facilitation for currrent / future statesCharles Palus
This document discusses using Visual Explorer Plus graphic facilitation to create a vision for an organization by defining its current state and desired future state. It suggests identifying key elements of the current situation and challenges, then envisioning an improved future state with goals and a plan to transition from current to future.
The Importance of Organisational Values Webinar SlidesValuesCentre
"Everything I Have Learned About Values" is now available for purchase! The book summarizes Richard Barrett's 30-year journey to understand how values shape our decision-making. In celebration of its release, we created a three-part webinar series to explore the importance of values.
To watch a recording of this webinar, please use this link:
https://youtu.be/1GXsNm249S4
This webinar focuses on the role values play in organisational culture. Richard will share insights on:
-How do you build a high performing values-driven organization?
-Why is it important to measure your culture?
-What role do leaders play in managing culture?
For more information please visit our website:
https://valuescentre.com
This document discusses organizational culture and provides a model for measuring it. It defines organizational culture as the shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that guide behavior in an organization. The document then presents the Denison Organizational Culture Model, which measures culture using four traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission. It describes how each trait is divided into further subdimensions and how an organization's scores in these areas can be plotted on a circular chart. The document concludes by providing an example culture profile for a Chinese company using this model.
The document discusses corporate culture and how it affects business decisions. It defines corporate culture as the norms, values and communication styles within an organization. Cultural differences between stakeholders can influence decision-making. Successful companies like HP and Southwest Airlines are conscious of their unique cultures and work to maintain them. Changing an organization's culture requires consistent goals, role clarity, shared rewards and other factors. Cultural awareness is important for business management across borders.
Do you dream of building a better organization?
* Where core values run through every part of the organization?
* Where people feel energized and inspired by work, and seek to solve challenges and own the results?
* Where innovation emerges organically from customer and stakeholder engagement?
* Where human beings are not just numbers on a balance sheet but the driving force of your success?
You need a live culture.
Blue Beyond Consulting helps organizations evolve their culture through a holistic approach. They begin by clarifying how the desired culture aligns with business strategy. Next, they engage the organization to create a compelling culture aspiration by gathering qualitative feedback. Finally, they build an architecture and execution plan to stimulate and sustain the culture through leadership alignment, HR processes, communication, and empowering employees. Their approach is adaptive, appreciative, practical, and ensures leadership commitment to evolving the organizational culture.
Within People - How culture helps you growWithin People
21st century business has evolved from believing “people are an asset” to understanding that it is how people work together that creates value. We wanted to find out what might be stopping leaders from seeing the importance of culture. And uncover common stories across the world where leaders have found ways to grow a culture - that grows a business.
This document discusses corporate culture and its importance. It defines corporate culture as the shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a group. Understanding an organization's culture is important for executives to ensure success, for potential employees to assess fit, and to enable significant changes when needed. Corporate culture can be identified by examining artifacts like the physical workspace, communication styles, and reward systems. While difficult, corporate culture can be changed through consistent leadership driving a compelling vision for transformation.
With benefits such as employee loyalty, job satisfaction and higher productivity, many believe that a distinct corporate culture is the key to the success of any business. For many organisations, their desired culture is defined by articulating a purpose, vision and values. However, research shows that only one in four employees strongly believe in their company’s values, and less than half know what their employer stands for.
This short webinar will provide insight on using communication to cultivate a distinct corporate culture, as well as tools and concrete action points that will instill a sense of belonging among employees, helping to boost job satisfaction, productivity and engagement in your organisation.
Culture?
Definition of Culture
Step to Build the Culture
Culture Types
Organizational Culture
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
How to create Organizational Culture?
Organizational culture was introduced in the late 1970s as a concept to understand shared values, beliefs, and norms within organizations. Researchers suggested that culture can significantly impact organizational outcomes and performance. The document defines organizational culture and discusses key aspects like different types of culture, how employees learn culture, the importance of culture, and the relationship between culture and organizational structure. It also provides steps to build and maintain a strong organizational culture.
