‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’. Peter Drucker

the challenges of culture and mind-set

Culture is about ‘the way we do things around here’, the often unspoken combination of values and mind-set that drive behaviour and decisions in organisations.

A strong culture is a real strength and has a direct link to results. Equally, it is widely held responsible for obstructing major initiatives, for example:

• hampering sales of large-scale mobile phone networks due to an overwhelming culture of risk aversion;
• nearly scuppering international mergers in the legal sector;
• causing positive working practices in the oil industry to fragment when influential leaders were promoted away;
• preventing senior leaders from collaborating over client portfolios in professional services.

These deep-seated human factors bear heavy responsibility for the way projects – large and small – meet or fail to meet expectations. The increased risk and unwanted distractions can be costly in time as well as economic terms.

This is why – with our colleagues in OneCG in the Netherlands – we co-developed the ideas behind the Zeta Process.

‘Zeta’ process – an advanced radar

Zeta Process ideas offer an ‘advance radar’, revealing the challenges and opportunties that lie ahead.

Based on concepts drawn from marketing, psychology and operations management, the ideas help lay bare the collective values that drive existing behaviour and how these need to evolve to meet future needs.

With this information ‘on the table’ and clearly articulated, organisations, teams and the people who lead them stand a far greater chance to address these deep-rooted challenges before they become barriers to growth and performance.

Download a one-page factsheet for more information.