Decisions. You face the daily challenge of implementing those of others, both inside and outside your immediate system. At times you wonder if your ability to make decisions even has a place of agency within your agency. What is to be done with competing priorities that so often arise within overlapping government scopes of responsibility? Successful navigation of these challenges has to do with whether or not your organizational culture is well-aligned with how decisions are made, executed, tracked, and reported. In a misaligned culture, even good decisions and purposeful execution suffer dis-traction.
Alignment. Whatever the framework, alignment is essential for efficient and effective pursuit of outcomes. The Culture Realignment service consists of ten primary culture-embedding mechanisms that leaders and teams can use to effectively align “The way we do things around here” with intentionally chosen beliefs and behaviors. As a framework, it provides a congruent means of aligning decisions, processes, operational practices, and other matters of organizational efficacy and sustainability.
Systems. These ten mechanisms act together as a multi-faceted system that nurtures organizational health and vitality while fulfilling mission, margin, and meaning. Organisms thrive when properly nourished. So do organizations. These mechanisms, categorized below according to degrees of “visibility”, may also be viewed as essential nutrients for strengthening how your agency serves the people within its constituencies. In a parallel manner, they also help create a culture that nourishes the people who deliver those services.
Most Visible
- Values, Mission, & Vision – Your DNA and sense of “reproductive purpose”
- Language – How it defines and influences perceptions of reality
- Metrics– What is measured, why, reporting of it, to whom, etc.
- Leadership – Awareness and efficacy around leadership’s influence on culture
- Team Learning – Getting better at becoming a team that gets aligned results
Least Visible
- Power Structures – Formal, informal, public, discreet…where and how its used
- Social Control Systems – How to intentionally leverage positive peer pressure
- Narratives – Stories define and reinforce organizational identity, for good or ill
Nearly-Invisible
- Mental Models – Healthy growth requires clear, commonly-understood structures
- Basic Assumptions – Deep, “proven” beliefs about solving problems and leveraging opportunities
Intentionality. Culture-shaping is the #1 priority of a leader. Shaping it requires the best that leaders and teams have to offer. The Culture Realignment process equips leaders and teams, even within the complexities of overlapping-agency realities, to find greater congruence, establish increased clarity, and build systems that more easily realign even as they deliver.