From Chaos to Clarity

In 2016, in one of five square buildings on the edge of a busy river, a group of executives and consultants gathered around the grand conference table of one of Northern Europe’s most prestigious companies.

The executives want to reinvent banking. The consultants want to reshape the culture.

But like many organisations attempting transformation, they are drowning in a sea of frameworks, methodologies, theoretical models, and endless PowerPoint decks.

Over time, the 1-Page Culture Plan emerged as a clear, at-a-glance end-to-end view of the cultural transformation. It mapped the essential elements that create an environment where companies and teams can thrive.

As they embarked on their transformation journey, we introduced and improved the 1-Page Culture Plan with other companies worldwide - including Microsoft and HSBC. And then started to give it to teams to help them distil their smaller cultural journey onto a single page.

There are nine boxes on the 1-Page Culture Plan. I will dive into them one by one (in this and forthcoming ‘The Culture Department’ Newsletters).

Here they are:

Why every team should use the 1-Page Culture Plan

Team culture isn't just about how people feel – it's the invisible force that determines how decisions are made, how quickly teams can adapt, and ultimately, whether they succeed or fail. Teams that neglect culture find themselves solving the same problems, dealing with recurring conflicts, and watching the best talent walk out the door.

For teams, in additon the general benefits of focusing on culture, the 1-Page Culture Plan offers three compelling advantages:

• You quickly get a shared language and an actionable framework that helps everyone align around cultural goals.
• You get a practical decision-making tool, helping you evaluate whether actions and choices align with the desired culture.
• You get immediate accountability by making expectations visible and concrete rather than abstract and forgettable.

For the wider company, you get a simple way to cascade cultural change throughout the organization without losing clarity or consistency. And it gives executives a diagnostic tool to identify where cultural transformation efforts are succeeding or struggling.

Each box has a conversation or activity anyone can lead.

While the output will be better with an expert facilitator, plenty can be learned from a self-facilitated session. And it's not necessary to complete the whole plan in a day (although it is possible). This is something you can take your time with and allow time to think.

So, over the coming weeks, I will share the essentials of the 1-Page Culture Plan, along with some conversations and activities to give you a complete team or company culture plan on a single sheet of paper.

Box 1: Understanding the Overstory.

In Malcolm Gladwells new book, The Revenge of the Tipping Point, he introduces the concept of an Overstory. In forestry, the overstory represents the upper layer of foliage that shapes the ecosystem below.

Overstories are also invisible yet powerful influencers that shape culture. They influence everything from daily interactions to long-term strategic decisions.

They also answer important questions, like ‘why are we like this?’

Understanding, dealing with and intentionally shaping the overstory helps unroot aspects of the culture that no longer work and aligns the culture with your values and new goals.

Overstories set expectations for how team members should behave. Employees may feel they can take risks if the overstory celebrates innovation, while an overstory of compliance may encourage rule-following.

We also know that Leadership decisions align with the Overstory, and people who resonate with the overstory are more likely to feel engaged and aligned with the company’s mission.

Apple’s Overstory shaped a culture of innovation, creativity, and design excellence.

Amazon’s overstory emphasises relentless focus on the customer and cost efficiency.

Patagonia’s overstory drives product design, supply chain decisions, employee policies and activism efforts.

On the other hand, the overstories at Enron, Wells Fargo, and Voltswagon led to fraudulent activities, unethical behaviour, and significant legal and financial repercussions.

The Overstory matters.

And it’s not necessarily the story you’ll find in the glossy materials that come from corporate communications. Often, dark, important moments in the collective history are swept under the carpet, and moments of greatness go unnoticed.

The place to start is by setting out a timeline and asking:

What moments from our past and present have defined us as a company and a team?

Map them out and explore how those moments have influenced the culture, for good and bad. Look for the biggest trees that have created the widest canopy and had the biggest impact on the culture. One of my clients started a billion dollar company in a garage, another almost went bankrupt in the Dotcom bust, and another was hit with a #metoo scandal. These moments have a profound impact. Talk about them, and explore what those moments tell you about the company or team you have become.

And don’t skip the bad. Studies have shown that unspoken negative narratives can lead to toxic work environments and ethical breaches. By bringing them to light, you confront them.

Contact me for the PDF template to record the themes that emerge from defining moments conversations. Gather as many voices as you can to build as complete a picture as possible.

Seek the truth and turn over the biggest rocks to discover ‘why are we like this?’

At the end of the process, when all nine boxes are complete, we will return to the overstory and review it.

The overstory will also guide us through the next steps in the 1-Page Culture Plan process, which I will return to in the next edition of this newsletter.

Next Edition: Patterns and Unlocks - the human factors that help and hinder transformation.

Hey, I'm Jason Moore.

I facilitate corporate culture, leadership & team transformation. I've done that at Microsoft, HSBC & beyond.

I'm also an author, speaker and entrepreneur.

If you'd like to chat about how I might be able to help you, or how to use the 1-Page Culture Plan, I'd love to set up a time to talk. Connect with me here on Linkedin...

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