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Articulate Organizational Culture

Unleash the power of culture to build a competitive advantage.

  • There is often a gap between an organization’s described culture and the employees’ lived experience. This gap varies by employee level, with leaders of leaders having more positive perceptions of their organization’s culture than nonmanagers.
  • There is a lack of awareness around the material impact that physical space, leaders, HR, and employees have in shaping the desired culture, values, and behaviors.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst.


  • Get on-demand project support
  • Get advice, coaching, and insight at key project milestones
  • Go through a Guided Implementation to help you get through your project

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • How employees behave and interact makes or breaks organizational success. An intentionally designed culture blueprint is the key to strengthening the organization’s competitive advantage and articulating the behaviors, beliefs, and mindsets needed for strategic execution and a positive experience.

Impact and Result

  • To unleash the power of culture, organizations must start with intentional culture design to outline a culture blueprint that is linked to the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy and will ultimately influence organizational outcomes.
  • HR must support culture design by conducting a culture assessment, facilitating the process of defining the desired culture, and identifying both the commonalities and gaps between the current and desired culture.
  • Using results from a culture assessment and with the desired culture in mind, HR must catalyze executive and senior leadership reflection on how the desired culture is reinforced and set the stage for culture change.

Articulate Organizational Culture Research & Tools

2. Conduct a culture assessment

Create a culture assessment report using organizational and employee voice data.

3. Create a culture blueprint

Define the desired culture, including values, associated behaviors, and a culture statement.


Articulate and Foster Organizational Culture

An active membership is required to access McLean Academy
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This program has been approved for continuing professional development (CPD) hours under Section A of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Log of the Human Resource Professionals Association (HRPA).

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McLean & Company is recognized by SHRM and can award Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®.

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HR Certification Institute's® (HRCI®) official seal confirms that McLean & Company meets the criteria for pre-approved recertification credit(s) for any of HRCI’s eight credentials, including SPHR® and PHR®.

How to complete this course:

Use these videos, along with the Project Blueprint deck above, to gain an understanding of the subject. Start with the Introduction, then move through each of the Course Modules. At the end of each Module, you will be required to complete a short test to demonstrate your understanding. You will complete this course when you have completed all of the course tests.

  • Number of Course Modules: 5
  • Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Learning Outcome

HR professionals will understand how to support leaders in determining the culture that is best for the organization to deliver on the strategy and choose the values that will have the maximum impact. Understand the importance of alignment around values and how they can be reinforced through HR programs.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

  • Recognize the importance of culture to drive the organization’s strategy.
  • Examine the current culture and values in their organization.
  • Examine the options to equip leaders with the tools to drive change.
  • Connect culture with their own role and make decisions to drive and reinforce alignment of culture.
  • Support business leaders in working toward disseminating and maintaining culture.

Course Modules

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Introduction

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Module 1

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Module 2

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Module 3

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Module 4


Workshop: Articulate Organizational Culture

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Understand current culture and describe future state

The Purpose

Exploration and identification of the culture that enables desired organizational outcomes.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • An understanding of the strengths and limitations of the current culture.
  • Enhanced alignment between desired culture and organizational vision, mission, and strategy.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Identify why culture is a priority.

1.2

Connect the organizational goals to culture.

  • Key messages aligning the need for culture design with organizational vision, mission and strategy.
1.3

Describe the future.

  • Insights to guide values selection.
1.4

Review culture assessment data.

1.5

Pinpoint values for desired culture.

  • Organizational values selected.
1.6

Craft culture statement.

Module 2: Define culture through values and behaviors

The Purpose

  • Finalize the culture blueprint.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Clear descriptions of and observable behaviors associated with the selected values.
  • Increased buy-in and support from executives on how their behaviors support the desired culture.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Craft culture statement (cont.).

2.2

Craft values definitions.

2.3

Identify behaviors attached to the values.

  • Culture blueprint created.
2.4

Executive Reflection and discussion on how to role model behaviors aligned to the new values.

  • Executive behaviors to maintain and behaviors to shift identified.
2.5

Set goals for the culture change.

  • Plan for how to assess culture blueprint impact on organizational outcomes.
Articulate Organizational Culture preview picture

About McLean & Company

McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 11 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Set the foundation for culture design.
  • Call 1: Uncover the driving need and prepare to gain leadership commitment for culture design.
  • Call 2: Discuss which key contributors to engage and how to complete a key player analysis.

Guided Implementation 2: Conduct a culture assessment.
  • Call 1: Review how to conduct a culture assessment using organizational and employee voice data.
  • Call 2: Prepare to share culture assessment report findings with executives and senior leadership.

Guided Implementation 3: Create a culture blueprint.
  • Call 1: Define the desired culture and identify values.
  • Call 2: Discuss best practices for confirming values, creating value definitions, identifying associated behaviors, and crafting a culture statement.
  • Call 3: Review the completed culture blueprint and prepare to facilitate a collective reflection with key contributors.

Guided Implementation 4: Prepare for culture change.
  • Call 1: Set goals that deliver on both culture assessment results and strategic objectives.
  • Call 2: Identify commonalities, gaps, and challenges between the current and desired culture.
  • Call 3: Prepare to facilitate executive reflection around how executives and senior leadership’s behaviors support the desired culture.
  • Call 4: Anticipate key players’ reactions to upcoming culture change and plan for next steps beyond culture design.

Contributors

  • Allen Annett, HR/OD Consultant and Executive Coach, DMD Connects
  • Richard Barrett, Speaker, Author, and Values Thought Leader, Barrett Values Centre
  • Greg Besner, CEO, CultureIQ
  • Marcia Buchholz, Associate Vice President of Human Resources, University of Calgary
  • Phil Buckley, Managing Director, Change with Confidence
  • Alexis Dean, Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Dovetail
  • Greg Estell, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, SMART Technologies
  • Michael Franklin, Employee Engagement Specialist, MagnaCare
  • Dr. Ivan Joseph, Director of Athletics, Toronto Metropolitan University
  • Carol Leaman, CEO, Axonify Inc.
  • Edward Marshall, Adjunct Professor at Duke University, http://www.marshallgroup.com
  • Garry Ridge, Chairman Emeritus, WD-40 Company
  • Colleen Meeker, Vice President of Human Resources, Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc.
  • Catherine Spence, Co-Founder, Pomello
  • Carolyn Taylor, CEO, Walking the Talk
  • Dr. John Traphagan, Professor of Religious Studies and Human Dimensions of Organizations, University of Texas
  • Dr. David S. Weiss, President & CEO of Weiss International Ltd., http://www.weissinternational.ca