Right CultureTM
Organizational Culture Consulting
 

Why a new model?

"Pyramid model of culture" is born out of my experience with a variety of companies, virtually every one of them facing intense pressure of ever accelerating change in the business environment. The key leadership issue is how to run the present core business more efficiently and keep growing it while constantly searching for the future businesses/economic engines. Thus, while the core business demands efficiency and predictability on one hand, and yet it should wire itself up for constant innovation and change. Further, innovation which is incremental in nature needs to become day- to- day way of doing business, and then every business needs radical innovations too, for long-term. From a cultural standpoint, efficiency and predictability needs certain behaviors which may seem to be in conflict with the behaviors that drive innovation and change. And yet the core business must learn to live with this conflict, and in fact, accept it as “normal”, something that is intertwined with its other time-proven practices. Clearly, this is not an easy ask for the leaders who have the enormous responsibility to tweak the culture to prepare the whole organization for this new reality of living in a state of constant flux.

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The Pyramid Model answers these dilemmas intelligently.

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Brief review of the model

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Every organization’s culture can be analyzed through cultural building blocks residing in three layers. These are:

1. Foundational cultural building blocks (the bottom layer)

They represent foundational values/principles, such as integrity/ethics, environmental & social responsibility, long-term direction, respect and dignity, etc. These values are required to build any worthwhile business for long term. While these Foundational Blocks do not directly drive an organization’s performance, they support the organization in numerous ways, primarily keeping its moral compass in the right direction and ensuring a worthwhile, clear long-term intention. One distinguishing characteristic of organizations with strong foundational values is that they earn respect from all the stakeholders and tend to endure over long periods of time. However, lack of such values or weak values at this foundational level can lead to serious issues even if the organization excels at values in the other two layers.

2. Performance driving cultural building blocks (the middle layer)

They represent values/principles, such as drive for performance, striving for excellence, collaboration, customer centricity, etc. These values drive the present economic engine (the current core business) and as they get strengthened/refined, they help drive a continuous improvement in the performance of the current business. One noteworthy characteristics of such organizations is their ability to set ambitious goals and excel at execution. They are able to constantly raise the bar on quality of their products/services, and introduce adjacent innovations, all of which opens the doors for both rapid growth as well as a possibility to exercise pricing power.  When these values are not strong enough, performance suffers and catches a lower trajectory. Note that by themselves they are unable to shape the future.

3. Future shaping cultural building blocks (the top layer)

They represent values/principles, such as curiosity, drive for innovation, and adaptability that basically help shape the future economic engines (the businesses/products/services that will drive future growth and profitability) as well as the organization itself to cope up with the changing world. Once these values become part of the organization’s cultural fabric, they also help drive the present economic engine (present core business) with even greater vigor. One distinguishing characteristic of such organizations is their ability to come up with new/ innovative products/services in a seemingly never-ending stream. They thrive on being pioneers. They are also able to attract very different kind of talent, often the best, who values such cultural traits. And finally, people in such organizations are not averse to change as and when required because they see themselves as harbingers of change anyway.

On the contrary, organizations where the values in this layer are weak are often taken by surprise when a competitor introduces new technology/ superior products or the external environment changes rapidly. They struggle to come to terms with events like these and are unable to compete effectively when challenged by new innovative firms.

Organizations that exhibit high performance work diligently on all the three layers. They have strong foundational values, vibrant performance driving values and well supported future shaping values. The harmonious relationship between the values/principles from all the layers produces a distinct competitive advantage in building a culture that helps deliver outstanding value to all the stakeholders, be it employees, customers, vendors, investors, or society at large.