Culture Transformation
Culture Evaluation and AssessmentWith a culture evaluation, you can analyze and actively manage the culture of your organization.
Critical Path Advisors uses a values-based culture assessment to help organizations find alignment between their peoples’ personal values and the organization’s values creating a unified and motivated workforce. The company’s core values are then used as a framework to create alignment with the company’s mission — to maximize levels of engagement and performance. |
Transformation
A values-driven culture works because it is people-centric. This type of culture understands their employees’ needs and what is important to them. If people are supported in satisfying their needs, they respond with high levels of engagement and willingly bring their discretionary energy, commitment, and creativity to their work. When we use our values to make decisions we focus on what is important to us. By aligning and bridging values, personal and organizational, we can provide a solid foundation and resiliency to the organization.
Studies that have examined historical S&P trends have shown that value-driven organizations generally tend to outperform the market and weather market storms better than non-values-driven organizations. They also tend to be known as ‘firms of endearment’. Being a firm of endearment, a people-centric organization, enhances employer branding initiatives by giving a reputation as one of the best places to work – which engenders public trust, thus enhancing consumer brand positioning. Employees want to know that their work is meaningful and that it matters — that they are contributing not only to the organization’s mission but as conscientious stewards of our planet, as well.
Values are a great way to mitigate unconscious biases in recruiting and selection of future employees and for team fit because values connect with the employees’ intrinsic motivators. When we use our values to build cohesiveness in teams and within the organization, we put what’s really at the heart of our decision-making and what drives our behaviors first. Our values, coupled with our beliefs, underpin everything we do consciously and subconsciously. Bridging this gap, personal values aligned with the organization’s values, allows people to bring their whole self to their work, thus creating high levels of engagement towards the organization’s mission.
The cultural evaluation tool we use contains both positive values, such as trust, creativity and open communication, as well as potentially limiting values, such as bureaucracy, blame, and control, then calculates the Cultural Entropy score in the culture of the organization. The Cultural Entropy score is the proportion of all votes cast for potentially limiting values. It is a reflection of the degree of disorder and dysfunction in a system. The values assessment also measures the degree of alignment between participants’ personal values and the current culture, as well as the current culture and desired culture. High performing cultures have low Cultural Entropy scores and strong values alignment.
Other indicators which are generated from the survey include: the ratio of positive to limiting values in the top ten values; the ratio of the individual, relationship, organizational, and societal values; and the Business Needs Scorecards which analyses the top ten current and desired culture values into six categories – Finance, Customers, Culture, Fitness (factors that impact speed, efficiency and productivity), Evolution (factors that impact the development of future products and services) and Societal Contribution (the overall desire for societal contribution of the organization’s legacy; leaving the world a better place for future generations and our planet).
When we purposefully and consciously use our values to guide us we are able to make quicker, more effective decisions because we already have a meaningful framework from which to use. Values help leaders, teams, and organizations to navigate through times of uncertainty, volatility, and the ever-changing marketplace by providing a ‘map’. This map, essentially, provides clarity in which to guide decision-making when encountering complex situations that may have never encountered before. In several case studies, it is clear that values-based organizations compared to non-values-based organizations recover quicker and are more resilient when faced with an economic downturn, chaos or change. To embrace change leadership you must first start with where you are, then aligning it with where you desire to be. Critical Path Advisors can set you up and get your organization off to a strong start with the diagnostics and design of your cultural plan.
A one- or two-day retreat is the first step in our values-based cultural transformation process. The retreat will cover values, mission, and vision alignment. After the retreat, we work with leaders in a one-on-one coaching format, using tools and training from our leadership training programs to facilitate the change.
Studies that have examined historical S&P trends have shown that value-driven organizations generally tend to outperform the market and weather market storms better than non-values-driven organizations. They also tend to be known as ‘firms of endearment’. Being a firm of endearment, a people-centric organization, enhances employer branding initiatives by giving a reputation as one of the best places to work – which engenders public trust, thus enhancing consumer brand positioning. Employees want to know that their work is meaningful and that it matters — that they are contributing not only to the organization’s mission but as conscientious stewards of our planet, as well.
Values are a great way to mitigate unconscious biases in recruiting and selection of future employees and for team fit because values connect with the employees’ intrinsic motivators. When we use our values to build cohesiveness in teams and within the organization, we put what’s really at the heart of our decision-making and what drives our behaviors first. Our values, coupled with our beliefs, underpin everything we do consciously and subconsciously. Bridging this gap, personal values aligned with the organization’s values, allows people to bring their whole self to their work, thus creating high levels of engagement towards the organization’s mission.
The cultural evaluation tool we use contains both positive values, such as trust, creativity and open communication, as well as potentially limiting values, such as bureaucracy, blame, and control, then calculates the Cultural Entropy score in the culture of the organization. The Cultural Entropy score is the proportion of all votes cast for potentially limiting values. It is a reflection of the degree of disorder and dysfunction in a system. The values assessment also measures the degree of alignment between participants’ personal values and the current culture, as well as the current culture and desired culture. High performing cultures have low Cultural Entropy scores and strong values alignment.
Other indicators which are generated from the survey include: the ratio of positive to limiting values in the top ten values; the ratio of the individual, relationship, organizational, and societal values; and the Business Needs Scorecards which analyses the top ten current and desired culture values into six categories – Finance, Customers, Culture, Fitness (factors that impact speed, efficiency and productivity), Evolution (factors that impact the development of future products and services) and Societal Contribution (the overall desire for societal contribution of the organization’s legacy; leaving the world a better place for future generations and our planet).
When we purposefully and consciously use our values to guide us we are able to make quicker, more effective decisions because we already have a meaningful framework from which to use. Values help leaders, teams, and organizations to navigate through times of uncertainty, volatility, and the ever-changing marketplace by providing a ‘map’. This map, essentially, provides clarity in which to guide decision-making when encountering complex situations that may have never encountered before. In several case studies, it is clear that values-based organizations compared to non-values-based organizations recover quicker and are more resilient when faced with an economic downturn, chaos or change. To embrace change leadership you must first start with where you are, then aligning it with where you desire to be. Critical Path Advisors can set you up and get your organization off to a strong start with the diagnostics and design of your cultural plan.
A one- or two-day retreat is the first step in our values-based cultural transformation process. The retreat will cover values, mission, and vision alignment. After the retreat, we work with leaders in a one-on-one coaching format, using tools and training from our leadership training programs to facilitate the change.
OperationsBudgetary Support
Prepare/update annual operating budget, including profitability analysis Office Lease Coordinate with tenant representative on space acquisition and review of lease provisions Insurance Acquire, negotiate and manage health, E&O, EPLI, general business, workers compensation, and cyber security policies Systems Evaluate internal systems and processes to improve workflow and efficiencies Coordinate with internal staff and IT consultants/vendors to determine technology needs and upgrades; handle project implementation |