Corporate cultures are highly complex. They are the result of the mindsets, the values and the behaviours of the people interacting in an organisation. Cultures will develop adapting to market changes. They might need to change to provide the required environment for strategies to succeed.
Strategies are typically defined by the leaders of an organisation. They need to be communicated to exist. Strategies define measures to achieve set objectives. Understanding strategies means understanding facts.
In contrast: A corporate culture exists without being defined or being communicated. It comes into being by people interacting. It consists of shared values, unspoken beliefs, and assumptions. Understanding a corporate culture means understanding emotions. It can be sensed and felt. And leaders can only influence a corporate culture by their behaviour—unintentionally or ideally intentionally.
Senior leaders need to align their leadership behaviour to effectively influence a corporate culture. This alignment becomes crucial if the leadership team intends to transform the culture. Culture transformation programmes are likely to fail without this key prerequisite.
How do we support your culture transformation journey?
We will work with you on understanding your organisation’s existing culture (and maybe sub-cultures). The size of your organisation will define the approach for our analysis. We use proven methodologies, assessment tools and interview approaches to understand your current state. Your vision and strategic objectives will define the target culture. We will jointly analyse the gap between the existing and your target culture. And we will define with you the leadership behaviour required to transform the culture of your organisation.
The culture transformation starts with the leadership team itself. Your active display of the culture values will be the nucleus for the desired change. We will jointly define how you as leaders need to be perceived by your people to live the desired target culture. And how you need to act to achieve this target perception.
Our approach will be tailored to your specific needs. Alignment of your leadership team might involve Team Coaching. Defining the required leadership behaviour to role-model the target culture might involve individual Executive Coaching. It will include our own transformative experience as former corporate leaders. It will include our consulting experience in driving complex projects. And you and your leadership colleagues will become the catalysts for the transformation.