Placing people at the heart of change
OCAI Accreditation for Sysdoc’s People and Culture Capability.
Sysdoc’s People and Culture Capability recently completed the OCAI practitioners course as part of its ongoing work to support organisations on their cultural journey.
The OCAI assessment is a cornerstone of Sysdoc’s People and Culture capability toolkit as it provides the foundation in helping leaders understand the current culture and defines what the preferred culture needs to be to accomplish the cultural and behavioural objectives.
The survey is based on the Competing Values Framework which is one of the most widely used and useful culture frameworks. The OCAI assessment covers the following areas :
• Organisational Leadership
• Management of Colleagues
• Dominant Characteristics
• Organisational Glue
• Strategic Emphasis
• Criteria of Success
So why does culture matter?
Organisational culture is a truly unique identifier. It is like a fingerprint, the culture in your organisation may have similar traits to others but is uniquely distinct to your organisation.
Everything else (products, strategies, marketing, even innovations) can be replicated, but the only truly unique identifiers are the values and norms of the organisation – its culture, or personality.
A positive organisational culture and a focus on people is unfortunately the exception rather than the norm, but a strong organisational culture can differentiate an organisation from its competitors in the mind of its stakeholders.
Helen Sawyer and Jade Tipping both Senior Consultants within the People and Culture capability commenting on the course.
Helen - It was great to have such a mix of people from across the world with different experiences who were all willing to share their culture change experiences and support each other. For me, it gave me alternative ideas on how to approach cultural situations. For us as a capability, it has strengthened our commitment to supporting organisations that are placing people at the heart of the change process.
Jade - Being placed in a group of 14 people, talking and collaborating from different time zones and life paths was just the jolt to the system I needed. It refreshed my thinking that organisational goals can be achieved in many ways, and some ways will be more natural based on its congruence to the organisation's culture and values, and we cannot forget that other ways are open to organisations.'
Taking the first steps
Assessing organisational culture can sometimes feel complicated by the reality is it can be done. At Sysdoc we believe it should be the first step in defining and understanding your current culture.
By utilising a recognised cultural assessment framework like the OCAI assessment should be the foundational principle of your cultural journey model.
Completing the assessment leads to the understanding of what the preferred culture needs to be to support your journey ahead. This can then lead include the development of other areas such as organisational storytelling and behavioural frameworks.
This opens the possibility for authentic cultural change which can then be managed as a continuous process rather than through big shifts which are often in response to a crisis. Are you looking for a smooth, sustainable process to how you approach People & Culture in your organisation?
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