A digital platform and process for managing organisational cultural change for SMEs and smaller organisations.

1. Practical tools for changing culture in
small to medium businesses & organisations
Business Opportunity

2. The Opportunity
 Many smaller businesses and organisations want
and/or need to embrace cultural change but cannot
afford expensive diagnostic tools and external
consultants to undertake the process.
 Culturus (‘culture us’) solves this problem and
responds to the opportunity.
 Culturus will provide a high quality, reliable program
for analysing and changing culture (+ values +
behaviours) at a price point suitable to small to
medium sized companies and organisations.

3. What is Culturus?
 A guided program that enables key stakeholders to lead
their own business or organisation through the process of
making informed choices about culture & values and then
implementing those systematically.
 A blended offering: a mix of online content & tools
combined with limited, structured face-to-face services.
 Aimed at small to medium companies and organisations
generally between 10 to 100 people.
 Focus initially on start-ups, technology, innovation and
creative industries as ripe markets / targets. Secondary
market: not-for-profit, educational & local govt orgs.

4. How would it work? #1
 Culturus offers a structured program with specific steps. It
provides the processes, framework and methodology to achieve
change but is not prescriptive on culture which is determined by
the customer themselves.
 One or two key stakeholders from the customer organisation
lead their own ‘intervention’, following the Culturus program
and supported by Culturus consultants.
 We begin with the project leader(s) in the business (shows them
what’s involved and how to lead the process) and then involve
others in the organisation.
 A Culturus consultant / mentor / adviser is attached and
supervises each project from the outset.
 The program (steps, methodology, framework, tools and
resources) is mainly online but supplemented with mentoring of
the project leader, by stage-by-stage reviews and advice.

5. How would it work? #2
 Online components include videos tutorials, case studies,
documents, project planning & tracking tools, workshop
planning tools & guides, assessment instruments, feedback
surveys, outcomes reporting.
 Each customer organisation or business has its own project
‘space’ on the Culturus website with access to resources and
where their own data can be seen / progress can be
mapped.
 Each participant (employee of a customer organisation)
has their own dashboard and most content is visible to
everyone in the business.
 Digital functions can be mirrored in apps if advantageous.

6. How would it work? #3
 Service components include mentoring as well as regular
but limited advice at key points in the program.
 Culturus provides group training sessions for project
leaders from different customer organisations and also
group progress reporting sessions to facilitate feedback &
discussion between leaders from different.
 Some clients may be satisfied with the basic ‘package’
including a limited amount of supervision and person to
person ‘services’. Many will seek additional services and
advice or perhaps request Culturus consultants to lead the
process -- which can be provided and charged for.

7. What is the Process?
 That’s a bit confidential for now because it is where
our IP resides but broadly speaking, it goes something
like this . . .

8. The Process
1. Touch, attract and sign up a
prospect as a client.
2. Project leader(s) learn about
culture & about their role
leading the process.
3. Map out and plan the culture
change project.
4. Enable the whole team within
the customer organisation to
understand the role of culture
in the biz/org.
5. Determine what kind of
culture (values, behaviours)
the biz/org wants using a
proven framework and
instrument
6. Measure and define the
existing culture (and any
issues) in the biz/org. using
the same framework.
7. Define the steps and strategies
to bridge ‘the gap’, to get from
current to desired.
8. Define ways in which desired
behaviours are to be
measured, rewarded.
9. Decide how results will be
communicated and discussed
in the biz/org.
10. Evaluate and measure again
with a view to continual
improvement.

9. What are the benefits? #1
 What are the benefits to the business or organisation from
engaging with Culturus? A great culture is usually
associated with the following:
o A great place to work: higher levels of employee enjoyment
and satisfaction leads to lower staff turn over (costs) and
higher levels of accumulated knowledge and expertise.
o Innovation: people think about and freely give ideas on
ways to improve the biz/org and its products or services.
o Commitment & Motivation: people give back when needed
(whether its an extra hour, a weekend, whatever is needed).
o Ownership: people take care of stuff, whether it is a
computer, a car, or the company's brand and reputation.

10. What are the benefits? #2
o Constructive: Diminish or remove passive aggressive behaviours
and passive resistance.
o Employer brand: People want to work for your organisation
because of your culture. Lower staff acquisition & salary costs.
o Customers and clients ‘know’ and they want to do business with
you. They like working with happy people. They like buying
products from people who look after their interests too.
o Conscience: being values-driven is an end in itself. People feel
good about what they are doing.
o Achieving your objectives (whether for profit or not-for-profit):
empirical evidence demonstrates that businesses and
organisations who have developed a healthy culture aligned to
their mission are much more likely to be successful (including
more profitable) over the medium and longer term.

