How can you create a high performance culture in your organization? Unlike technical systems change or even processes of organizational development, high performance is not something ordered up and delivered on-demand. High performance is dependent on a performance culture and changing culture is a transformational process.

Equilibria’s approach to cultural transformation is based on the following premises:

55Culture “is” the basic experience one has in an organization. It frames how one behaves in the organization and towards others. It expresses the core values of the organization.

55Understanding organizational culture is important in grasping the kind of emotional climate found in an organization as well as the orientation with which key decision-makers will face any challenge.

55Cultures are anchored in individual’s understanding of what kind of behavior works or doesn’t work in a particular organization. In that sense cultures are self-sustaining and do not change readily once established.

55Culture change is discontinuous, occurring in leaps. It involves processes that lead to a different kind or level of consciousness.

There are two critical factors in transforming a culture: the behavior of corporate leaders, who set examples for everyone else by what they do—not what they say; and finding the right leverage points for change within the organization. Equilibria’s transformational practices focus on these two factors; we are ready to work with your leadership and your people to make sure your organization can initiate and sustain high performance.

Equilibria can work with you to evolve your organizational culture. While every client situation will have its own character, a typical consulting engagement includes:

Setting the Goal: Developing a High Performance Strategy

55Assessing the organization’s developmental stage, cultural orientation, and operational strengths to set the framework within which transformational practices are pursued

55Determining issues, concerns and obstacles to a high performance culture

Developing Leadership Competencies: Coaching for High Performance

55Individual assessment, including cultural orientation, values, motivation and emotional commitments, moral agency

55Establishing and translating personal mission into organizational requirements

55Developing specific skills: truth telling, imaginative insight, collaboration, coaching excellence, communications, conflict resolution

Determining Leverage Points: Organizational Interventions

55Surfacing and discerning the guiding image/myth/story

55Determining the leverage points for change; creating new possibilities

55Authoring a new story; establishing new grounds / vehicles of support

55Guiding dynamic change process to create a new culture

55Generating / revealing new meanings aligned with the new cultural framework

Cultural transformation will eventually lead to changes in all aspects of organizational identity: from purpose through structure, operational methods and technology. In all of these changes, Equilibria’s expertise in transformational practices can aid you in initiating and sustaining creative solutions.

For more specifics in this area, please see Organizational Culture.