Culture is the key to building a synergistic enterprise that is trusting, open, sharing and collaborative. It is something that regenerates and allows the enterprise to renew through good and bad times.
Please refer to this episode when going through the app and identifying your perspective of where the enterprise is on the maturity map for a dimension; by picking an attribute that you see closest to what is manifest in your enterprise.
Please remember this is your perspective and it is best served when you invite your colleagues in the enterprise to participate as well. This will provide you an aggregated view and comparison to your perspective on each of the 5 layers as well as the aggregated score across the five layers. This is meant to raise the threshold of dialog in the enterprise based on empirical evidence of the status quo of the enterprise and further define where it should go in a given period of time and economy.
Culture has three major interconnected dimensions which in turn have 16 sub-dimensions that also are connected. The three major dimensions are:
Culture cannot be forced. It must evolve from within the enterprise and it will find different interpretations and flavors coming in to pivot to relevance as people move in and out of the enterprise. This health osmosis is necessary for the enterprise to remain relevant.
Hello and Welcome! This is the archents digital maturity compass podcast…and I am Subbu Iyer.
In the previous episode, we covered the second layer Leadership with Five Dimensions. In this episode, we are covering Culture that has three parts; Value, Beliefs & Assumptions. This is akin to how food is assimilated into the human blood stream. The three parts of culture will correspond to three parts that facilitate the assimilation process including the stomach for values, the liver for beliefs and the pancreas for assumptions. Just as blood regulates the health of a human body, culture regulates the health of an enterprise.
By now you are familiar that you need to have the app open to start identifying the attributes that you see are reflected in your enterprise. By the way, have you invited others yet? Have they answered the diagnostic? Are you able to see the comparative scores? Well, you know what to do, if you are not seeing enough comparators to your perspective.
In this episode, we examine the three parts of culture individually with their own dimensions and attributes starting with Values.
Values comprises of six dimensions. It starts with Integrity. Can you imagine a Value Statement without Integrity? In these times of reality and altered reality, it is important to understand that integrity relates to a singular version of truth and reality. And integrity is that quality of anchoring one’s value to this singular truth.
So how is the narrative of your enterprise shaped? Which of the six attributes matches what you see in your enterprise?
The next dimension is ethics that closely follows Integrity. It is a reflection on how the enterprise converts its Thoughts into Action. The question we are trying to grapple with here is how ethics is harnessed in a unified manner across the organization. Like in societies, different people come with different dispositions. The important thing to find out is whether the enterprise places emphasis on this dimension and if it does, how does it assure it is practiced?
So how do you see the practice of ethics in your enterprise? Pick the right attribute that you see manifested.
We are now onto the third dimension under Values - Inspiration. How does your enterprise find inspiration? What is the source? Is it by hiring great people or forming alliances or allowing experimentation? In essence, what informs the enterprise that there is something better, higher and more important to shoot for? Is it organic or a forced process of discovery?
Do you related to any of the six attributes here? Pick one that is closest to how you see inspiration driving your enterprise.
Innovation is the simple process of achieving excellence and it is a continuous journey; not a discrete event. It is akin to breathing in a human being. Most humans breathe without being conscious. But those who breathe consciously are the ones who are able to exercise better control on their life and situations that they are in. Similarly, every enterprise is endowed with its ability to innovate. Some do them consciously while others live through it unconsciously. Innovation provides an enterprise to thrive under all conditions.
From this vantage, when you look at your organization, what do you see in your enterprise? Which attribute describes your experience the closest?
Competition is often confused with Innovation. While innovation helps an organization thrive under all circumstances, competitiveness provides the means to survive. If an organization is innovative, it is automatically competitive but not vice versa.
The moot here is to find out how your enterprise looks at competition? And therefore what does it do to stay competitive or relevant in the marketplace?
The sixth dimension under Values is Customer Focus. There can be no two arguments that without a customer there is no enterprise. So what is the view of the customer that your enterprise chooses to take? If it is Value driven it will take a progressive one but it is Revenue driven it will probably take a regressive one.
Reading the six attributes, what do you think is the approach to defining customer focus in your enterprise?
Well these six dimensions help you to map the value system in your enterprise but that is only 1/3rd view of the culture. Let's look at the second part of culture that has 5 associated dimensions next.
Market Positioning is first dimension under Beliefs. It is a simple question as to where the enterprise belongs? Its behavior would need to be appropriate to its position, isn’t it?So which is the attribute resembles the positioning of the enterprise, not from fanciful imagination but from the realistic picture on the ground? Pick an attribute.
Branding is the next dimension. The question here is what kind of an impression does your enterprise seek to leave in the minds of the world? An impression that will allow people to associate their emotions with what your enterprise has to offer them.
Pick an attribute and we can move to the next dimension.
The next dimension Compliance combines Standards and Regulations that your enterprise is respectful of. How does it coat the compliance with Governance and Risk to manage compliance effectively, where both the standards and regulations can either be self imposed or through regulations or a combination of both.
Which of the attributes matches with the group level reality?
Every enterprise deserves Profitability and is specifically built for it. This dimension is necessary for an enterprises growth, where a certain part of the profits funds future growth. The question here is how does profitability work for your enterprise? What is the end to its means?
Pick an attribute.
Productivity is nothing but efficiency. Every enterprise needs it and yet it is important to understand how your enterprise views it? The interpretation of Productivity can be Limiting or Liberating. Which one is it for your enterprise? Which attribute do you see resembles your enterprise approach to productivity?
This bring us to complete the dimension of Beliefs. This sub-layer is a great way of knowing what drives the thinking of people in your enterprise.
Now let’s jump to the third part of culture which is assumptions to get its big picture. Where Values leads to Beliefs which in turn leads to Assumptions.
The first of the five dimensions under Assumptions is Honesty. What is the nature of honesty that is accepted in your enterprise is the question. It is a simple word but often we forget that how interpretation changes it around us.
Pick an attribute.
Freedom of Speech is similar to Honesty. On the face of it, everyone can exercise freedom of speech in a democracy. But in reality, do we? What limits or liberates us is the question that needs to be answered here from your enterprise’s perspective.
Picked an attribute? Ok, let’s move to the next one…
How is Meritocracy viewed? How much does it matter? How is merit interpreted - as a part or as a whole? These are the questions we ponder upon here.
So what in your experience is the interpretation of merit in your organization?
Trust is the next dimension that is pretty straightforward and layered at the same time. It is the straightforward when everyone operates from a common framework of truth and its interpretation. But it is layered when it is the opposite. So which is it in your organization based on the 6 attributes listed here?
Unified Organization which is the last of the dimensions under Assumptions examines the global thinking of the enterprise? Does it see unity in the global diversity of the enterprise?
Pick an attribute and you have completed the third of the third under culture. Now you can see the Culture maturity score of your enterprise that aggregates the three parts.
Remember, doing just a culture survey would cost you a few hundred thousands in consulting fees. And you are getting to do this free here with more depth. And not once but periodically. Benefit from it by inviting others in your enterprise and ecosystem. Let them know about your experience which we believe is good. Share this though social media so you can be benefited by connecting contextually with your ecosystem.
This is a collaborative world in a digital economy. Use the tools at your disposal to become a global citizen and grow exponentially with your connections.
I’ll connect with you again in the next episode to cover the fourth layer of your enterprise - Resilience.
Until then…This is Subbu Iyer…signing off for archents’ digital maturity compass podcast.