This presentation is about how to change your culture during fast-changing times. I detail the power of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (ocai-online.com) There are three key themes: 1. How to make change your "friend." 2. Stop the pain of change by creating processes people can embrace. 3. How to rethink your business model for new business environments. Learn how anthropologists view cultural shifts and how this can help you prepare for future uncertainties.

1. Building Organizational
Cultures to Thrive in Fast-
Changing Times
Andrea J. Simon, PhD
Corporate Anthropologist, President SAMC
EAWC2022
November 5, 2022

2. New eyes. New discoveries.
Our Agenda Today
• How do we thrive in fast-
changing times?
• Why is our culture so important?
• What is culture, anyhow?
• How can we change it—one
step at a time?

3. Why does an Anthropologist look at the future?
And why is it important to you, too?

4. Why is culture so
important?
• We have evolved not because of our clever,
innovative selves.
• Nope—we are virtually helpless as lone
individuals.
• The Secret is in our collective brains. On our
ability of human groups to socially
interconnect and learn from one another,
adapt new solutions, and thrive through our
cultures.

5. 5

6. Comfort Of The Herd -- Culture

7. Brings together similar types of people:
“Birds Of A Feather Flock Together”

8. New eyes. New discoveries.
Organizational Culture
Hates Change
• Values, beliefs and behaviors we
recognize as “the way we do things
here.”
• Reinforces continuity and
consistency.
• Through adherence to a clear set
of consensual values.
8

9. New eyes. New discoveries.
The brain
hates change!!
Change creates
pain in the brain!
9

10. New eyes. New discoveries.
“Social Glue” in Your Company
• Culture is a socially
constructed attribute of
organizations which
serves as the “social
glue” binding an
organization together.
• The prevailing ideology
that people carry inside
their heads.

11. Successful
Organizations
• Have cultures that:
• Reduce uncertainties
• Create a social order so people
know what to expect
• Create continuity and key values
and norms
• Create a collective identity and
commitment
• Express a vision of the future
and energizes forward
movement
• But the wrong culture can take
you down the wrong road.
11

12. New eyes. New discoveries.
Must Have A
Shared
Culture
Across
Organization
12

13. If you want to be fast, agile, and ready for the future…

14. Need to have your
talent able to see,
feel and think in
new ways, fast!

15. 15

16. New eyes. New discoveries.
Culture affects the
way organization
members think, feel,
and behave.
It becomes their
“story!”
16

17. What is
Your Story
Today?

18. Think
About Your
Story
Today.
Ask
Yourself…
How do we get things done today?
What is changing in how successful old
processes are?
How well did we adapt to the pandemic
and after?
How are you going to attract and retain
the right talent, those employees?
Is your culture the right one for fast-
changing times?

19. Our Clients
Are Dealing
With Fast-
Moving
Change
Today!
Staffing
Purpose and meaning
Supply chain
Rollups and consolidations
Hybrid work
Employees asking for more control over their lives
GIG economy versus employee model
Climate change
Lack of certainty, lots of anxiety, frustration, pain
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Environment, Social, Governance

20. All Wrapped Up in
Culture!
•Their Culture
•What is it?
•Is it the right one?
•How will I know?
•How will I change it to what?

21. Think of culture as three
things:
• The mental map or story we carry in
our minds. We live our stories.
• The stories we share with others so
we can get things done in groups.
• The patterns recurring in those
interactions that become the sacred
“The Way We Do Things Here!”

22. Humans want
these things to
live each day
• Protect their status
• Certainty of what is
coming
• Relationships with others
who are like them
• Autonomy and the ability
to make decisions
• Fairness

23. When times are changing,
people become:
• Resistant to the
changes
• Attached to their old
ways of doing things--
-that shiny object
syndrome
• Comfortable with
their habits
• Protective of the
familiar
• Do what gives them
pleasure—that is
rarely change!

