My Vision
“Strategy is about effectiveness, effectiveness is about culture”
The philosophy behind the approach of Innes Strategy
The research
Organizational development experience and academic research continually highlight the importance of organizational culture to enhance organization capability. Management of organizational culture is a fundamental part of developing an organization’s capacity to achieve an intended direction and outcome.
“Create and sustain a culture consistent with your strategic ideas; choosing the future.”
Stuart Wells
“Bureaucratic cultures can smother those who want to respond to shifting conditions. And lack of leadership leaves no force inside these organizations to break out of the morass.”
John P Kotter
“Organizational culture is a paradox in itself. In one way it is everywhere; in another, it is invisible. Many leaders understand that one of the major responsibilities is in fact to create and manage culture.”
Jac Fitz-Enz 1997
The framework
A theoretical framework to understand and measure organizational culture is essential in establishing a description of culture. Once the framework and measurements are defined, it enables tangible and quantitative baseline measurements of organizational culture and subsequent progress of change.
“Organization culture is a mosaic of inter-related elements or organizational processes. When culture is viewed as segmented into these processes it becomes possible to establish an operational description of culture – it becomes possible to describe a culture that can be managed.”
Gaplin and Herndon, 2000
“The essential for effective management of organizational culture is that it can be measured in practical units that provide a basis for its continuous improvement.
And the terms by which culture is defined determines the way it can be measured and the units of measurement used.”
Cartwright, Cultural Transformation, 1999
Work culture
“Strategy is about effectiveness, effectiveness is about culture”
The framework applied
Innes Strategy developed a practical Organizational Culture Framework for local government organizations based on its experiences in organizational development, strategic planning and restructuring not meeting their set objectives.
A need was identified to address organizational effectiveness while creating a better work environment to increase staff satisfaction. This provided better results and outcomes from the public sector reform than concentrating on increased efficiency measures.
Organizational effectiveness through an integrated capability of working across departments and with other organizations as well as a developmental capability empowering staff to take initative.
We call this Organizational Culture Framework the “CULTURE GRID™”.
The Innes Strategy Culture Grid™ allows organizations to break away from generic “cookie cutter” efficiency approaches. The Culture Grid™ is a tailored means for city and county organizations to enhance strategic capability through their individual organizational cultures.
Innes Strategy Culture Grid™
The Culture Grid™ places an organization’s culture in context, making it observable, measurable and manageable.
Core to Innes Strategy’s philosophy and application of The Culture Grid™ technology is that ownership of change should be championed throughout the organization to enhance overall effectiveness as a result of sustainable cultural change techniques.