Corporate Culture

Assessments & Training

Building a great organizational culture is one of the most challenging and difficult tasks a leader can undertake. We know a great culture when we see it. In fact, we can feel it by the energy of the employees, the competence of the leaders, and the sense of commonly accepted and practiced beliefs in the organization.

We have discovered that the problem in most organizations is not a lack of defined values but a lack of clear and unchanging priorities. Enron had "integrity" as one of its primary values, yet we know what kind of culture existed at Enron.

The idea that many consultants advance is that all cultures have to be team based or highly empowered. We disagree. Culture is a function of many complex factors that, properly understood, must be prioritized within a framework of behavior, competence, and principles.

Our assessment process helps you understand your organization's culture. Our integrated approach focuses in key areas such as:

What employee views and perceptions are of the Organization and how accountability and responsibility is conveyed to all members.
What leadership views or demonstrates in its behaviors toward the employees and the nature of work itself.
How the organization is designed (how many levels and the types of reporting relationships) and how it actually communicates amongst its groups because of or in spite of the organizational structure.
What the results of your organization or business actually are versus required. How are goals developed, deployed, and measured as well as rewarded or punished.

The best company cultures have sound priorities. Our research has found that, unlike values, priorities exist whether we formally acknowledge them or not. How we spend our time and money says a lot about our priorities. The same goes for organizations. The best organizations keep their priorities straight and aligned to fulfilling their true purpose.

Corporate Culture

Culture can be viewed as the way an organization gets things done.

Two sinister forces can creep into an organization's culture that can cause great harm to its purpose and survival. First, a sense of entitlement (amongst employees and leaders) and, second, a confusion of rewarding effort instead of results.

Here at the Institute, we believe that the healthiest work communities are built on true friendship amongst its members steeped in virtue and competence. As realists devoted to Aristotle's philosophy, we help you confront and challenge the utilitarian forces that threaten healthy human relationships.