“The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch. You can have a good strategy in place, but if you don’t have the culture and the enabling systems that allow you to successfully implement that strategy, the culture of the organization will defeat the strategy.” Richard Clark, CEO of Merck (2005 – 2010)
In a study conducted by Bain Consulting in 2008, 91% of the 1200 senior executives at global companies agreed that “culture is as important as strategy for business success”. It further revealed that 81% of executives agreed that “a company without a winning culture was doomed to mediocrity.” In a more recent study by Booz and Company in 2013 , 96% of the 2200 respondents agreed that “culture change is needed in their organisation” while 51% agree “that their culture needs a major overhaul”.
These are startling numbers. If organisational culture is so important, why is it not one of the top items on the agenda?
In the second of this 6 part Change Management series, we outlined the importance of communicating your change and actively engaging your stakeholders.
In this article, we discuss the importance of designing and building a culture that supports your vision.
Gallup Culture Audit - Transformation Model 2023.pdfHarshada Mulay
This document discusses culture audits and how they can help organizations understand and strengthen their culture. It provides the following key points:
1) A culture audit systematically assesses an organization's current culture, identifies cultural attributes, measures how strongly culture is reinforced, and ensures culture drives business outcomes.
2) Warning signs that a culture audit may be needed include an eroding identity, declining customer engagement, inability to attract talent, difficulty driving growth, and leadership initiatives stalling.
3) Despite investments to improve culture, many organizations still struggle to build strong connections to culture among employees. A culture audit can help identify what changes are needed.
The document discusses why culture is important and how leaders can cultivate the right culture within their organization. It states that culture reflects how an organization operates and is guided by its values and mission. It also directly correlates with an organization's success, influencing behaviors, productivity, and willingness to change. The document then offers tips for leaders to consider, including hiring people who align with the desired culture, treating employees well through goals and appreciation, and having leaders model the type of culture wanted through their own actions and behaviors.
1) The document discusses how Hofstede's cultural dimensions model can be applied to understand an organization's culture and its ability to shift. It describes how national culture influences organizational culture.
2) Legacy organizations tend to have cultures characterized by high power distance, individualism, masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance, short-term orientation, and restraint. These cultures struggle with transformation.
3) Successful innovative organizations require cultures characterized by low power distance, collectivism, femininity, low uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence to foster openness, collaboration, diversity, and continuous reinvention.
A Global WorkforceGlobalization Impact on CultureCulture is im.docxsleeperharwell
A Global Workforce
Globalization Impact on Culture
Culture is impacted by globalization, especially when it comes to a popular or dominates culture. Western or "Americanized" cultures are exposed around the globe through popular movies, television shows, fast food chains, books, clothing, and other consumer goods. These pop cultural items bleed into indigenous cultures and change local beliefs, values, and traditions; thus the historical cultures are changed or infused with the dominant culture.
Globalization and Cultural Domination
Cultural domination is one result of globalization. This theory refers to the dominant culture imposing beliefs, values, knowledge, and other cultural social norms onto the other country. A major example here is the Western culture domination over a global environment. The United States is a major capitalist society and therefore shapes values, identities, and perception around the world. As proven in the following example, with great power comes great responsibility.
As companies like McDonald’s move into countries like China, they are influencing the current cultural traditions in their wake. For instance, in China it was not acceptable for children to buy food with their own money; instead they were expected to eat what was placed in front of them. Traditionally McDonald's in Western countries would market to children with toys and happy meals, and they followed the same approach in China. Chinese children began wanting to select their own food when going to McDonalds, and after some time had passed, this has now become a new socially accepted practice (Lim, 2013).
Globalization and Divergence of Cultures
Cultural divergence is another result of globalization. As more and more opportunities for cultural exchanges take place, promotion for tolerance and diversity acceptance are happening. In this theory, a global society is the outcome where ideas are freely exchanged and appreciated, as cultures merge together to form a new inclusive culture. For example, when McDonald's expanded into China, the Chinese culture did not celebrate children’s birthdays. As McDonald's continued to market to children and birthday parties, these celebrations have now become a new custom with Chinese children with the celebration of birthdays (Lim, 2013).
Impact of Globalization on Dominate and Divergent Cultures in the Workplace
As we have seen above, dominant and divergent cultures are powerful theories in shaping society; these societies influence individual’s beliefs, values, and behaviors in the workplace. If dominate cultures are present in an individual's society, these individuals could become highly protective of their beliefs when it comes to workplace policies. Managers must look to adapt and work with all individuals to ensure common ground or a divergent culture is the outcome.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Hofstede’s Dimensions of the Basic Human Condition
To successfully manage a global workforce we must understand som.
