Alignment of culture with strategy is a leading indicator of sustainable improvement in business performance. Common Questions: What is an organizational “culture”? Mental norms (mindsets, values, and assumptions) about how to behave and how to run the business. Why should we consider changing our culture? Some aspects of our current culture undermine our ability to improve performance and remain competitive. For more information, email Advisors@geogroup.net or call (877)-855-2050

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Align Culture with Strategy
FastTime Cardinal Rule®

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Culture & Strategy – Why Change Our Culture?
 74 of 75 highly regarded industry analysts reported that
culture is a critical success factor in long-term performance.
 Studies in over 100 organizations found that performance
improvement depended upon culture change.
What is an organizational “culture”?
 Mental norms (mindsets, values and assumptions)
about how to behave and how to run our organization.
Why should we change our culture?
 Some aspects of our current culture undermine our
ability to improve performance and achieve our mission.
A culture aligned with strategy is a leading indicator that
there will be sustainable performance improvement.

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Culture change always begins at the top.
 Without real adjustments in the way a critical mass
thinks, feels and behaves, culture change will not occur.
 The real adjustments must begin with the top leaders
because people tend to follow the leadership example.
Culture & Strategy – Where does change begin?
 Starting culture change definitely requires strong leadership
to get the change going and into high gear.
 Sustaining culture change requires sharply focused,
sustained efforts to embed new behaviors into a critical mass.
How do you know when the culture has changed?
 Culture change is achieved when the desired behavior
patterns are stable without strong leaders personally
pushing them.

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
A high-performance culture is ‘change adaptive’.
 Two Harvard Business School professors, John Kotter
and James Heskett, studied the impact of culture on
performance in more than 200 organizations.
 Kotter/Heskett found that cultures that see long-term
performance improvement are ‘change adaptive’.
Culture & Strategy – The Change Adaptive Culture
Characteristics of a ‘change adaptive’ culture:
 Proactive versus defensive
 Encourages risk-taking versus being risk adverse
 Allows creativity rather than being overly bureaucratic
 Has high level of trust, rather than high level of control

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Culture & Strategy – Why is High Trust important?
TRUST
High
Low
Behavior
Cautious
Conscious Sabotage
Compliant
Passive-Aggressive
High-Velocity Results
Creativity
Aligned Execution
Collaboration

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Working it through
Are people struggling with the
realities of cultural change?
Are they looking for ways to
implement the culture change?
People have adopted new
personal motivations and are
doing the difficult, intense work
of accepting and internalizing
the change at a personal level.
Making It Stick
Are people developing and
sharing best practices? Are they
looking for ways to sustain the
change for the long-term?
The organization has baked the
changes into operational and
management practices and the
organization’s behavioral norms
have visibly changed.
Change Stage Key Questions Success Measures
Culture & Strategy – Culture Change STAGES
2
3
Coming to grips
with the change
Are people truly uncomfortable
with the status quo? Is there a
visible sense of urgency about
the need for culture change?
People have recognized the
need for culture change and
have a understanding of how
individuals as well as the
organization must respond.
1

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
Change
Planning
New Norms
Embedded
Coming to
Grips with
Change
1
Working It
Through
2
Making
It Stick
3
Change
Decision
Culture & Strategy – Culture Change CYCLE

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
 Build a network of Change Champions who are:
• Results oriented
• Creative and flexible
• Generous with others
 Show everyone what change means to them.
• Use real examples to illustrate the cost of NOT changing
• Emphasize immediate and future benefits of change
 Involve everyone at all levels in creating the change.
• Help everyone understand The Big Picture
• Give everyone an opportunity to make a contribution
 Define and continuously reinforce the new norms.
Culture & Strategy – Culture Change ‘HOW TOs’
4 Interpersonal Techniques

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FastTime® Cardinal Rule #3 | © 2000-2016 Leland Russell
 Mission + Values Reinforcement
 Internal & External Action Learning
 Personal Growth Plans / Coaching
 Communications & Real-Time Feedback
 Policy, Process, & Structure Changes
5 Organizational Tools
Culture & Strategy – Culture Change ‘HOW TOs’