Here is my updated drawing showing how Culture is the core of your organization – how it binds everything together.

Culture is the core of your organization

“Organizational Culture” = the wibbly, wobbly thing that connect everything.

In this model, there are two important dimensions of culture:

  • Consciousness = intangible way of being that reflects how we are as human beings. Inner world.
  • Structure = the ways that we organize our outer world.

Culture Diagram – How you can use it

If the conversation turns to Culture or (Agile) Mindset, I walk people through this handout to help them understand that changing culture is a complex endeavour. For example, we will create tension on the system if we try to change just one element. If we hope to invite healthy growth we need to consider a holistic approach to change that considers how our changes relate to the whole.

Another key aspect is that healthy growth requires shifting both consciousness as well as structures. Changing one or the other alone is ineffective.

What has changed from Version 1?

In the first version of this diagram, I used the term “people” to capture how we are as human beings. I now see that “consciousness” is a more accurate term for the inner or energetic world of how we connect with each other.

I also move “unwritten rules and norms” to “consciousness” since this is more about our way of being.

Why does Consciousness Matter?

I will let Albert Einstein answer this one: