Sustainable Growth:

Institutional Excellence

Corporate Culture

Achieving Higher Results Through Sustaining Employees' Focus on What To Do and How To Do It

"Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it."

– Mark Twain

What is Corporate Culture?

Culture refers to an organization's values, beliefs, and behaviors. In general, it is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups. Cultural statements become operationalized when executives articulate and publish the values of their firm which provide patterns for how employees should behave.

Firms with strong cultures achieve higher results because employees sustain focus both on what to do and how to do it... More

9 Signs of a Losing Organization

3. Discouraging Culture: no shared values; lack of trust; blame culture; focus on problems, not opportunities; diversity is not celebrated; failures are not tolerated; people lose confidence in their leaders and systems... More

8 Common Errors in Organizational Change Efforts

By: John Kotter

• Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture... More

Balanced Organization: 5 Basic Elements

Leadership (Fire):

• Corporate vision inspires and energizes all employees.

• Leaders are energized, communicate strategic direction, and lead by example... More

 Case in Point  25 Lessons from Jack Welch

At General Electric (GE), corporate values are so important to the company, that Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of the company, had them inscribed and distributed to all GE employees, at every level of the company.

The sum is greater than its parts at GE as both business and people diversity is utilized in a most effective way. A major American enterprise with a diverse group of huge businesses, GE is steeped in a learning culture and it is this fact that makes GE a unique company.

As Jack Welch puts it: "What sets GE apart is a culture that uses diversity as a limitless source of learning opportunities, a storehouse of ideas whose breadth and richness is unmatched in world business. At the heart of this culture is an understanding that an organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive business advantage."

Development Risks: "The things we fear most in organizations – fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances – are the primary sources of creativity." – Margaret Wheatley... More

Inspiring Culture

Do you want to encourage extraordinary performance from your people?  Do you want them to do great things? If yes, then you must create an inspiring corporate culture to inspire and energize them... More

Creating a Culture for Innovation

By: Soren Kaplan

A common metaphor for culture is the iceberg. Icebergs float on top of the water and are visible to the eye, but beneath the surface they may extend hundreds of feet and can be significantly larger than what’s visible above water. As a metaphor for organizational culture, the part of the iceberg above the surface is the visible culture, including such things as the stated vision, mission and values, organizational charts, policies and procedures, and formal processes.

As we look beneath the surface, however, we find clues as to “the way things are really done around here” – norms, unwritten rules, shared assumptions, taken for granted beliefs, process workarounds and so on. What’s above the surface isn’t always consistent with what’s below. It’s what’s beneath the surface that really supports or inhibits organizational culture and the ability to innovate... More

The Seven Dimensions of Strategic Innovation

The Strategic Innovation framework weaves together seven dimensions to produce a range of outcomes that drive growth.

A company's Organizational Readiness may drive or inhibit its ability to act upon and implement new ideas and strategies, and to successfully manage operational, political, cultural and financial demands that will follow... More

Kaizen Culture

Kaizen, or continuous improvement, is an integral part of corporate culture. It requires continuous both conscious and sub-conscious thinking about improvements from everyone. Nurturing and effectively integrating Kaizen into corporate culture is not easy. It requires a sustained effort. But, as Toyota has demonstrated, it offers a more sustained competitive advantage... More

Kaizen Mindset

• Recognize that any corporation has problems and establish a corporate culture where everyone can freely admit these problems and suggest improvement... More

Cultural Intelligence

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is your capability to grow personally through continuous learning and good understanding of diverse cultural heritage, wisdom and values, and to deal effectively with people from different cultural background and understanding... More

Competitive Culture

Based on 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu

Competitive philosophy is described by Sun Tzu as "The Way" or "The Path." In business, it is called "corporate culture" or, as an focus, the "company mission." Your core as competitor is your competitive philosophy. A clear philosophy makes decision-making easier. Philosophy guides everything else you do in competition. Nothing is as important as having the right way of thinking. A competitor with a strong philosophy is a strong competitor. Understanding your competitor's philosophy allows you to predict them.

Sun Tzu's two main issues regarding competitive philosophy are:

1. A Philosophy of People: Your philosophy must be people centered. Your goal must be to serve the needs of people. Every competitor's strength depends on the support of people.

2. Unity and Focus: Your philosophy is the source of your competitive focus and unity. Philosophy brings people together, uniting them into an effective group. Philosophy also provides your focus that tells you what is important now. Having people united and focused is the source of all strength... More