culture by design

2008
 how we help organizations evolve to
healthy, productive cultures
The Way We Do Things Around Here
Recognizing Climate

» Clarifying Business Values

» Articulating Brand Promises
» Defining the Climate

awareness How We Feel About the Way Things

Are Done Around Here
Teaching Climate

» Basing Decisions on Business Values

» Communicating Clearly and Consistently
deep » Connecting to Build Relationships
understanding » Enabling a Learning Environment

How We Influence The Way Things

Are Done
engagement Impacting The Space Between

» Inviting Wisdom
» Applying Knowledge
» Facilitating Discovery
» Promoting Wise Freedom
greencirclepartners.com © all rights reserved 2008
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 1

evolving culture
“In winning companies, everyone works at the highest level. These organizations design and support a culture
that encourages outstanding individual and team contributions, one that holds employees—not just
managers—responsible for success.” What Really Works. Joyce, Nohria, and Robertson. 2003

We have been fortunate to lead the design and implementation of large scale corporate initiatives that have
centered on cultural evolution. The journey has heightened our awareness of the remarkable influence culture
has upon an organization. It has also required us to spend considerable time researching the impact of
everyday work climates on the organizational culture. We have emerged with a deep understanding of the
importance of connection, at every level, to the heart and soul of the organization - its values and brand
promises. To evolve cultures and promote a heightened level of engagement, we now recognize that the
pathway involves affecting the climate.

We have adopted a comprehensive approach to helping organizations heighten climate awareness, learn
decision-making practices in alignment with business values, and define leadership practices that contribute to
the healthy and productive climate—one that enables the optimal expression of individual talents and skills.

An organization’s culture evolves over time as people share experiences and, as a result, come to hold certain
assumptions and beliefs about “the way things are done around here.” By uncovering and discussing “how people
feel about the way things are being done,” individuals and leaders can better understand how the climate may be
enabling or inhibiting organizational goals. This is our foundation for learning and our methodology for impacting
culture by design.
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 2

awareness
Everyone has a unique starting point when it comes to an understanding of corporate culture. In fact, organizations
as a whole have varied opinions concerning the influence of their culture on work practices and everyday decision-
making. Awareness represents the first stage of cultural evolution. The objective is to define and articulate the
behavioral expectations behind business values and brand promises - those attributes that will sustain a shared
vision. Awareness of these attributes, along with an introspective look at the operating climate, enables leaders to
teach and influence engagement practices.

Values Clarification Processes

The business case for values-based organizations is significant. In a 2004 survey of senior executives at 365
companies in 30 countries in 5 regions, executives were asked to specify the factors that were important to their
business strategy, and also to pinpoint which of those factors could be positively affected by active management
of business values. Their responses clearly showed that values were deemed critical in two strategic areas;
reputations and relationships—strong brand equity and the overall standing of the company correlate highly
with a commitment to corporate values. So does the robustness of the company’s associations across its value
chain, from suppliers to employees to customers.

We believe that discussing business values and “brand promises,” at the highest level, is what leaders must do.
It is the articulation of values and operating principles that should guide how decisions are made and how
problems are solved. Our Values Clarification Process reflects an impactful, facilitated experience that results in a
common understanding of business values and brand expectations—a clear definition of the practical actions
that demonstrate these values and an understanding of the important role leaders play in modeling and
teaching behavioral expectations.
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 3
Defining the Healthy and Productive Climate
Our team has developed a robust, qualitative research process to identify specific “characteristics” that link directly
to a healthy and productive climate within your organization. For leaders, disciplined examination of these
characteristics offers:

» A methodology for evaluating the operating climate to identify barriers to optimal performance
» Insight into the specific activities and practices that align with cultural expectations, and generate a productive and
healthy work climate—the picture of “what good looks like”

Broadly, these characteristics aim to influence the decisions, connections, communication, and learning among
individuals and work groups within the organization. Cultivation of a healthy climate – how people talk, make
decisions, make requests - isn’t a set of competencies. Rather, it is a disciplined approach to helping individuals
understand how they should pay attention to the space between themselves, co-workers, and customers. It is a
clear focus on the interactions and environments that can be influenced by their behaviors.

Here is an example of what we mean:

We recently worked with a Senior Director who was expected to “set challenging performance
expectations and pursue them with vigor and optimism.”

Consider a sales goal conversation between that Senior Director and his boss.

In a certain climate, the Senior Director expresses that he is “optimistic” about hitting his sales goal
target. His confidence reflects recent conversations he has had with his managers. His boss responds
that she is optimistic the Senior Director can produce even higher sales numbers that correlate to a
larger corporate objective. The Senior Director accepts his boss’ higher goal to demonstrate optimism.

In another climate, the Senior Director and his boss meet to discuss sales goals. Together, they share
information about manager capabilities, obstacles to corporate objectives, and targeted strategies to
increase sales. They develop a shared plan to reach corporate objectives and each leaves with authentic
optimism.
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 4

Which climate is more empowering and more likely to result in performance success? Which is more in
alignment with your culture? Which reflects your vision for the organization?

A leader’s attention to climate is critical, and the climate that contributes to empowerment, performance and growth
is definable. This discovery process is an important element of the awareness phase—helping raise individuals and
leaders to a vantage point where they can identify barriers to productive work.

