How to Create an Unstoppable Culture

Edgar H. Schein is considered to be the “Father” of Organizational Development. He’s also the author of the classic, Corporate Culture Survival Guide. Schein postulated that an organization’s culture has three levels:

• Artifacts—things you see such as orange: walls, furniture, tennis shoes and tee shirts.
• Espoused values—it’s what people talk about. E.g. Be Transparent.
• Assumptions—unspoken ways of behaving. It’s getting into the reflexive “this is the way we operate when we’re not thinking too hard about it.”

The metaphor I like to use is a rope. When all three levels (strands) are connected and aligned you have a strong culture.

It’s easiest to align the first two levels. Getting assumptions aligned, as you know, is a lot trickier.

I’ve reframed Schein’s term assumptions to habits because assumptions are the things we do when we’re not thinking about what we’re doing. A corporate culture is really a collection of habits. Sub cultures such as sales and production while sharing some of the habits with the main culture also have a different collection of habits.

What excites me about the habit frame is that it provides an opportunity to actually do something about it. In my opinion, the word culture by itself is too vague. The power of talking about habits is that we know stuff about habit formation. And the research is clear: rigorous and consistent coaching is one of the best tools for forming better habits.

 Check out our related posts on:

13 Ways to Create a Coaching Culture

Creating a High Performance Culture

To your greater success,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, trainer and Culture Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

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