RESEARCH PAPER

7 Levers For Shaping

Organizational
Culture (With Examples)
June 2023
The post-pandemic dust has hardly settled.
The tech industry, once a glorious spectacle of rapid
growth and innovation, is still reeling from the lag
effects of the economic slowdown, and we are only
now realizing that sustainability is the name of the
corporate game. The need of the hour in the current
corporate landscape is for companies, large and
small, to look inwards and connect with their most
valuable resource - their people.
Do you need to
strengthen your
Organizational Culture?
A well-defined organizational culture is
more critical today, as employees
crave an honest connection with their
company amid external volatility. A
2022 study reported a significantly
negative relationship between a
company’s organizational culture and
its employees’ intentions to quit and
feelings of job insecurity - simply put,
the better the culture, the less the
chances of employees quitting or
fearing job loss.
A 2023 survey on executives across
various companies found that
corporate culture is cited as the major
reason for business success and, when
poorly structured, for business failure. It
also found that 65% of employees
within individual firms cited
organizational culture as “Very
important”.
Importance of
Organizational Culture
65% | Very important
Figure 1: Survey on Organizational Culture Among Employees
Although organizational culture is
touted as a “sustainable competitive
advantage” for companies, there
exists a dearth of robust models that
can help companies actually channel
said advantage.
Our model - The 7 Levers for Shaping
Culture - is a good place to start if you
are confused about your
organization’s corporate identity and
culture. The model works well for two
reasons: 1) it helps you understand
your culture as it is, and 2) it charts a
course for where your culture should
be. Drawn up based on extensive
research on existing models and
tested in the corporate arena, the
framework contains 7 diagnostic
elements to realize your corporate
identity and strengthen it based on
your values and needs.
4% | Not important
7% | Somewhat important
24% | Important
Page #3
 What are the 7 Levers
for Shaping Culture?
At Caliber Consulting, we provide a comprehensive framework to help companies
understand the different elements that make up their organization's culture. The
model acts as a practical toolkit to identify and analyze your company’s core
culture, and to make changes when necessary.

The 7 elements in our framework

include:
1. Leadership Role Modeling
2. Storytelling
3. Rituals and Work Habits Leadership Role Modeling
4. Symbols and Artifacts
5. Influencers Storytelling
6. Grassroots Engagement

7
7. Structures, Systems & Processes Rituals and Work Habits

Levers for Symbols and Artifacts

Shaping
Culture
Influencers

Grassroots Engagement

Structures, Systems & Processes

Figure 2: 7 Levers for Shaping Culture

Page #4
Lever 1
Leadership
Role Modeling
Top organizational experts believe that
sustainable change starts at the very
top and cascades down to the unitary
teams across the company - and we
agree. Knowing the direction of your What Leadership Skills
Do You Need Most?
company requires understanding, and
modeling, the way leadership embodies These competencies were voted the most
important for all management positions.
the values of the company in its
behavior. We call this Leadership Role
Modeling. For example, a company that
champions innovation and demands its
employees “put their thinking caps on”
would require its executive leadership to
let their own creative juices flow and
pave avenues to enable employees to
join in this culture. In fact, inspiring
others has been voted as the top skill
leaders must demonstrate at all levels
of management (see figure 3). Figure 3: The Skills Leaders Need At Every Level

Case-in-point: Apple

There may not be a better example of leadership Role

Modeling than that of Steve Jobs, founder and long-time
CEO of Apple. Steve Jobs was not exactly a tech genius - in
fact - he was a marketing expert. But that didn’t stop him
from changing the way we look at technology today and it's
only because he lived and breathed a culture of innovation,
creativity, and relentless perfectionism that, even today,
Apple still manages to spearhead the technology industry.

Page #5
Lever 2
Storytelling
One of the key elements of The 7 Levers for Shaping Culture model
is Storytelling. These are the narratives told within an organization
that reflect the values and beliefs of the company. Think of the
significant historical events of your company, the ones told
repeatedly during breaks and over by the water cooler. We believe
the story doesn’t even have to be real; it could be a myth as long
as it can inspire and connect employees across hierarchies and
age groups. For example, a company that prides itself on its
innovation may have a story to recapitulate about a time when it
took a big risk and it paid off. These stories can be used to shape
the culture of an organization and to communicate its values and
beliefs to employees.

Case-in-point: Coca-Cola

The company seems to always have outrageous, therefore

memorable, stories surrounding its name. Coca-Cola’s
“closely-guarded recipe”, the mystery surrounding its initial
ingredients, its brand war with Pepsi, and even its marketing
failures (think New Coke), are kept alive because they are a
part of the company’s identity. Everyone associated with
Coca-Cola is connected through these very stories - reality
or myth aside.

