Welcome to our mini series, “Key insights on building a healthy organisational culture.” On this journey, we explore the profound impact of intentional culture design on organisations, unravelling its intricacies through the lens of 5 essential elements: Values, Strategy, Structure, Process, and People.
When we talk about a company’s culture, we’re not just throwing around a trendy buzzword. It’s the lifeblood of an organisation and at its foundation lies the values. Values are encapsulated in the Vision, Mission, and Values statements—those things usually hanging on office walls and tucked away in employee handbooks. They’re the organisation’s aspirations and how it aims to present itself to the world. But here’s where it gets tricky: there’s often a gap between professed and practiced values.
A company may proclaim its values in all its HR materials. But what really matters is how those values play out in the real world—in the decisions, actions, and behaviours of the people within the organisation.
The Wavemaker story
Despite our best intentions at Wavemaker Partners, at some point, a gap emerged between our professed values and the culture our team experienced on a day-to-day basis. While trust serves as our core value, we mistakenly assumed everyone operated under the same standards. We overlooked the fact that seemingly slight misalignments could lead to suspicion, unnecessary competition, and self-preservation.
Recognising these misalignments, our Managing Partner Paul Santos decided it was time to shake things up. With the help of a leadership coach, we set out to tackle the tough issues within the firm. These were the things that had long been whispered but never openly discussed—the proverbial elephants in the room. The coach skillfully extracted the stories our employees were telling and the behavioural patterns that resulted from those stories, revealing the divide between the firm’s values and the challenging reality.
To illustrate, here are a few examples of those stories:
- “The feedback I’ve received has solely focused on the areas I should do better in. Maybe I’m not doing a good job here.”
- “I’m not sure how performance ratings are determined. Why are some people rewarded while others are not?”
- “I was excluded from a decision-making process that I believe I should have been part of. It felt deliberate.”
These stories were marked by themes of uncertainty, which bred reticence and insecurity. They did not align with Wavemaker’s professed values.
Enter curiosity
To begin bridging the gap, the firm decided to shine a spotlight on one specific value: curiosity. We saw curiosity as the bridge to the culture we really wanted.
Why curiosity? Because it’s all about taking a step back and exploring different perspectives, staying open-minded, and embracing continuous learning. It’s about seeing new opportunities and finding fresh solutions.
Wavemaker understood that promoting curiosity through feedback was key. Feedback is like a secret sauce that makes curiosity happen. It’s the catalyst for open conversations; the trust-builder. But we realised that instilling curiosity requires a deliberate approach, supported by various factors: Principles, Stories, Rituals, and Actions.
The catalysts for change
Values, when left alone, can be pretty vague. To crystallise them, Wavemaker spelled out some operating principles. One of those principles, shared by Paul, went like this: “We start with curiosity and aim for clarity. We know we don’t know it all. We don’t jump to conclusions. We treat differing opinions as chances to learn. We talk openly because we know context matters, and there are many sides to the truth.”
Stories play a big role in bringing culture to life. When you tell stories well, they evoke powerful emotions, making them compelling and memorable. Wavemaker leaders started sharing stories about how curiosity led to sound decisions in investments, projects, and people. These stories didn’t just come from the top; they started flowing from all levels of the firm.
And then there are rituals. These are the activities that the organisation does over and over. At Wavemaker, we made it a thing to have a monthly All-Hands, with a curiosity jar where everyone could drop feedback or questions for the leaders. “Feedback Fridays” also became a norm, and almost every team started setting aside time at the end of meetings for feedback. We also started to publicly celebrate achievements on Slack through #shoutouts.
While rituals can evolve organically, actions need some careful planning. These actions come from the intentional design and implementation of the remaining cultural elements–the strategy you decide to adopt, the organisational structure you design, the policies and processes you implement–all in line with the values and desired culture, and the people (specifically the leaders) serving as living examples of “this is how we do things around here.”
Here’s a quick diagram to help you better grasp the above concepts.
The good news is that within months of intentionally designing our approach at Wavemaker, we began to see notable changes in behaviour and how happy our employees were. Here’s the catch: it’s not a one-and-done deal. To keep the momentum going, you need to stay committed and intentional, and continuously implement changes. It’s all about tweaking and adapting to your ever-changing organisation.
In the next article, we’ll explore another element of transformation: Strategy. Dwight Eisenhower once said, “plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Even in a rapidly changing environment, it’s useful to have a clear strategy–defined by where you focus the majority of your capital, people, and time. Stay tuned!
Lead image by Aaron Thomas/Unsplash
