Transformation from culture and leadership

Why are we not capable of executing well-defined strategies? Why do we have documented work methods that, in most cases, are not used by anyone? Why are we not capable of quickly adapting these methods to environmental and internal changes? Why do we always end up claiming that our people are not engaged enough? Any project manager asks themselves these questions in order to create an adequate action plan to achieve the cultural change of their organization.

However, it is not only about the questions we ask ourselves, but also about knowing the people that form our organization and know how they would answer some important questions, such as: Do our digital capabilities allow us to innovate the business model anticipating possible needs of the customers? Do we have a clear and shared vision about how our organization will be in the future? Do we solve short-term needs without putting this long-term vision at risk? Is it easy to coordinate projects that involve different parts of the organization? Do the leaders and directors walk the talk? Is the way of doing things flexible and easy to modify? Do all members of the organization have a deep understanding of what our customers want and need?

Why is answering these questions more critical nowadays?

Because the world is changing more than ever (in quantity and intensity) and faster than ever, and some of the consequences include the following:

• The information available to us is less reliable and stable as time goes by. We can make decisions at a specific time based on variables and information that can change very quickly.
• The complexity and ambiguity make decision-making patterns be less safe than ever, making safe and stable short-term planning more difficult each passing day. 
• We go from volume and speed when it comes to needs related to data management to value and veracity.

This requires simpler and more flexible frameworks / models that allow us to react with plenty of agility. These models can be structured in three levels, with people at the centre, more competent and engaged, since it is them who, while reality is not all virtual and intelligence is not all artificial, will end up saying which information to analyse, how to use it, what is going to be defined and how we should act.

These three levels are LEADERSHIP, CULTURE and the ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT MODEL. Let us see below how they are defined, reviewed and connected with each other.

Leadership

• From each person: the set of knowledge, competences and behaviours that anyone can carry out from their job post, whichever it is, no matter their position.
• From the organization as a whole, from their management models: systems, processes, frameworks of action, technology, etc. that can help grow that leadership to an organization level. This layer that encapsulates everything, the management model that we will see later.

Culture

Culture is the values, believes and behaviours of anyone that gives shape to the organization; wanted rules or processes that generate a greater engagement between people. We are not talking about written processes, but those that truly drive our way of acting beyond what documents say.

Culture influences how people behave, what they do and say, not only to their partners but also to the external interest groups. It also gets the organization to apply a strategy or a transformation process in a mediocre or excellent way.

To develop culture, it is necessary to carry out a culture development process that will help us evaluate periodically if the existing culture is aligned with the current strategy, business model and management model to identify which aspects we could improve.

Denison’s Organizational Culture survey, built around their Organizational Culture Model, provides a reliable and valid measurement of a company’s culture health.  

Denison’s Culture Model is an organizational effectiveness model that links the culture survey’s results to the organization’s results (strategic as well as operational and perception results of all the interest groups).

In Denison’s latest Best Practices Forum, which took place in the beautiful environment of Kartause Ittigen in Switzerland, it was revealed how, using Denison’s Model, organizational leaders can establish priorities to build an effective culture to implement and achieve their strategy.

Management model

Processes, frameworks of action, information systems, technology… simpler, easier and more flexible than ever, allowing us to react much quicker.

Simple and flexible frameworks, easy to communicate with feedback of the information to be able to quickly react. Using agile structure processes to:

• Connect strategy indicators with process indicators.
• Identify key process to materialize the Value Proposition.
• Make the best experience for the client and the rest of the groups of interest a reality.
• Facilitate the agility in change adaptation.
• Have dashboards and information systems that proactively promote improvements in order to anticipate.
• Evaluate and manage strategic, operational and technological risks.

At Integra, we are ready to listen to your challenges and help you face them and achieve your goals. If you want to know how the transformation from culture and leadership can help change your company and bring it to excellence, do not hesitate to contact us.