This document provides an overview of organizational culture and how leaders can shape culture. It discusses how culture serves important functions of internal integration and external adaptation. Strong, responsive cultures where priorities are customers, people and change have a positive impact on performance. Leaders influence culture through ceremonies, stories, symbols, language, selection processes, and daily actions. There are four main types of organizational culture - adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency - that emphasize different values. Ethical values and values-based leadership are also discussed.
This document outlines the table of contents for a paper on organizational culture and leadership. The document covers topics such as the influence of leaders on culture, how culture is created, characteristics of organizational culture, how culture affects leadership, and the importance of trust and leadership in culture. It also compares traditional American and Indian leadership styles and discusses how culture shapes leadership and vice versa.
This document discusses organizational culture and provides a model for measuring it. It defines organizational culture as the shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that guide behavior in an organization. The document then presents the Denison Organizational Culture Model, which measures culture using four traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission. It describes how each trait is divided into further subdimensions and how an organization's scores in these areas can be plotted on a circular chart. The document concludes by providing an example culture profile for a Chinese company using this model.
The document discusses corporate culture and how it affects business decisions. It defines corporate culture as the norms, values and communication styles within an organization. Cultural differences between stakeholders can influence decision-making. Successful companies like HP and Southwest Airlines are conscious of their unique cultures and work to maintain them. Changing an organization's culture requires consistent goals, role clarity, shared rewards and other factors. Cultural awareness is important for business management across borders.
Do you dream of building a better organization?
* Where core values run through every part of the organization?
* Where people feel energized and inspired by work, and seek to solve challenges and own the results?
* Where innovation emerges organically from customer and stakeholder engagement?
* Where human beings are not just numbers on a balance sheet but the driving force of your success?
You need a live culture.
Blue Beyond Consulting helps organizations evolve their culture through a holistic approach. They begin by clarifying how the desired culture aligns with business strategy. Next, they engage the organization to create a compelling culture aspiration by gathering qualitative feedback. Finally, they build an architecture and execution plan to stimulate and sustain the culture through leadership alignment, HR processes, communication, and empowering employees. Their approach is adaptive, appreciative, practical, and ensures leadership commitment to evolving the organizational culture.
Within People - How culture helps you growWithin People
21st century business has evolved from believing “people are an asset” to understanding that it is how people work together that creates value. We wanted to find out what might be stopping leaders from seeing the importance of culture. And uncover common stories across the world where leaders have found ways to grow a culture - that grows a business.
This document discusses corporate culture and its importance. It defines corporate culture as the shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a group. Understanding an organization's culture is important for executives to ensure success, for potential employees to assess fit, and to enable significant changes when needed. Corporate culture can be identified by examining artifacts like the physical workspace, communication styles, and reward systems. While difficult, corporate culture can be changed through consistent leadership driving a compelling vision for transformation.
With benefits such as employee loyalty, job satisfaction and higher productivity, many believe that a distinct corporate culture is the key to the success of any business. For many organisations, their desired culture is defined by articulating a purpose, vision and values. However, research shows that only one in four employees strongly believe in their company’s values, and less than half know what their employer stands for.
This short webinar will provide insight on using communication to cultivate a distinct corporate culture, as well as tools and concrete action points that will instill a sense of belonging among employees, helping to boost job satisfaction, productivity and engagement in your organisation.
Culture?
Definition of Culture
Step to Build the Culture
Culture Types
Organizational Culture
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
How to create Organizational Culture?
Organizational culture was introduced in the late 1970s as a concept to understand shared values, beliefs, and norms within organizations. Researchers suggested that culture can significantly impact organizational outcomes and performance. The document defines organizational culture and discusses key aspects like different types of culture, how employees learn culture, the importance of culture, and the relationship between culture and organizational structure. It also provides steps to build and maintain a strong organizational culture.
“The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch. You can have a good strategy in place, but if you don’t have the culture and the enabling systems that allow you to successfully implement that strategy, the culture of the organization will defeat the strategy.” Richard Clark, CEO of Merck (2005 – 2010)
In a study conducted by Bain Consulting in 2008, 91% of the 1200 senior executives at global companies agreed that “culture is as important as strategy for business success”. It further revealed that 81% of executives agreed that “a company without a winning culture was doomed to mediocrity.” In a more recent study by Booz and Company in 2013 , 96% of the 2200 respondents agreed that “culture change is needed in their organisation” while 51% agree “that their culture needs a major overhaul”.
