Organizational Culture – 5 Levels of Corporate Culture Change – Arthur Carmazzi

In this Knights of Transformation video, Arthur Carmazzi will be sharing on Organizational Culture Evolution – The 5 Levels of corporate culture change to be more precise. The idea is that company culture has levels, and each level is a culture evolution. From the bottom of the most dysfunctional organizational culture to the most effective leadership enriched culture. Each has its characteristics and each culture has actions that can be taken to evolve it to the next corporate culture level. Watch the video then look below to see the organizational culture evolution strategies for each… and don’t forget to test your organizational culture level with the free corporate culture assessment at: www.cultureevolution.com 

The 5 Organizational Culture Evolutions are as follows:

Blame Organizational Culture

Characteristics:

• Little trust
• Act in self interest
• do not take many risks
• Employees do not usually speak their mind
• do not come up with many new ideas
• Employees are paycheck driven
• inefficient
• stagnating growth
• avoid responsibility
• There is a high level of fear

Primary values of a Blame Organizational Culture are:

1. To avoid conflict
2. self preservation

Considerations in Evolving a Blame Organizational Culture:

• Look at the leader. Are employees reprimanded every time they make a mistake?
  • Consider re-assessing the reactions to mistakes as “learning events”
  • Even if there is a cost associated to the mistake, that would be a training investment and would usually be far less expensive than an ineffective and stagnant Blame Culture
• If change is to occur, a guided transition must include working with two high visibility low level employees to take risk (or “Appear” to take risk) with new ideas, and be rewarded for it.
  • Rearward one on success and the other on failure
  • Emphasize the reward is for trying something new. (you may need to assist them in coming up with that something new, but make sure they get credit for it)
  • Implement the successful idea IMMEDIATELY
  • Assist the failed idea to turn it into a useful one (publicly and respectfully) and then implement that immediately
• Observe changes and continue with the strategy of encouraging risk and free thought.

Multi-Directional Organizational Culture

Characteristics:

• Little communication
• People involved within their own departments only
• Loyalty is to specific groups and not to the organization
• Cliquish
• Lots of gossip
• Critical of other departments
• Little cross-departmental cooperation

Primary values of a Multi-Directional Organizational Culture are:

1. Don’t get involved in other people’s business
2. Responsibility stops at your own job description

Considerations in Evolving a Multi-Directional Organizational Culture:

• Does the organization have a common goal that everyone can “Relate to”?
  • Consider finding out what people like about the organization, use that to formulate a reason for the organization’s existence (besides making money)
  • Use this consistently in all internal communications to reinforce a common vision.
  • Include contests and rewards for individuals who best demonstrate that vision
• Does your organization have an effective internal communication system or process?
  • Does senior management still communicate with the staff? Senior management should make regular appearances and address the issues to the entire organization.
  • Do you have a feedback system and a reward system for using it? Get one.
• Are departments segregated?
  • Do you have Standard Operating Procedures for cross departmental cooperation? Get your staff to vent their frustrations and use that to make SOP’s that solve these frustrations.
  • Implement these immediately and get the frustrated staff to carry it through.
• Train your staff in communication awareness
  • Apply Directive Communication psychology principals to cultivate an awareness of group dynamics and the psychology of cooperation and communication
  • Use Communication multiplying tools such as the CBC Cards
• View the results and maintain the strategies

Live and Let Live Organizational Culture

Characteristics:

• Complacency
• Mental Stagnation
• Low Creativity
• Average cooperation
• Average communication
• Little future vision
• Work in the moment for future goals
• Monotonous routine
• Lacks passion

Primary values of a Live and let live Organizational  Culture are:

1. Keep the status quo
2. Don’t complicate matters
3. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it

Considerations in Evolving a Live and let live Organizational Culture:

• Do your people feel like they are important to the organization?
  • Cultivate a base of trust by allowing people some freedom to make decisions
  • Attach KPI’s to that freedom and measure at least every month
  • Give people a sense of progress and recognition for their actions
• Do your people use and believe in your products or service?
  • Are they proud of what your organization does? Involve them in the development of company culture.
• Do they feel like they contribute to your product’s or service’s growth?
  • Find 3 or 4 key individuals and assist them to add value to your organisation with how to improve products or service
  • Publicly praise and reward them
• Get publicity for your organisation to make it more publicly visible.
  • Involve your employees (or teams) in the PR process and get them quoted by the press (after coaching of course)
• Make policies that will put your contributing employees Before Your Customers
  • Make those policies public

Brand Congruent Organizational Culture

Characteristics:

• People believe in the product or service of the organization
• People feel good about what their company is trying to achieve
• Cooperation is good
• People have a similar goal in the organization
• Use personal resources to actively solve problems
• Not limited to job description, will actively look for solutions
• Most everyone is in sales, marketing, and PR; they are walking ambassadors
• No conflict between organization’s promise to customers and employees
• Many are passionate about the product/service

Primary values of a Brand Congruent Organizational Culture are:

1. Believe what you say
2. Live what you believe
3. Product/service Improvement is everyone’s responsibility

Considerations in Evolving a Brand Congruent Organizational Culture:

• Have people become aware of their personal goals and values?
  • Cultivate a continuous improvement campaign for the individuals
  • Infuse the idea that leadership is not a position but an identity that lets you excel in your endeavors.
  • Apply Directive Communication based Leadership training to align your people with an organization centered leadership identity
• Have leaders let go of ego and contribute by letting those who are in lesser positions of power, but are qualified, make decisions in their place?
  • Empowerment only works if people use it. People must be developed as leaders in their own areas.
  • Excess bureaucracy and control kills empowerment and leadership development.
• Is the cooperation within the organization for the job or a sincere action to contribute to others success?
  • Alignment of personal and organisational/group goals and values is essential for evolving to the next step
  • Apply Directive Communication Psychology alignment strategies such as the 6 step Creative Synergy Program

Leadership Enriched Organizational Culture

Characteristics:

• People view the organization as an extension of themselves
• People feel good about what they personally achieve through the organization
• Cooperation is exceptional
• Individual goals are aligned with the goals of the organization
• People use group resources to actively solve problems
• Not limited to job description, will do what it takes to make things happen
• Most everyone is in sales, marketing, and PR; they are walking ambassadors
• People are consistently brining out the best in each other
• Leaders do not develop followers, but develop other leaders
• Leadership is contribution driven and not ego driven
• Very Low employee turnover
• Most are passionate about the organisation and what it represents

Primary values of a Leadership Enriched Organizational Culture are:

1. Everyone has something to offer to you and the organization
2. By assisting others to be their best, you will become better
3. Leadership is an identity one must adopt, it is not a skill

Considerations in Evolving a Leadership Enriched Organizational Culture:

This is it. There is no further evolution. If you have achieved this, you have arrived. The challenge now lies in maintaining it. To continuously develop your people and let them develop those who are new to the organization as it grows.

At each level of Organisational Evolution, people will be working, acting, thinking, and feeling at different levels of personal commitment.

The DC Pyramid of commitment will give you an additional guide to evolve your people and your culture to the ultimate “Self Actualization” panicle of personal and organizational success.

DCI Culture Evolution Organizational Culture Change Consulting programs offer a guarantee of success to SHOW VISIBLE RESULTS in the performance and effectiveness of your team within you organization

DO check out another fun and enlightening post related to leading high performance, on leading team culture. This is about the how you can predict how people will react to a team and how to create high performing teams. It is based on my new book, Architects of Extraordinary Team Culture.

and if you are interested in Brain Science and its effects on performance and company culture, please check out the some of the “Where is your Brain” videos