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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture is what the organization repeats.

It is built in the decisions, the reactions and the behaviours the organization reinforces every day.

WHAT IS VISIBLE

WHAT PRODUCES IT

From an isolated decision to an established norm A trace runs through five stations aligned from left to right. At the decision, it rises and forms a plateau. At the reaction, it comes back down. At the repetition, the same movement returns three times in a row, each pass a little sharper, leaving behind two increasingly pale echoes. At the reinforcement, the trajectory steadies and the line thickens. At the norm, it becomes a solid, continuous bar, beneath which a dark mosaic begins to form. Nothing has changed colour: only the thickness of the trace tells of the repetition.
  1. Decision
  2. Reaction
  3. Repetition
  4. Reinforcement
  5. Norm
An isolated behaviour is an event. A repeated behaviour becomes a culture.

A CULTURE ALREADY EXISTS

From five people to five thousand, an organization learns what is done here.

In a small organization, proximity passes on almost everything: decisions are observed, reactions are remembered. As it grows, intermediaries interpret. When several teams or several sites appear, variations settle in.

You don't need to have written your culture down for it to be shaping your decisions already.

The same cultural logic at three organizational scales On the left, a small team: a single origin passes on three identical ways of doing things directly. In the centre, a growing organization: the origin passes through two intermediaries before reaching six practices, already slightly different. On the right, an organization made up of several teams or sites: four intermediaries produce eight practices, one of which clearly diverges from the others. Proximity can pass on a culture, but it is no longer enough once the organization depends on several intermediaries.
  • 01One team. Proximity is enough to pass things on.
  • 02Growing. Intermediaries are already interpreting.
  • 03Several teams or sites. Variations appear.

WHEN CULTURE SHOWS ITSELF

Culture becomes visible when a situation forces a choice.

Choose a situation to see what it reveals.

What takes priority becomes apparent when two commitments come into conflict.

Quality, speed, autonomy, caution: culture can be read in how things are settled when all of these expectations cannot be met at once.

Is the trade-off explained, and consistent with what the organization claims?

Two commitments, one point of trade-off, one path taken Two commitments arrive from the left and meet at a point of trade-off. A vertical mark rises above that point: the trade-off is explained. From that point, one path continues as a solid line to the right, while the other fades into a dotted line.

The reaction to an error teaches what can be learned and what has to be hidden.

Seeking to understand, correcting quickly and clarifying responsibilities does not produce the same culture as immediately looking for someone to blame.

Does the reaction allow learning without diluting accountability?

A break, a loop that repairs, a path that stops A work sequence is interrupted: two markers indicate the break. Above it, a loop rises, takes in what happened and comes back down; the sequence then resumes as a solid line to the end. Below, a second path sets off as a dotted line and stops at a bar: looking for someone to blame leads nowhere.

In a few days, a new person discovers the rules that were never written down.

Orientation presents the organization. Integration reveals what actually has to be understood in order to contribute, ask for help and gain autonomy.

Do the reference points passed on match the practices actually observed?

An arrival that adopts a rhythm never written down Five identical vertical marks are spaced at regular intervals, under a dotted line standing for the rule that was never written. A sixth mark arrives from below and to the left, then settles into exactly the same interval as the others. Three equal measurements confirm that the rhythm has been adopted without ever being explained.

Values point to a direction. Repeated behaviours show the direction actually taken.

THE MOSAÏCA READING

Between what is intended and what is experienced, the organization makes choices every day.

Five paths between what is intended, what is organized and what is experienced Three horizontal planes are stacked: at the top what is intended, in the middle what is organized, at the bottom what is experienced. Five paths leave the upper plane and cross the middle one. Three descend without changing direction. A fourth shifts as it crosses the middle plane and lands a little further along: a square marker signals a deliberate adaptation. The fifth diverges sharply and lands far from its starting point: a ring marker and a dotted measurement signal a gap worth examining.
  • Consistent path
  • Deliberate adaptation
  • Repeated gap to examine
  1. What is intended The mission, the values, the strategy, the commitments.
  2. What is organized The roles, the rules, working conditions, recognition.
  3. What is experienced Daily decisions, what is tolerated, what is recognized.

The distance between the three is not an accusation. It is information about what deserves to be understood.

CONSISTENCY WITHOUT UNIFORMITY

An organization can carry several cultures without having chosen them.

Teams, sites and shifts develop their own reference points. The useful question is not whether differences exist, but which ones are acceptable. Three decisions are enough to settle it.

What has to stay common

Responsibilities, decision-making principles, expected behaviours, how tensions are handled and the fundamental commitments.

What can adapt

Language, certain rituals, rhythms and ways of explaining, depending on the work, the team and the context.

What has to change

The habits that contributed to the organization's success but no longer serve the next stage.

Consistency does not mean uniformity.

HOW WE WORK

Read, align or embed, depending on what is actually blocking.

We do not prescribe a culture before understanding the one already at work. The entry point depends on what the organization already knows about itself.

Choose an entry point to see the corresponding engagement.

Understand the culture already at work.

Put words on what repeats before deciding what to change.

We connect intentions, decisions, practices and experiences to turn scattered signals into a structured reading: what should be preserved, what creates tension, and what is worth acting on.

Our advisory service
Scattered signals that become a readable structure Twelve signals appear with no order. Links are then drawn between them, and a continuous outline closes around the main signals: the culture already at work becomes readable.

Connect intentions, systems and practices.

Make expectations credible in day-to-day operations.

We work on responsibilities, management practices, recognition mechanisms and decisions, until a few precise behaviours finally connect what is intended, what is organized and what is experienced.

Assess practices
Three layers realigning around a few behaviours Three horizontal bands represent what is intended, what is organized and what is experienced. Two vertical axes cross them at offset positions, then move until they line up. Solid markers then indicate each intersection: a few precise behaviours finally connect the three layers.

Give managers the means to carry the reference points.

A shared reference point only exists when several people settle things the same way.

We design training, workshops and role-plays that allow internal leads to explain, practise and reinforce the expected behaviours, in their own situations.

Skills development
One reference point passed to several leads, applied differently A solid reference point is handed over on the left, then passed to four leads. Each applies it in a different situation, shown as a group of differently shaped marks. In front of each situation, the same solid reference point remains identical: the shared principle is preserved.
A room of business people watching a screen showing the question: in your company, where do your cultural codes come from?
« Dans votre entreprise, d’où proviennent vos codes culturels ? » — the question put to a room of decision-makers during a panel held with Informe Affaires.

MOSAÏCA AT WORK

This reading does not come from an imported theoretical framework.

It is built in real situations, with executive teams and organizations that test it against how they actually operate, and then put to the test in front of full rooms of decision-makers.

The question that opens our engagements is the same one asked here.

Our talks

GOING FURTHER

Insights on organizational culture.

This page sets out the mechanism and how we read it. Our insights take up, one by one, the questions it only opens.

A CULTURE THAT CAN BE CARRIED

Your culture is already at work. The question is what it reinforces every day.

When the executive team can no longer be present in every decision, the culture keeps deciding.

Talk about your organizational culture Discover our advisory service