INDEPENDENT COUNSEL | THE EXECUTION SYSTEM | THE CULTURE SYSTEM | THE TALENT SYSTEM
Strengthening Culture
Culture is lived, not laminated. It shows up in the organization’s norms: what people pay attention to, what behaviors are accepted, what confers status, what is feared, and which work generates energy.
We help leaders understand culture as a symptom of the underlying social system, then identify the specific norms, routines, patterns, and leadership behaviors that need to shift.
The Culture System
QUESTIONS WE ADDRESS
Which norms, routines, and leader behaviors need to shift for the culture to support the strategy?
What does the organization informally teach people to value, imitate, and avoid?
Where in the organization does “we” become “they”?
How do we maintain our culture as we leverage AI?
WHERE WE MIGHT START
Bespoke culture and organizational diagnostics
Enhancing senior leader impact and role-modeling
Interventions to shift collaboration, challenge, accountability, and pace
Reshaping social norms and local dynamics
Unlocking performance by resetting what is tolerated
A CEO was appointed to lead a new business combining two underperforming divisions of a global professional services firm. While competitors were growing at 7% to 9% a year, the two inherited businesses had grown at an average of just 3% over three years.
A culture of underperformance
The underlying issue was cultural. Underperformance had been tolerated, standards were inconsistent, and leaders had not created the conditions for the business to perform at its full potential.
Arkae & Co. was brought in to advise the CEO, coach the executive team, and help shape a practical cultural strategy. Through monthly working sessions, we helped the leadership team identify the critical moments where culture was formed: partner behavior, team routines, client decisions, leadership accountability, and the standards that managers reinforced day to day.
Priorities clear, performance up
Together, we took action on several fronts. Senior blockers were addressed. The executive team became more deliberate about the behavior they reinforced. A three-day partner meeting was used to set clearer expectations for the business. The routines of the strongest managers were studied, codified, and scaled across teams.
The impact was swift and material. As standards rose and new ways of working took hold, the business improved its win rate. It reported first-year growth of 18% at the top line and 15% at the bottom line.
Arkae & Co. in action: