Enable Culture Advantage

‘Culture is the collective equivalent of mindset and determines how the collective behave in recognised patterns’

• Culture influences productivity, creativity, profitability, firm value, and growth rates.

• A significant majority of executives and staff (85%<) believe a distinct culture is important for success and gives competitive advantage

• A Strong Culture leads to significantly higher than average returns and improved stock price

• Only a small percentage (30%>) of executives understand their culture and how to change it, though they consider it important

• Even less (20%>) believe their company has the right culture

However, even given its significance as cause of both failure and success, Culture has been neither defined nor operationalised – until now!

It is a significant advance facilitated by Dynamic Systems Maturity Theory™ (DSMT) that the Culture of an organisation can now be defined as the Maturational Stage at which it has habituated. However, this is not the system’s maturity level which is typically lower and uniquely diagnosed by DSMT to give a starting point for development that optimises Traction.

• Changing Culture is a sequential organisational-learning process based on Capability Maturity Building.

• Achieving a strong and distinct culture requires an evolution through Cultural-Development Phases.

• Culture-Change Initiatives typically highlight changing Values, Beliefs and Behaviours, but these alone are not sufficient: to be sustainable, Cultural Development requires a system-wide change process and a mechanism to thwart relapse which only OrgCMF provide

• Restructuring whether internal or external (e.g., M & A) often requires Cultural realignment for stakeholders and the new Organisation.

• Interfaces, Communications, transactions, partnerships, collaboration etc. across organisations requires Cultural understanding and some level of adjustment and/or alignment to optimise value and best outcomes

The best approach to initiating the process is to assess the current Maturity Level of your existing Organisation Capabilities , this will explain current Performance, Change Capability and Culture. It also provides a clear starting point on the roadmap for building a strong Culture and more importantly the appropriate initial actions to build to the next level of Capability Maturity and improved evolutionary Cultural Step. We recommend The Organisation Agility Rapid Assessment Plan as it’s a ‘Full Triage’ tier of assessment of all 15 Capabilities plus the ‘Culture Construct’.

Step 1 - Opportunity Statement

Understanding the existing organisation context in terms of Capabilities, Performance and KPIs' is a critical starting point, as it informs our understanding of the Current Culture, it's influences and it's impacts. Clearly stating the problem or opportunity in the context of current performance and target outcomes and performance, must always be the starting-point and this allows for SMART Objectives & KPIs' for any organisation’s ambition to create a strong and distinctive Culture. It also guides the initial Cultural shifts and leadership posture for the next step in the roadmap.

Step 2 – Select & Configure Maturity Assessment

Using the OrgCMF™ Configuration Builder & Manager you can select either the recommended pre-configured standard assessment above, or can create a customised Maturity Assessment using alternative assessment plans available, where you can define the specific ‘Dynamics’ and/or ‘Constructs’ at ‘Triage’ or ‘Diagnostic’ Assessment levels for your specific organisation context. The ‘Strategy Dynamic’ can be a good alternative starting point for some organisations, a ‘Strategy Diagnostic Assessment -Single Dynamic Plan’ covers the maturity of 6 key ‘Constructs’ that influence Culture (Vision, Mission, Values, Involvement, Structure, Strategy Generation). You also can include any communications and guidance you wish Assessment Participants to receive, while allowing real-time report visibility to Participants or other interested parties you choose and permit.

Step 3 - Complete Maturity Assessment

Once you publish your OrgCMF™ Capability Maturity Assessment your invited participants will receive and email link to complete the Maturity Assessment, they will also be able to see the real-time report and its recommendations if you permit them. Report viewers can see progress.

Step 4 - Analyse & Prioritse Capabilities for Maturity Improvement

Once you have closed (Completed) your Assessment(s) your team can review existing Capabilities and their Maturities and the context of the current culture, and consider the specific Report Guidance for next improvement actions, as you start the journey towards your target Culture and Organisation Capability Maturity.

If your program involves multiple organisation or organisation unit integration as a result of a change program, then the Assessment and Analysis is completed on each organisation and brought into alignment. Follow the link for more on Cultural Alignment and Integration in the context of restructuring or M & A Integration.

This overall approach helps you prioritise capability improvement actions and calibrate these actions for sustainability, by following the guidance and designing the action plan in the context of your organisations current culture and its step by step journey to a stronger and more distinct Culture.

Step 5 - Empower Improvement Action

Organisation Capability Maturity Improvement is a system-wide activity and touches many stakeholders. The OrgCMF™ Assessment Reports and the Body of Knowledge is such that it provides useful knowledge to most stakeholders as regards their roles in improving capabilities. That said it is essential that the overall Improvement program actions have ownership, accountability and responsibility and this permeates through and across the organisation as appropriate. The structure of OrgCMF™ is such that this can happen at Model, Dynamic or Construct level. As stakeholders build operational Capability Maturity working on the ‘Constructs’ (Capability Building Blocks) for their roles and activities traction and sustainable improvement is achieved.

Step 6 - Implement Change (Sprints)

Improving Capability Maturity at any level in the Model, will improve ‘Change Capability (Agility)’. As responsible individuals and their teams focus on the 'Constructs' (Capability Building Blocks) they can carry out more specific 'Diagnostic' Tier Maturity Assessments' if required, and receive more specific, detailed and Calibrated action guidance at this 'Building Block' level for the specific constructs. As the maturity of each related element of the system improves so does the system overall. We recommend short implementation 'Sprints' leveraging some key 'Agile techniques' to allow for flexibility and responsiveness in this change and improvement process, and also learn and experience some of the practices that relate to Agility.

Step 7 - Monitor, Control & Re-Assess

As with all effective methodologys' for change and improvement, some level of governance is required to monitor and assure the desired outcomes and results are being achieved both with Capability Maturities and the Target Objectives and KPIs' for improvement. Given this specific program relates to Agility Improvement the relevant key indicators for your specific context should be included in the KPI list.

Summary & Benefits

The approach presented the 'Organisation Capability Improvement Method' (OCIM™) is not rocket science, however by focusing on Organisation Capability Maturity Improvement and leveraging the OrgCMF™ Maturity Assessment platform you and your organisation are using the most advanced and latest 'Management Science' - 'Dynamic Systems Maturity Theory' (DSMT™).

Research indicates that Organisations that place importance on Culture development and evolution with a view to having a strong and distinct cultural identity create greater value and stakeholder satisfaction than their peers, this is achieved only at the higher Maturity levels of OrgCMF™ (levels 5, 6 & 7).

Additional Resources relating to Organisation Culture

Papers

'Understanding, Profiling and Developing Organisation Culture - The Next Generation'

Aligning the Organisation Culture with the individual staff member's Mindset