• Create Constructive Cultures and Impact the World

    Over 30 years of research across thousands of organizations using the Organizational Culture Inventory® has shown positive relationships between Constructive cultural norms (that is, expectations for members to behave constructively in order to “fit in”) and motivation, engagement, teamwork, quality, external adaptability and, ultimately, profitability.

  • ‘Unbossed Culture’ Takes Performance To New Heights

    Leaders now hold each other accountable. Their vulnerability has promoted inclusiveness, built trust and showed commitment to employees. Employees are engaged, their ideas are flowing and they’re taking ownership.

  • Leadership Glue Delivers Speed, Agility, & Aligned Action

    Hanes’ approach to developing their leaders is distinct in that their leaders are required to experience LSI three times before moving forward to the next level development program.

  • How Quantitative and Qualitative Results Lead to Real-Time Change

    The leaders at ERDMAN saw an opportunity for the senior leadership team to set the tone and expectations for the entire company and help drive needed business results. While never an overnight change, culture transformation is a vital part of an organization’s success when done correctly and ERDMAN has already begun to see the results…

  • Quantifying and Aligning Workplace Culture Post-Merger

    While it’s never an overnight change, culture transformation is a vital part of an organization’s success when done correctly. With 12 years of experience and the assessment tools that provided quantitative data showing where we are, where we want to go, and how we need to get there – Inclusa’s culture journey seemed attainable.

  • Johnsonville Sausage: Ensuring a Culture for Growth

    Members and leaders of Wisconsin-based Johnsonville Sausage have a bold vision to “be the best company on earth.” This requires that the leading national sausage brand be culturally prepared and poised for aggressive innovation on its way to growing and becoming a $1 billion company. An important step was determining whether the company’s Research and…

  • Culture Shift + Leadership Development = Sustainable Results for Advocate Health Care

    As the largest health system in Illinois, Advocate’s challenge was to increase and stabilize engagement, focus on culture change, and strengthen relations within a high-profile, semi-autonomous unit that struggled with negative team dynamics, unproductive work relations, and entrenched passive-aggressive behavior.

  • Culture Change at HKS: Resilient and Responsive

    Dallas, Texas-based architectural firm HKS Architects creates places that enhance the human experience, like the US Bank Stadium, home of the 2018 Super Bowl. After collecting employee satisfaction data for 10 consecutive years, leadership sought to better understand the current culture and the roadblocks that were inhibiting employees from taking the most successful actions.

  • Ultimate Culture Webinar – What are your Blind Spots? with Jim Haudan and Rich Berens

    Root Inc Chairman, Jim Haudan, and CEO and Chief Client Fanatic, Rich Berens, reveal the five most common blind spots that thwart leaders and their organizations from attaining higher levels of member engagement and creating real and meaningful strategic and culture change. They outline how to create a thriving organization by focusing on purpose over…

  • The Missing C in C-Suite = Culture

    Marti Wronski, General Counsel and SVP with the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, shares: “Successful transformation happens when the majority of people in the company have aligned beliefs and when proper leadership mindsets fuel consistent action.”

  • A Historic Shift in Expecting Leaders to Understand and Evolve Culture

    We are experiencing a historic shift in how people view the importance of culture and culture change. As a result, most CEOs and other top leaders will be expected to understand and deal with culture challenges proactively, or they will be considered both financially and morally negligent. Yes, financially and morally negligent. We are seeing top…

  • In Conversation with Edgar Schein: Answering Three Common Questions about Culture

    Culture can often be like a wet bar of soap—too slippery to grasp. To harness its force, we first need to understand its nature and dynamics. And there’s no better person to help us get a handle on organizational and team culture than Edgar Schein, one of the world’s most well-known culture pioneers.

  • Post #200 on CultureU – 7 Essential Insights Normally Missed in Culture Change Efforts

    This milestone post is a salute to passionate and experienced culture and performance change agents. You understand the power of culture in organizations and the challenge, frustration, restlessness, and exhilaration inevitably linked to intentional culture-related action. We’re living in the absolute best time in history to be involved in meaningful culture change. Culture is finally…

  • Closing the Massive Gaps Between Culture Awareness, Education, and Action

    It’s time to turn the culture world upside down and explode many incorrect notions that are preventing meaningful culture change for organizations and society. We’ve reached a critical point where most leaders are aware culture is important, but they range from being confused to intentionally uninformed about what culture change is all about. This culture…

  • 8 Culture Change Secrets Most Leaders Don’t Understand

    I spent 15 years learning and applying culture insights as a senior executive and consultant across multiple organizations before I started to proactively reach out to top culture pioneers and experts to learn about their culture facts and fundamentals. We can’t learn much about culture from the popular press and most social media is dominated…

  • 20 Organizational Culture Change Insights from Edgar Schein

    Grâce cette publication, vous pourrez accélérer le changement de votre culture organisationnelle. Chaque leader comprendra ici les bénéfices des réflexions critiques sur la culture ainsi que la résolution de problèmes, le changement, l’engagement, la stratégie, le recrutement et le consulting avec Edgar Schein, Professeur Émérite au MIT Sloan School of Management et personnalité la plus…

  • The Common Ground of Qualitative and Quantitative Culture Development Approaches (Part Two)