Benchmarking through DOCS

The Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) is an employee-based survey based on over 20 years of research
on the link between organization culture and bottom-line performance measures such as ROI, ROA, Sales Growth, Quality
of Customer Service and Employee Satisfaction. The survey model is leveraged to benchmark cultural strengths and
weaknesses relative to other high performing organizations and to identify critical development needs in four cultural
dimensions—Mission, Consistency, Involvement, and Adaptability. With a test, retest approach, the DOCS helps us
measure cultural links to performance and guide planning initiatives for cultural advancement.

DOCS Applications
» Employee Satisfaction—identify key elements acting as barriers to employee engagement
» Managing Change—gauge organizational readiness to support change initiatives
» Strategic Planning—identify gaps between actual and desired core cultural traits and behaviors
» Mergers and Acquisitions—understand the organizations’ areas of similarity and/or differences for integration efforts
» Identification of Needed Cultural Instruction—uncover essential development areas in various parts of the company
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 5

deep understanding
Our experience has taught us that a deep understanding of a corporate culture starts when values become a context
by which everyday decisions are made, and when the climate becomes an everyday expression of cultural
aspirations. Learning programs focus on the real-world practice of decision-making - connecting values and
behavioral expectations with expected business activities. Leadership programs teach those characteristics that
enable the healthy and productive climate. Through deep understanding, leaders and teams emerge engaged and
committed to living your promises every day.

Teaching the Healthy and Productive Climate

The first step in pursuing the health and productive climate is to engage leaders. Specifically, to help them
adopt leadership actions that align with both the expectations and the aspirations of your culture. It is our
opinion that creating and sustaining a healthy climate consists largely of leaders being able to successfully
manage interdependence, interaction, and relationships—up, down, and across the enterprise. It is what we
call the “space between.”

This understanding has led us to design programs from a relationship perspective. We use a strength-based
approach, grounded in the assumption that people already have the resources and abilities necessary for
development and performance. The key activity is to help leaders and teams identify the barriers to fully
utilizing those resources and abilities—cultural and relationship barriers that exist within the organizational
climate.

There is an important distinction between culture and climate. The culture reflects employees’ shared
attitudes and beliefs independent of the actual organizational infrastructure, while the climate reflects their
shared perception of existing organizational policies, practices and procedures, both formal and informal.
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 6
Therefore, our approach poses this critical question:

What are the cultural and relationship barriers that may constrain individual empowerment, growth and
development?

Our programs help leaders and teams define these barriers and apply strategies by engaging people in a
process of discovery, learning, and facing challenges together. It is a process that empowers change, and
builds strategies to overcome barriers or eliminate them. And, it is a process that is structured to be guided
and influenced by leaders at every level.

Values-based Learning Programs

We have drawn from many disciplines to implement cultural learning programs. The intimate nature of culture lends
to dialogue and we have leveraged this platform to design engaging experiences that evoke thoughtful discussions
to clarify behaviors and practices expected by the organization. Crafted action statements from the Values
Clarification Process serve as a powerful tool that support scenario-based practice of decision-making. An
environment where storytelling is encouraged; an approach that supports adoption of a shared view; an exploration
of the influence of culture on how people interact - these are the hallmarks of our design process. Most often,
designs are transferred to an internal facilitation team that is supported by executive leadership. We provide teams
with train-the-trainer programs featuring carefully crafted instructional approaches for their diverse teaching abilities
and styles. Results have shown that this work, more than any we undertake, provides the most significant impact on
employee engagement and the promotion of an ownership culture.
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 7

engagement
The goal is engagement. Simple in concept, complex in reality. Awareness and deep understanding are a pathway
to engagement and essential to being able to “impact the space between.” This is where the key to cultural
evolution exists—in the space between your leaders and employees, and your employees and customers. It is about
teaching the choices that should be made in any given situation. It is about interacting to influence interpretations—
creating meaning and understanding through personal connections. It is about being practical, straightforward and
authentic—making the invisible, visible.

The pursuit toward engagement is meant to yield specific activities that are known to contribute to industry leading
workforce practices. Practices that are necessary to lead markets and to sustain the healthy, productive climate that
contributes to superior performance, growth, and empowerment:

» Inviting Wisdom – enabling the learning organization by opening avenues to diverse opinions and ideas
» Applying Knowledge – exploring questions that matter to uncover opportunities for functional evolution
» Facilitating Discovery – guiding practice, thinking, and problem-solving within real-world situations
» Promoting Wise Freedom – empowering people to make the right choice, free from prescriptive direction
 Culture by Design | Green Circle Partners 8

green circle partners

The Green Circle represents a design process for remarkable learning solutions. Within is a team of renowned
learning professionals dedicated to helping you build and sustain a healthy and productive organizational climate. A
pursuit we feel best enables the acquisition of knowledge and the expression of individual behaviors required to
mobilize your success.

You will benefit from leading and emerging techniques; applied to connect your people to ideas and a deep
understanding of what it takes to perform in your organization. Our approach ensures long-lasting alignment
between individual actions and organizational purpose.

You can expect our full attention to your needs, and our complete commitment to achieving desired outcomes. Our
focus is on each individual and their learning experience. We take pride in caring for our clients and we will invite
your wisdom every step of the way. Simply, we seek to surprise and delight.

green circle partners llc, 224 n. des plaines, suite 600, chicago, il 60661—312.334.4390 office
info@greencirclepartners.com
http://www.greencirclepartners.com

Proprietary Statement
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