Organization & Transformation - Strategic Culture Design
Context
My client had recently appointed a new CEO to reinvigorate a complacent organization with outdated services. The CEO sought to implement a new strategy emphasizing innovation and customer responsiveness. He understood that simply declaring a new strategy would change very little and that true culture change was needed.

Key Question
How can we evolve our organizational culture from one of conservatism and complacency to one of innovation and stakeholder responsiveness?

Solution
I helped the executive team engage stakeholders from throughout the organization to develop a shared understanding of the current culture and define a future state culture that would power the new strategy. Activities included:
  • Conducted a diagnostic of the current culture, including identification of both positive and negative manifestations of cultural attributes.
  • Defined critical strategy-aligned behaviors that could draw from positive cultural energy.
  • Secured buy-in from executives and key informal leaders throughout the organization.
  • Established a change agent group to champion the new behaviors.
  • Developed roadmap and executive playbook to support leadership in change management.
Keys to success:
  • Change the culture by changing behaviors. Circulating posters that state an organization's values will not change culture. Culture ultimately manifests in behaviors, and behaviors can be influenced. To change culture, build habits around new behaviors—ones that will drive the strategy—and you will change "how we do things around here."
  • Pursue evolution, not transformation. Don't expect to overhaul your organization's culture. Culture does not change so easily. Instead, understand where your cultural energy lies and harness it to drive the behaviors that are central to your strategy. 
  • Lead change via informal leaders, too. Visible actions from formal leaders are critical in changing behaviors. So, too, are the actions and championship of informal leaders throughout your organization. Engage these informal leaders as change agents throughout the culture diagnostic and future state definition phases, and they will help to make the changes real.

Results
The CEO endorsed the future state culture and evolution roadmap, a key element of the organization's strategic shift.
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