These are startling numbers. If organisational culture is so important, why is it not one of the top items on the agenda?
In the second of this 6 part Change Management series, we outlined the importance of communicating your change and actively engaging your stakeholders.
In this article, we discuss the importance of designing and building a culture that supports your vision.
Gallup Culture Audit - Transformation Model 2023.pdfHarshada Mulay
This document discusses culture audits and how they can help organizations understand and strengthen their culture. It provides the following key points:
1) A culture audit systematically assesses an organization's current culture, identifies cultural attributes, measures how strongly culture is reinforced, and ensures culture drives business outcomes.
2) Warning signs that a culture audit may be needed include an eroding identity, declining customer engagement, inability to attract talent, difficulty driving growth, and leadership initiatives stalling.
3) Despite investments to improve culture, many organizations still struggle to build strong connections to culture among employees. A culture audit can help identify what changes are needed.
The document discusses why culture is important and how leaders can cultivate the right culture within their organization. It states that culture reflects how an organization operates and is guided by its values and mission. It also directly correlates with an organization's success, influencing behaviors, productivity, and willingness to change. The document then offers tips for leaders to consider, including hiring people who align with the desired culture, treating employees well through goals and appreciation, and having leaders model the type of culture wanted through their own actions and behaviors.
1) The document discusses how Hofstede's cultural dimensions model can be applied to understand an organization's culture and its ability to shift. It describes how national culture influences organizational culture.
2) Legacy organizations tend to have cultures characterized by high power distance, individualism, masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance, short-term orientation, and restraint. These cultures struggle with transformation.
3) Successful innovative organizations require cultures characterized by low power distance, collectivism, femininity, low uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence to foster openness, collaboration, diversity, and continuous reinvention.
A Global WorkforceGlobalization Impact on CultureCulture is im.docxsleeperharwell
A Global Workforce
Globalization Impact on Culture
Culture is impacted by globalization, especially when it comes to a popular or dominates culture. Western or "Americanized" cultures are exposed around the globe through popular movies, television shows, fast food chains, books, clothing, and other consumer goods. These pop cultural items bleed into indigenous cultures and change local beliefs, values, and traditions; thus the historical cultures are changed or infused with the dominant culture.
Globalization and Cultural Domination
Cultural domination is one result of globalization. This theory refers to the dominant culture imposing beliefs, values, knowledge, and other cultural social norms onto the other country. A major example here is the Western culture domination over a global environment. The United States is a major capitalist society and therefore shapes values, identities, and perception around the world. As proven in the following example, with great power comes great responsibility.
As companies like McDonald’s move into countries like China, they are influencing the current cultural traditions in their wake. For instance, in China it was not acceptable for children to buy food with their own money; instead they were expected to eat what was placed in front of them. Traditionally McDonald's in Western countries would market to children with toys and happy meals, and they followed the same approach in China. Chinese children began wanting to select their own food when going to McDonalds, and after some time had passed, this has now become a new socially accepted practice (Lim, 2013).
Globalization and Divergence of Cultures
Cultural divergence is another result of globalization. As more and more opportunities for cultural exchanges take place, promotion for tolerance and diversity acceptance are happening. In this theory, a global society is the outcome where ideas are freely exchanged and appreciated, as cultures merge together to form a new inclusive culture. For example, when McDonald's expanded into China, the Chinese culture did not celebrate children’s birthdays. As McDonald's continued to market to children and birthday parties, these celebrations have now become a new custom with Chinese children with the celebration of birthdays (Lim, 2013).
Impact of Globalization on Dominate and Divergent Cultures in the Workplace
As we have seen above, dominant and divergent cultures are powerful theories in shaping society; these societies influence individual’s beliefs, values, and behaviors in the workplace. If dominate cultures are present in an individual's society, these individuals could become highly protective of their beliefs when it comes to workplace policies. Managers must look to adapt and work with all individuals to ensure common ground or a divergent culture is the outcome.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Hofstede’s Dimensions of the Basic Human Condition
To successfully manage a global workforce we must understand som.