Page #6
Lever 3
Rituals and Work Habits
Rituals and Work Habits are another integral part of the cultural
web model. These are the repetitive actions and practices that are
performed in an organization. A study published by the Harvard
Business School showed that performing team-building activities
led to a 16% increase in how meaningful employees judged their
work to be. Activities can include things like meetings, events, and
traditions like unique ways of celebrating personal and
professional milestones. For companies that now operate in a
hybrid or virtual model, or companies where teams and
departments work in isolation, these activities become vital in
instilling a strong sense of community within the workplace. For
example, a company that values teamwork may have a ritual of
holding a weekly team-building activity or even an annual team-
building retreat.

Case-in-point: Walmart

In 1975, the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, visited a Korean

tennis ball factory where the employees would begin their
day with a resounding cheer. Sam was so impressed by this,
he decided to try it back home at Walmart. Today,
employees across the world do the Walmart cheer in their
own languages, carrying a decades-old tradition.

Page #7
Lever 4
Symbols and Artifacts
The third element of the cultural web model are symbols and
artifacts. These are the physical objects, images, and words that
represent the culture of your organization. They can include things
like logos, mascots, and mission statements. For example, a
company that values sustainability may have a symbol of a tree or
a recycling symbol. These symbols can be used to communicate
the culture of an organization to employees and to the public.

Case-in-point: Hubspot

When Hubspot sought to fill its culture gap, it introduced the

HEART symbol to encapsulate the true essence of the
company - Empathy. Claimed to be the metaphorical
“heart” of Hubspot, the symbol represents the 5 core values
of its employees:
Humble
Empathetic
Adaptable
Remarkable and
Transparent.

Page #8
Lever 5
Influencers
Power can be formally, or informally, attributed to employees,
giving them control over how the affairs of the company are
conducted. Employees that manage to accumulate power
through informal channels, i.e., without the power that comes with
job titles, are labeled as Influencers. These are people who
typically exert charisma within the confines of the organization to
maintain a level of influence over the culture of the organization,
and hence, its employees. They may be very social and increase
their familiarity among all employees or just be very well
connected to the “right people” to get their way. Treating these
employees as change agents and bringing them on board can
help the company implement new ideas and practices much
faster.

Case-in-point: Thomson Reuters

The leading mass media company sought to “uncover

invisible connections” from within its ranks and harness real
influence to catalyze change. The company took the help of
an L&D consulting firm and surveyed 8,000 technology
employees to determine who they thought wielded influence
within the company. The company was able to identify
individuals who displayed influence and played important
roles within their teams and subsequently leveraged those
connections to its advantage.

Page #9
Lever 6
Grassroots Engagement
The sixth, and often overlooked, lever is Grassroots Engagement.
Just as important as leading from the front, maintaining
communication and feedback channels with teams working at the
lower levels of the organization is equally critical.
This involves measuring culture and addressing specific issues
and behaviors at the team level.
For example, if we measure the cultural score of a team only to
find that its innovation level is not up there with the larger
organization despite corporate-level initiatives, there may be a
need to tackle specific pain points that are impacting this team.
A diagnosis may reveal the team’s low innovation culture score is
because they work too independently. Subsequent steps can
include a workshop or action planning to address specific cultural
shortcomings to help drive change at the grassroots level.

Case-in-point: Adobe

Adobe boasts a massive 26,000-strong workforce which can

either bring synergies or isolation within the ranks across the
multinational giant. The company believes that real-time,
open communication across the hierarchy is critical to the
success of its culture - a digital-first transformation to lead
the world through digital experiences. Adobe currently
practices the art of frequent “Check-Ins” between senior
management and individual teams, as opposed to annual
reviews on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The company
claims that this helps managers understand performance
issues rapidly and helps teams stay the course of the
company’s new “digital-first” cultural model.

Page #10
Lever 7
Structures,
Systems & Processes
The final piece of the Cultural web framework are the Structures,
Systems and Processes (SSP). This includes a company’s reward
and accountability measures and is, simply put, the way any
organization controls its employees. The SSP can include reward
schemes like employee awards or monetary bonuses, or
accountability systems like quality assurance, appraisals, and key
performance indicators (KPIs). For example, a company can
implement robust control systems to improve productivity through
employee-of-the-month programs or KPI-based bonuses. This
can help the company not just track employee performance but
also put corrective measures when needed.

Case-in-point: Southwest Airlines

Named as one of America’s Best Employers by Forbes in 2021,

the budget airline features an excellent employee
recognition program, Southwest Airlines Gratitude (SWAG).
By accumulating SWAG points based on achieving work
goals, employees can redeem items from the SWAG gift
shop, which includes airline tickets, concert tickets, and
thousands of merchandise.

Page #11
The Cultural
Web for your
Organization
These seven elements are interrelated and
mutually reinforcing, creating a web of
meaning that shapes the way people
understand and act within an organization.
Using our 7 Levers to Shape Culture to
revamp your organization’s culture may
require some expert help to guarantee
success and sustainability, and who better
to guide you than our own L&D training
professionals who can customize the web to
meet your organization’s needs. By
analyzing the culture of your organization
through the lens of the cultural web, it is
possible to identify areas of change and
align your organization's culture with your
goals and objectives.
Caliber Consulting
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Business Bay, Burj Khalifa Street, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, P.O. Box 112194

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