24. That means we need a culture that fosters innovation and an openness to the unknown.

25. Which brings us to the tools to
use to figure out your culture
today and what you would
prefer it to be in the future.
25

26. Let me Introduce
you to the OCAI
15-minute survey online
Developed at the
University of Michigan
by Drs. Kim Cameron
and Robert Quinn.
26

27. Visualize these as Four Dominant Types of
Organizational Cultures
Clans: Collaborate Adhocracy: Create
Hierarchy: Control Market: Compete

28. Each leads to a
different style of how
we get things done.
28

29. What is my
culture today?
www.ocai-online.com

30. From your answers comes a graph.
30

31. 31
The client’s organization
wanted:
• More collaboration
• More innovation
• Somewhat less control
• Somewhat less focus
on competing

32. Another Client: Total Lack of Congruence
One Regional
Office
Central Office
Another Regional
Office
32

33. What could this
do for you?
• Take the OCAI and think about
what your current and
preferred cultural preferences
are.
• Then ask yourself, what types
of behaviors do we need?

34. Visualize The New Story –
The New “Desirable Story”
34

35. How should
we think
about our
culture in
fast-
changing
times?
How do you want your
organization to respond to the
pressures all around you?
What do you want to see more of
or less of—be specific?
What should the story be as you
recruit new employees or embrace
the actions of staff?

36. Think About It.
• Are you going to be a
Command-and-Control
culture driving
behaviors from the top
and then telling,
selling, and yelling to
direct them?

37. Or do you want
them to compete
• Is your focus on
beating the
competition?
• Do you want hard-
driving winners at
all costs?

38. Maybe you are a strong clan
with high levels of
collaboration?
• So many family firms are these
types of cultures.
• Focus on getting along and
pleasing each other.
• It can be a very strong team
culture.
• Collaboration is key to our
success.

39. Perhaps CREATIVITY is the strength of
the culture. You encourage risk-taking
and creative problem-solving.
• An Ad-Hoc, creative culture is one where
you:
• Empower your staff
• Encourage ideas and innovation
• Are listening to customers for how to
adapt to their needs

40. • Think about the list of changes that our clients are facing.
• What do you see through that telescope of yours?
• How could you see your folks responding to changes?
COLLABORATE CREATE
COMPETE
CONTROL

41. How do you want them
to respond in the
future?
• Agile?
• Fast?
• Risk-taking?
• Deliberate?
• Able to test ideas?
• Capable of solving complex
problems?
• Understand why behaviors
must change—it is not just
what you think or feel. It is
what you will do differently.
• How to come to decisions.

42. Decide what
behaviors
you want to
change and
draw it on a
big piece of
paper

43. What happens next?
• Culture change is
behavior change, and it
takes time.
• Which is why we
recommend that you
backward plan it against
that desired destination.

44. Once you have it
backward planned…
• Create those small wins to
start moving forward.
• We love doing these in
groups, so there is a structure
to the change process, and
there is peer-to-peer support
and some pressure.
• Celebrate the wins often.

46. Leadership and Followership
Skills will matter more than ever

47. Create that new
story
Think about
tomorrow today
Prepare for the
future
Test scenarios
Change the culture

48. New eyes. New discoveries.
"Once you have glimpsed the world as it
might be, it is impossible to live anymore
complacent in the world as it is.”
Anonymous

49. My Invites to
You
• Consulting and coaching. Specializing in helping organizations change.
• Always here to offer workshops, roundtables and group sessions.
• My books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local booksellers.
• Subscribe to my podcast On the Brink with Andi Simon—
www.andisimon.com/podcast

50. Andrea J. Simon PhD, President and CEO
Andrew L. Simon, Partner and Senior Consultant
Simon Associates Management Consultants
914-506-9363 Cell
914-245-1641 Office
asimon@simonassociates.net
www.simonassociates.net
www.andisimon.com
@simonandi
Facebook.com/simonassociatesmanagementconsultants
linkedin.com/in/andisimon
andreajsimon Instagram
FB Group Rethink with Andi Simon
Thank you