This document provides an overview of organizational culture and how leaders can shape culture. It discusses how culture serves important functions of internal integration and external adaptation. Strong, responsive cultures where priorities are customers, people and change have a positive impact on performance. Leaders influence culture through ceremonies, stories, symbols, language, selection processes, and daily actions. There are four main types of organizational culture - adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency - that emphasize different values. Ethical values and values-based leadership are also discussed.
This document outlines the table of contents for a paper on organizational culture and leadership. The document covers topics such as the influence of leaders on culture, how culture is created, characteristics of organizational culture, how culture affects leadership, and the importance of trust and leadership in culture. It also compares traditional American and Indian leadership styles and discusses how culture shapes leadership and vice versa.
1. By Chris Ernst, Steven Rice, and Adrianne Van Strander February 2016
LEAD YOUR CULTURE.
Or your culture will lead you.
2. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 2 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Culture is the collection of actions, behaviors, and beliefs in an organization.
High-impact cultures do not all look the same, but they all result in the same outcomes:
the direction, alignment, and commitment needed to achieve their goals.
But culture can get in the way of those goals and aspirations, too.
In any organization, the cultural imprint is strong.
People do what the culture asks them to do, driving
outcomes across the organizational scoreboard.
Different results require a different culture.
Our perspective on culture—which we describe in this
paper—is rooted in a growing body of research, insight
from others taking the culture journey, and our own
experiences. We believe cultures can be purposefully
created, shaped, and changed.
In practice, we take an approach of “Leadership &
Culture Discovery” that involves four parts:
See the culture. Get to know the culture you have.
Own the culture. Decide what kind of culture matters
in your organization.
Solve the culture. Put the culture into action;
integrate it through experience.
Evolve the culture. Monitor and do what it takes
to make the changes and choices that align culture
and outcomes.
Our approach also asks that everyone play a role,
with senior leaders stepping into the spotlight to
change themselves as they change the culture, and
informal change agents amplifying culture in their
respective arenas.
When employees and managers make choices about
what they want to retain, strengthen, change, and
acknowledge about their culture, they are on the right
track. With a clear purpose and new experiences,
they are able to create the culture they need for the
impact they seek to have in the world.
3. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 3 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
INTRODUCTION
Developing organizational culture has gone from impractical to trendy to serious in just a
few years. Today, culture is understood to have strategic and practical implications for every
organization. When culture and strategy are aligned, organizations achieve goals, amplify
successes, and have greater impact.
This backdrop leads executives, leaders, and
human resources professionals to ask: Do we
have the culture we need for the impact we want?
If not, can we change our culture?
Organizational culture can and does change. But
the best cultures do not happen by accident. The
cultures of high-impact organizations are chosen,
created, and shaped for a clear purpose. Creating
and evolving culture takes deliberate and focused
action. It demands organizational learning,
intentional leadership, and personal commitment.
In this paper, we share our perspective on
strengthening organizational culture. It is rooted
in a growing body of research, insight from
early adopters and experimenters, and our
experiences as executives in diverse corporate
and nonprofit organizations. It is also how we
are approaching culture in our current roles with
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. By putting
our ideas into print, we hope to join in a culture
conversation with colleagues, partners, and
changemakers everywhere.
When culture and strategy are
aligned, organizations achieve
goals, amplify successes, and
have greater impact.
Do we have the culture we need for the impact we want?
4. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 4 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
1. Culture can be defined simply as “the way
things are” in an organization. Culture is the
collection of actions, behaviors, and beliefs in
an organization—both the obvious and the less
noticeable. Culture is created by experiences,
which form beliefs that move us toward decisions,
actions, and outcomes. If you want different
results, you need different culture. To change
culture, new experiences are needed to shift
mindsets and change beliefs (Palus).
2. Smart strategy, lean processes, and good people
are all essential—but culture will win every
time. The cultural imprint is strong; people do
what the culture asks them to do. Culture drives
outcomes across the organizational scorecard.
Performance, engagement, retention, innovation,
and growth are all affected by culture (Bersin;
Samuels). Increasingly, potential employees
consider organizational culture when making
decisions about taking a job (Bersin). Culture
affects how organizations deal with complexity,
manage risk, and find opportunities (Palus).
According to research from long-time Harvard
professor James Hesket, as much as half
the difference in operating profit between
organizations can be attributed to effective
cultures (Silverthorne). Either you lead your
culture, or your culture will lead you.
