Cracking the Culture Code

By Michael Ellis

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced when working with leaders in building great culture is knowing what to work on. Culture is complex; it’s multi-faceted, interconnected, personal, collective, constantly evolving and dynamic. And so, the way in which we approach culture must acknowledge and honour this.

I’ve tried plenty of approaches, initiatives and frameworks for building great culture, and to be honest, with varying degrees of success. Not for lack of effort or intention, care or genuine commitment to change. Instead, too little time was spent identifying the current state and, instead, defaulting straight to problem-solving mode without really identifying what the ‘problem’ we were solving was.

As I’ve been working with various leaders and companies over the past 10 years, perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is that to truly effect change, first we must understand the system in which we’re working. Culture is a system, an ecosystem, a complex web of interconnected dynamics, of people, and we need to approach it with a systems thinking lens.

A good place to start is with a diagnosis, and a good diagnosis will be comprehensive, probing, honest and thorough. I spend most of my time gathering data when I start working with a company. I need to know what’s actually happening, not only what’s being reported. So, we ask questions and challenge assumptions.

When I work with leaders and companies now, I always start with this diagnosis. An example of this is the Culture Health Check. I created this as a way for people to get an insight into what’s actually happening in their culture. It’s a series of questions that takes about 10 minutes to complete and will give you a snapshot of how healthy your culture is based on five fundamental pillars. I’ve also created a list of recommendations, actions you can implement immediately to address those areas that need attention. These results are bespoke, and it’s all free. You can find the link here.