Our Method

What is the Culture by Choice™ Method?

Creating a Culture by Choice™ is an ongoing process that takes into account several factors. Culture can affect business results in a number of ways, both positive and negative. For example, cultures that are not aligned with an organization’s key objectives and organizational goals can lead to decreased loyalty and high employee turnover, a lack of motivation, low productivity and performance. Healthy cultures on the other hand, are an enabler of strategy and performance that creates an environment that supports and empowers employees in achieving those goals.

How the Culture By Choice™ Method works

Because key objectives, operational performance, strategy and culture are all strongly related, we begin by examining and evaluating those areas that have an impact of culture. And then together, design a Culture by Choice™ based on those results.

It is critical to identify:

  • Where you want to go (Vision)
  • Who you need to get there (Talent)
  • What you need to do to get there (Strategy and Tactics)
  • What you have already accomplished (Progress Evaluation/Metrics)
  • How effective your efforts have already been (Outcome Evaluation/Metrics)
  • How far you have yet to go (Gap Analysis)

Focus Area I

  • Discover and understand one another’s unique behavioral, motivational, thinking, and leadership styles through our Talent Insight Profiles™ beginning with the Executive Leadership Team
  • Identify what each person brings to their role in the organization and to their role within the team
  • Explore and discover the “cultural signals” within the organization
  • Identify 3-5 forces that are influencing and shaping the culture
  • Define the traits that make people successful within the organization
  • Determine what stays, what goes and what needs to be duplicated
  • Crystal clarity on the organization’s goals and key objectives

Focus Area II

  • Identify the vital behaviors necessary for effective change
  • Identify where the culture and environment enable or disable desired performance
  • Identify the collective priorities and needs of the larger organization
  • Commit to group decisions and hold one another accountable for behaviors and actions
  • Develop a safe environment to openly engage in otherwise difficult but crucial conversations
  • Measure the progress by measuring the right thing and measuring it frequently

Benefits of a Culture by Choice™

  • A clear understanding of key objectives and organizational goals
  • Increased productivity & performance
  • Increased employee engagement
  • Reduction in office “politics”
  • Decreased turnover
  • Increased loyalty
  • Fewer organizational setbacks
  • Dynamic, highly effective power teams
  • Pride and a sense of purpose among all employees

Companies that are getting it right

Zappos believes a company’s core values should influence every decision that the company makes, so it is important to employ people with ideas on how to leverage them in new and better ways. The core values that drive Zappo’s culture:

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

The Hubspot culture is driven by their “Cultural Code”. Here are some of the highlights:

  1. Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing. Customers are more easily attracted with a product. Amazing People are more easily attracted with a great culture.
  2. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have a culture. Why not make it one you love?
  3. Solve For The Customer — not just their happiness, but also their success.
  4. Power is now gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it.
  5. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
  6. You shouldn’t penalize the many for the mistakes of the few.
  7. Results should matter more than when or where they are produced.
  8. Influence should be independent of hierarchy.
  9. Great people want direction on where they’re going — not directions on how to get there.
  10. “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
  11. We’d rather be failing frequently than never trying.

According to cofounder and CEO John Mackey, Whole Foods Market has a conscious culture – “a living, breathing part of a business encapsulating the company’s mission, purpose and values practiced over time. Simply put, it’s the way things are done in that business. A company’s culture can be a severe constraint on its success or a source of strength and competitive advantage.”

The Whole Foods conscious culture has many intricacies which Mackey categorizes into seven characteristics: trust, accountability, love & caring, transparency, integrity, loyalty and egalitarianism.

The Whole Foods culture also braids a strong sense of community with a fierce commitment to productivity. It’s a virtuous circle: rank-and-file participation reinforces individual attention to performance and profits; solid financial results give people more freedom to innovate.