3. The culture on the inside shows up on the
outside. The way people think and act within an
organization is visible to customers and partners
on the outside. Internal culture is not separate
or hidden from strategies, operations, service,
or branding designed for external consumption.
Misalignment between the two undermines
performance and results (Schatzky).
4. Culture is increasingly front-and-center for
leaders. Employee engagement and culture
issues are the No. 1 human capital challenge
companies face around the world (Schatzky).
Organization culture articles make frequent
appearances in publications such as Harvard
Business Review, Strategy + Business, Talent
Management, Forbes, and Fast Company—and in
countless blogs and online media.
5. Most organizations don’t have the culture they
need to get the results they want. More than
85% of executives say their culture isn’t where it
needs to be, according to a 2015 study from Duke
and Columbia business schools (Adams). The
gap between strategy and culture leads to failed
change efforts, unrealistic goals, and inconsistent
processes and behaviors (McGuire).
5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CULTURE
If you want different results, you need different culture.
When we start talking about culture with colleagues, we often spend time describing culture—what it is and why
we should give it serious attention. Here are five things that research supports, and that we—and perhaps you—
have experienced.
5. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 5 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
WHAT DO HIGH-IMPACT CULTURES LOOK LIKE?
An Amazon search reveals more than 50,000 books
about organizational culture. Companies routinely
tout their cultures of transparency or inclusion or
innovation. Work environments (with an array of
food options, yoga classes, game rooms, and flexible
work spaces—or not) have become markers of a
good culture.
With all the buzz about culture, how do
organizational leaders know what their culture
should look like? Where should they put their
culture-development efforts?
We have found a concept from the Center for Creative
Leadership (CCL) to be a powerful and effective
compass for guiding culture change. CCL conducted a
meta-analysis of several decades of culture research
(Palus). What emerged was a model of leadership and
culture based on outcomes. High-performing cultures
enact three things:
• Direction. High-impact cultures achieve
widespread agreement on goals and aims. The key
question is: Where are we going?
• Alignment. High-impact cultures create
coordinated effort. The key question is: How do we
get where we want to go?
• Commitment. High-impact cultures sustain
passion. The key question is: How do we stay
inspired and engaged to reach the destination?
High-impact cultures produce direction, alignment,
and commitment. We believe it’s the simplest
definition—but no simpler than needed. All three
elements are required. A team could have direction
and alignment but no commitment, preventing impact.
Or a very committed and aligned group could falter
without clear, shared direction. If alignment is missing,
an organization’s efforts become diluted or at odds.
Defining high-impact cultures by way of direction,
alignment, and commitment is especially valuable
because it transcends national cultures and contexts.
Any time people come together—whether in a
Defining high-impact cultures
by way of direction, alignment,
and commitment is especially
valuable because it transcends
national cultures and contexts.
6. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 6 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
corporation, a foundation, or a multi-stakeholder
partnership anywhere in the world—they will increase
effectiveness to the extent they focus on impact
through direction, alignment, and commitment.
Three additional points are key for organizational
leaders looking to create high-impact cultures:
• Everyone has a role to play. Formal leaders,
influencers and experts, people in every corner of
an organization can move toward shared direction,
alignment, and commitment—or away from it.
A CEO may play a unique role in setting direction,
but, just as important, two program owners could
meet to better align their efforts. Or a single
employee could host an information session that
engenders greater commitment among colleagues.
• Senior leaders are in the spotlight. While
everyone plays a role in creating a high-impact
culture, formal leaders have an outsized
influence in most organizations. To change
culture, leaders must change themselves. It is
especially important for established leaders to
question their own assumptions and patterns.
They naturally tend to reinforce the existing
culture; changing culture can mean flying in the
face of previous success.
• The work is personal. Creating a high-impact
culture is not about understanding a model. It is not
an initiative to be launched and completed. Creating
direction, alignment, and commitment becomes a
way of working, leading, and being. That is what a
high-impact culture looks like.
LEADERSHIP MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
According to the Center for Creative Leadership,
when executives change their leadership culture to
align with their business goals, their organization
gains many benefits (McGuire). Results include:
• An accelerated ability to implement emerging,
successive business strategies
• Greater speed and flexibility
• New—and stronger—core organizational
capabilities
• Achievement of bottom-line results
• Improved ability to create and recreate shared
direction, alignment, and commitment in a
dynamic environment
7. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 7 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
HOW TO BUILD CULTURE AND GET RESULTS
Knowing that culture matters is one thing.
