The 6C Framework - Culture

By: James Rock - Managing Partner, DesignThinkers (UK)

Aug 24, 2020 | 2 minutes read | Aplomb Cloud in partnership with DesignThinkers (UK) | Part-2 here

Part 3 in a series of articles on understanding 'The 6C Framework - Pivot to The New Normal'.

Welcome to my latest article about how Coronavirus has forced the imperative for change in everyone’s business. Last week I shared with you the ‘6C’ framework we developed to deliver sustainable transformation that meets the emergent needs of customers and employees as we move to ‘The New Normal’ (see: Pivot to The New Normal ). I described how designing, developing and implementing new business strategy requires vision, analysis, and design skills that integrate with IT strategy, IT consultancy and capable IT management that has the ability to implement cloud computing (see: Aplomb Cloud’s Services here).

Since that article I have received requests for more information about our 6C framework - the 6 “C’s” being Culture; Co-Creation; Creativity; Collaboration; Change; and Consent. I was asked about the sequence of addressing these issues during a transformation programme. My answer is that they are not meant to be sequential. For success a transformation programme needs to consider and address each of these key elements in parallel. From years of business transformation experience I discovered that the design thinking process is the best way I have discovered that enables this, because by its very nature it is a model that integrates all the elements holistically.

However, after discussing this with my 6C culture and leadership collaborator Merita Vilen of Oranssi LLC we agree that understanding organisation culture and the cultural diversity within are both key early requirements to providing leadership that will meet the needs of the new normal. Organisational culture is the way people relate to their work, colleagues and external environment. It provides the context of transactions and has a lot more powerful impact than typically acknowledged, especially if culture has fallen into a dysfunctional side. In that case, achieving any type of transformation or technology deployment successfully is in doubt if not addressed. Existing company culture should preferably be measured at the outset to fully comprehend whether it is an enabler or not. This analysis would inform quite different types of leadership and change management strategy (Change will be covered further in coming articles).

Secondly, deep personal, societal and national values are another layer of culture that have a major impact within diverse teams inside any local and international organisation. When culturally diverse teams are formed, we should carefully manage that diversity because if not managed effectively it could lead to project delays, an unmotivated workforce, lower engagement levels, and internal friction and resistance. In contrast, a great benefit of culturally diverse teams collaborating well is that they provide a huge edge for creativity and innovation (more about that in later articles). Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions model can be used to inform the correct way to approach these cultural challenges (see: Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions on Wiki).

The bottom line is that leadership behavior defines culture and in turn culture defines leadership style, they are completely interlinked.

Do these themes resonate with you? Why not contact us if you would lie to discuss them further. Please signup to get e-mail alerts as further articles in this series are published.

To read part-2 click here. | To read part-1 click here.

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