Organizational Icebergs

The iceberg in your organization is very real

March is finally here signaling that warmer weather is on its way. As we make it through this last leg of bitter winter, I can’t help but be reminded of my favorite symbol in our industry: the iceberg.?

In 1976, American anthropologist Edward T. Hall developed the "Iceberg Model of Culture". In this analogy, he reasoned that if society’s culture was the iceberg, then there are some aspects visible above the water, but there exists a larger portion hidden beneath the surface.??

Company culture is like an iceberg. Organizational icebergs dictate how a company operates from the bottom up. Just as the tip of an iceberg is in sight above the water’s surface, much of company culture goes beyond what is seen to most.

Executive consultant Torben Rick adopted the iceberg model to illustrate why organizational culture change sinks so many ships.

“It seems quite ironic, that organizations are often not aware, or may choose to ignore the 90% of organizational attributes that are beneath the surface and not seen. Sometimes leaders make decisions only on the 10% that is visible to them!”

Parts of the iceberg that we don’t see include:

Shared assumptions

Tradition

Unwritten rules

Perceptions

Norms

Values

Beliefs

Procedures

Stories

Feelings

To truly evolve organizational culture and thrive, leaders need to address what’s looming at the bottom of the iceberg, much of which is complex, ingrained, and even unconscious. With continuous effort and investment in culture, you can transform these underlying perceptions, traditions, and shared assumptions and eventually witness the results of your initiatives.

If you need help steering your ship, we offer courses such as Liberating Structures that outline participatory methods designed to disrupt conventional patterns in how we work together. The course introduces tiny shifts in protocols of how teams meet, plan, decide, learn, and relate to each other. With the right resources and support, those icebergs will melt away before you can say Titanic.

Douglas Ferguson | President, Voltage Control

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Magical Meetings

Redesign meetings so people actually want to attend.

Are your meetings playful and purposeful? Do they leave all attendees proud of their work?

In this workshop, we will introduce the skills you need to create a magical experience at every meeting. We will review meeting mantras that you can apply to your meeting culture, and we’ll go way beyond the agenda to show you frameworks to use before, during, and after your meetings. Join us to gain the tools and expertise you need to be a meeting magician.

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Design Thinking & Human-Centered Design

We'll lead you through all five stages of the Design Thinking process, teaching how the various steps fit together and why and how they work. You’ll learn tips and tricks for using Design Thinking across your work.

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Elizabeth Maloba

Elizabeth and I discuss the value of experiential methods, the impact the pandemic had on mental health in the workplace, the necessity and personal meaning behind community in organizations, and the benefits of challenging conversations on cross cross-sectoral collaboration.

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