Understanding the importance of direction,
alignment, and commitment is another. But then
what? How do organizational cultures get created,
shaped, and changed?
We believe that energized people, working well
together, fueled by great leadership in an environment
in which they thrive, will do phenomenal things.
Sustained engagement, productive collaboration,
and effective organizations are key levers for high
performance and impact.
Creating and changing culture with direction,
alignment, and commitment at the core is not easy or
quick, but the process can be directed and accelerated.
Our approach, which we call Leadership & Culture
Discovery, involves four parts: See, Own, Solve, and
Evolve. Each piece builds on the other—and each
requires substantial time, attention, and commitment
to earn the benefits.
We believe that energized people, working well together,
fueled by great leadership in an environment in which they thrive,
will do phenomenal things.
Discover the
current and
future states
Align and own
the culture agenda
Implement
reinforcing
solutions
Monitor, learn
and adapt as
we go
8. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 8 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
The information gleaned through these methods
is discussed, distilled, and meshed with other
organizational efforts, such as business strategy
reviews or customer satisfaction surveys. Through
this process, senior leaders are able to see the
current state of leadership and culture.
ONA: TAKING A NETWORK VIEW
Working with organizational culture requires
looking beyond the formal structures and boxes
of the formal org chart. Leaders throughout an
organization should understand the networks that
are driving and affecting the way work gets done
and culture is shaped.
Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is a
process of mapping relationships to understand
the ways information flows, where decisions are
made, and how trust and energy are present within
and across groups.
ONAs are conducted through online surveys
with multiple questions to determine patterns of
interaction. Individuals receive details about their
personal networks, while group and organizational
leaders look at the larger patterns of interaction.
Data from ONA provides valuable details about
the ways an organization’s network is supporting
cultural and strategic objectives—or not. With this
information, leaders can identify key processes
and key people to leverage, support, or develop.
SEE THE CULTURE
Culture—and its implications—are often felt
but not seen and examined. Leaders need to get a
clear picture of the culture as it is.
Discovering the current state of how things are done
requires engaging multiple voices and perspectives.
Input and honesty from people across all levels,
functions, and locations are essential. Different
demographic groups need to be represented,
recognizing that race, gender, age, nationality, and
other factors of identity lend further depth to the
understanding of organizational culture. A range of
stakeholders—partners, customers, allies—may be
involved in assessing leadership and culture as well.
This step of discovery requires data—not assumption.
Several data-collection methods are needed to see
and understand leadership and culture through
various lenses. In our work, we typically use:
• Employee surveys to provide individual-level
perspective, looking especially at engagement and
the day-to-day experience of culture.
• Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) to
reveal patterns of interaction within groups
and across groups—and identifying healthy,
productive connections as well as obstacles
and vulnerabilities.
• One-on-one interviews with senior leaders to
offer insight and depth to organizational
dynamics, strengths, and challenges—with an
emphasis on understanding their perspectives
on creating direction, gaining alignment, and
earning commitment.
9. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 9 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
As people throughout the organization begin to
internalize the discovery data, they are able to
own the culture agenda and determine cultural
imperatives. They begin to clarify the ways culture
and leadership mindsets, behaviors, and capabilities
affect the overall strategy and specific functions,
processes, or goals. They start to talk about culture
in new ways and begin to see culture as something
that everyone owns.
“Owning It” processes include:
• Preparing and sharing data through a range of
media (reports, presentations, videos, etc.)
• Facilitating conversations—one-on-one, small
groups, and larger forums
• Creating experiences and activities to help
connect the big ideas of culture to their daily
choices and actions
OWN THE CULTURE
With data in hand, reflection and discussion begin.
• What elements of culture ring true? What comes
as a surprise?
• What is positive and aligned with the mission,
values, and goals of the organization? These are
the actions, behaviors, and beliefs to continue.
• What is problematic? These are the things that
must change.
Executives and senior leaders typically begin the
process. When formal leaders take the first
step, culture conversations and decisions are
seen as legitimate and valued. These leaders need
to understand the data, trust the process,
demonstrate openness to learning, and be willing
to have difficult conversations.
To solve the challenges of culture, the bottom line is:
Begin somewhere. Start now.
10. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 10 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
EVOLVE THE CULTURE
The work of culture is never done.
The world, our organizations, and our lives are
dynamic. Monitoring, refining, and upholding culture
is a journey for everyone in the organization. It is
embedded in—not separate from—the work.
Culture is an outcome of choices individuals make.
To strengthen and evolve a culture, everyone must
decide how they show up every day and make a
concerted effort to sustain the cultural imperatives.
Evolving culture is also about organizational
commitment. It is about honesty, learning, and trust.
Organizations—always and over time—need to build
the collective capacity to be open, curious, willing to
learn, take risks, and challenge assumptions.
SOLVE THE CULTURE
Seeing the data, owning the reality, and choosing
to change are foundational steps to creating the
engagement, collaboration, and effectiveness
needed to drive high performance. But until people
experience change, they don’t know how to “do”
culture differently.
Remember, experiences drive beliefs. People won’t
fully see what’s possible and what’s next until they
believe it. At this stage of the journey, it’s critical to
design and offer experiences that bring about the new
thinking, feelings, and beliefs of the desired culture.
What does that mean? All the specifics will pivot
off the previous two steps, but the idea is to start
integrating changes into the fabric of the culture in
targeted and tangible ways.
• Find the small pockets or easy wins. Small steps
throughout the organization build trust and belief.
For example, if the cultural agenda requires
simplification, what layers or processes can just
go—now?
• Go big. Is there a group or project team whose
work is highly visible or potentially game changing
for the organization? Work with them to build
direction, alignment, and commitment through
individual engagement, smart collaboration,
and effective systems. Facilitate and assist in
the how of the work, always asking: are we
thinking and acting in alignment with our goals
and our culture?
• Break it down. Look at your roles and
responsibilities. Analyze them with the new
culture conversations in mind—then do
something. It could be launching a pilot project
or a scrapping an outdated program. An HR
organization, for example, has multiple systems
and initiatives tied to attracting, hiring, and
onboarding new employees. It creates processes
for performance management, promotion,
and compensation. It builds structures for
learning, engagement, reward, and recognition.
All that should be open to change in light of the
cultural imperatives.
To solve the challenges of culture, the bottom line is:
Begin somewhere. Start now.
11. LEAD YOUR CULTURE. OR YOUR CULTURE WILL LEAD YOU. 11 BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION | March 2016
CULTURE IS YOUR WORK
Ask culture questions. Dig into the assumptions
and beliefs that underlie actions and decisions.
Ask questions that help you and your group explore
assumptions, rather than advocating your point
of view or defaulting to “the way we do it.” Culture
questions include: What are we trying to do? What
is it about us that most supports us in achieving our
goals? And what is holding us back? Are we clear
about where we are going and how we will get there?
What expectations do we hold of each other? Are we
consistent in the way we present ourselves to others?
Asking the right questions opens the door to insight
and opportunity.
Look at yourself. Assess your personal readiness to
think differently and work in new ways. Notice your
gut reaction to culture conversation and change. What
about the current culture is in sync with your personal
goals, values, and path of success? What feels off-
track or is frustrating to you? If your organization “got
culture right” what would that look like? How would
you behave differently as a leader, colleague, and
teammate? Be honest with yourself as you reflect.
Then find one or two other people with whom you
can be honest and (yes) vulnerable with to talk about
what’s going on in your organization. Culture change
is personal change.
Culture can be created, shaped, and
changed.
• First, get to know the culture you have.
• Next, decide what kind of culture matters in your
organization.
• Then, put the culture into action; integrate it
through experience.
• Always, monitor and evolve the culture—doing
what it takes to make the changes and choices that
align who you are as an organization to the impact
you want to have in the world.
No matter where you are in the journey—and where
you sit in the organization—there are things you can
start doing today to create a high-impact culture.
Observe. Don’t wait on a formal Discovery process to
observe what your environment is telling you about
culture. Slow down and pay attention. Study what is
around you as if you are seeing it for the first time. Try
this: Each day, write down your observations. What do
you see and hear? What steps do you take to make a
decision, get information, plan a meeting? How do you
engage? At the end of a week or two, go back through
your notes. What themes do you see? What images
come to mind? Where do you see direction, alignment,
and commitment? Where is it missing? Observation is
the starting point for understanding.