11. What’s the business model?
 Offered as a package of product (access to online
program, videos, tools, materials) and services
(supervision and guiding advice from a consultant).
 Culturus charges the customer (the business) for the
package, probably in the range $4K-$5K.
 Sell-in further consulting time as additional hours
needed and/or external program leadership.
 Possibly a tiered offering, cheaper pricing with most
online; more expensive with more services provided.
 Make it easy, let clients pay on credit card for basic
service and any additional hours.

12. The Market
 Aimed at small to medium businesses and organisations in the
range 10 to 100 people.
 Typically, these organisations experience ‘cultural challenges’ like
larger businesses and organisations, but unlike them they
typically don’t have budget to pay for external consultants to run
a change program
 Only a few have an HR function and/or know how to think and
act consistently about culture, even though they may wish to.
 Unlikely to pay +/- $50K for an externally delivered culture
assessment and change service but are probably willing to enter
into a structured program which they do themselves (with help
and guidance from Culturus) and which has a fixed price and
clear outcomes.

13. The SME market
 Early stage, fast-growth technology and/or creative
businesses (but not unfunded start ups) are ideal
because:
o They are often already aware of the role of culture and
want to do something positive (but don’t have the
expertise or the money).
o They often have problems and issues relating to poor
and/or inconsistent culture that they need to solve.
o Most go through a growth stage where they need to
move from personality-based leadership of the founders
to a more consistent, explicit and chosen set of values
and ways of doing things.

14. Not-for-profit organisations
 Charities, NGOs, industry orgs, schools, others, possibly
some local government departments.
 Charities in particular under external pressure to align
behaviours with stated values and objectives or risk
alienating volunteers, funders, donors, stakeholders.
 Many small to medium non-business organisations suffer
‘morale issues’ because one or more of the Ps
(personalities, politics or poison) is prevalent.
 Like small companies, these organisations can’t afford
expensive external consultants but are probably willing to
enter into a structured program which they do themselves
and which has a fixed price and clear outcomes.

15. Getting To Market
 Content Marketing: Culture’s time has come and there are
many opportunities to distribute snippets of targeted
content via social media or placed in paid media with high
visibility to the target markets.
 Networks: Leveraging existing networks, hubs,
organisations, industry associations, events, particularly
those focused on target market segments (whether
innovation, incubation, technology, creative industries or
not-for-profit organisations of various kinds).
 Align with a larger ‘culture consulting’ organisation to refer
business either way, based on size & suitability.

16. Further Thoughts
 Internationalise: if it works in Sydney & Melbourne,
potentially it can work in hundreds of cities around the
world. Use the basic know-how & IP and then customise
locally. Partner with an existing international biz in a
related field to support & facilitate growth.
 Extend Culturus into training and certification (directly or
with / through a partner). Encourage small businesses and
organisations to send managers for training about culture.
 Establish a ‘culture community’ comprising people (leaders
& employees) who have been through the program or
completed a course. Benefits include online & offline Q&A
and discussion; webinars and events that add value.

17. What we are doing now
 At the moment, we are putting together the main elements to establish
Culturus as a successful business:
o An experienced ‘cultural change’ consulting organisation that can
contribute the IP and Know-how needed to create the offering (design
the program and provide content for all the resources).
o An e-learning / online development / production business who can
produce the online project environment and resources.
o An entrepreneurial CEO and/or management personnel (including
consultants & facilitators) passionate about organisational culture.
o Investors to fund some or all of the establishment costs (some of the
inputs here may be contributed for equity).
o International partners such as OD businesses or recruitment
companies who have a global presence / local knowledge that Culturus
can leverage to grow quickly after using Aus as a test bed.
o Possibly, a product development firm to manage the design and
realisation of the Culturus offering (online resources + F2F services).

18. More information
Culture eats strategy for breakfast! Jack Welch, CEO, GE
The only thing we have is one another. The only competitive advantage we have is
the culture and values of the company. Anyone can open up a coffee store. We have
no technology, we have no patent. All we have is the relationship around the values
of the company and what we bring to the customer every day. And we all have to
own it. Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks
Harris Madden
harris@creativerepublic.com.au +61 (0)403 199 138