    This is the second post from a discussion between Professor Edgar Schein, arguably the #1 workplace culture expert in the world and a strong critic of culture surveys, and Dr. Robert A. Cooke, creator of the most widely used organizational culture assessment in the world. The discussion resulted in 12 key areas of common ground…

  • The Common Ground of Qualitative and Quantitative Culture Development Approaches (Part One)

    What happens when you have a discussion with Professor Edgar Schein, arguably the #1 workplace culture expert in the world and a strong critic of culture surveys, and Dr. Robert A. Cooke, creator of the most widely used organizational culture assessment in the world? It was exciting to see this discussion unfold to a point…

  • Workplace Culture vs. Climate – why most focus on climate and may suffer for it

    Culture is a hot topic. It was the Merriam-Webster “word of the year” for 2014. Leaders and experts across the world are talking about how to develop an agile culture, implement a lean culture, overcome the culture clash in acquisitions, and many other areas of culture change. Unfortunately, the reality is that most of these…

  • The Four Roots of Employee Engagement

    Haven’t we talked about employee engagement enough? Nope! Because despite the amount of time, energy and effort that organizations around the globe are investing in helping engage people in work, things aren’t improving much. Weekly pizza socials, guest speakers and telecommuting options are certainly appealing. I like pizza as much as the next guy. And,…

  • The first principle of successful culture shaping – The Shadow of the Leader

    I wrote about the four reasons culture-shaping efforts fail in my previous post (Organizational culture has reached a tipping point, yet many culture change initiatives fail for four key reasons). But what makes them succeed? What makes some culture-change efforts successful where others become simply another ‘flavor of the week’ training session that never translates…

  • GM Culture Crisis Case Study – A Tragedy and Missed Opportunity

    The GM ignition switch recall tragedy led to at least 13 deaths and was the result of 11 years of failure on many levels.  It’s a live case study on a sad culture crisis we all can and must learn from since culture is the most powerful force in organizations.  Rarely do we have a chance…

  • Empowering People, Inspiring Innovation: Effective Leadership Strategies for Building Innovative Organizations

    Elevate your organizational performance and amplify your company’s capacity for innovation through powerful leadership strategies. Join us for this enlightening online session on September 11, 2024, at 11:00 am CDT.

  • Culture as the Gatekeeper to Success…

    This panel discussion, “Culture as the Gatekeeper To Success: Realize, Reorganize, Run With It” focused on the critical role of organizational culture in driving success. Panelists shared insights from diverse organizational environments, including a not-for-profit undergoing succession planning, a police department rebuilding community trust, and an organization expanding globally. The discussion highlighted how culture influences…

  • Using AI for Culture Transformation

    Dr. Robert A. Cooke and colleagues discuss the timely and relevant topic of using Artificial Intelligence, in particular our proprietary approach to AI, to help leaders and teams make informed decisions about transforming their culture. Rob’s expertise provides a profound understanding of how culture and leadership assessments can drive organizational excellence.

  • Webinar – July 18, 2024 | Using AI for Culture Transformation

    Making a special appearance, Dr. Robert A. Cooke discussed the timely and relevant topic of using Artificial Intelligence, in particular our proprietary approach to AI, to help leaders and teams make informed decisions about transforming their culture. Rob’s work has positively impacted the realm of leadership, teams, and organizational development globally.

  • The Journey of Improvement is Continuous

    In today’s ever-evolving workplace, adaptability is crucial—not just a welcomed advantage, but a fundamental necessity for staying relevant and thriving. Achieving success goes beyond just sketching out goals and strategies; it’s about consistently reviewing our progress and adjusting our sails as needed. Developing constructive leaders, fostering unified teams, and nurturing an achievement-oriented organizational culture are…

  • Leveraging Expertise for Organizational Success

    Experienced consultants bring a wealth of knowledge and understanding that can contribute greatly to guiding organizations towards their cultural objectives. These change agents offer perspectives that go beyond conventional practice to provide tailored strategies that help leaders with their constructive impact or in discovering their organizational potential. By leveraging a skilled consultant, leaders can navigate the complexities…

  • Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders: A University’s Approach

    In a world where technology and innovation are constantly reshaping landscapes, education is no exception. Immersive learning, with its hands-on, real-world scenarios, has emerged as a cornerstone in today’s educational environment. At the forefront of this movement is Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), an institution renowned for its innovative spirit and steadfast dedication to combining business expertise with…

  • Challenging Industry Assumptions: Unveiling Cultural Similarities

    But my industry is different! … We often hear this from our clients when we present data-based evidence that Constructive organizational norms lead to increased effectiveness, while Defensive norms decrease effectiveness. But are industry-specific norms and expectations for interacting with others and approaching work hindering our potential for success? Let’s dive deeper. The Impact of Industry Standards on…

  • Human Synergistics International Diagnostic System: Survey Reliability and Validity

    Prior to releasing its surveys, HSI develops and tests multiple prototypes, carries out reliability and validity analyses, and uses the results to iteratively improve each successive version.

  • Delicato Family Wines – The Perfect Blend of Success

    Delicato Family Wines, one of the fastest growing wine companies in the U.S., is a family-owned winery with nearly a century of history of farming grapes in California and crafting superior quality wines. Learn about their culture journey as shared by senior HR leaders, Emily Ingram and Steve Hopper.