Culture is the operating system.Not the decoration.
Consulting on corporate culture and culture change
Consulting on corporate culture, purposeful culture change & cultural transformation
Consulting on everything to do with corporate culture, culture change and purposeful cultural transformation. We have been running culture change processes regularly and successfully for 21 years – in mid-sized companies, in non-profit and in the public sector.
Award-winning consulting.
culture change
corporate culture
public sector, non-profit
What we offer on corporate culture and culture change
Corporate Culture Consulting
- Attractive future orientation
- Strong orientation and identification (internal & external)
- High efficiency through detailed implementation plan
Cultural analysis/analysis of corporate culture
- Analyse corporate culture in detail
- Benchmark comparing more than 1000 (!) other companies
- Derive effective improvement measures
Running employee surveys
- Improve structures, processes, and leadership power
- Strengthen Organisation
- Advance Together
Culture change consulting: changing behaviour patterns effectively
A corporate culture that fits is not a "soft factor" but decides whether
- how well strategy is implemented,
- how leadership, collaboration and decisions work,
- how attractive you are seen to be as an employer.
In our consulting on corporate culture, culture change and cultural transformation we do not work with slogans or mindset campaigns, but with what really shapes culture in everyday work:
- the concrete behaviour of managers and staff,
- the conditions that make this behaviour the obvious choice, or even a necessity,
- a clear link to strategy, organisational development and change management.
For more than two decades we have supported companies, public organisations, universities and non-profit organisations in developing their corporate culture purposefully.
Corporate culture consulting – a pragmatic approach
- 01
Corporate culture shows itself in everyday work as settled, observable behaviour. Culture work therefore becomes effective when the behaviour aimed for is described concretely and made operational in a way that connects to daily work.
- 02
Behaviour is largely shaped by conditions. Lasting change typically comes from adjustments to norms and rules, leadership behaviour, conditions (structures, processes, roles) and objective-setting systems.
- 03
Culture change needs a compass: the target culture has to be connected to the strategic requirements and the real challenges of the organisation (culture is not an end in itself).
- 04
We work on careful development rather than "revolution": strengths are deliberately safeguarded, fields for development are worked on with focus, and successes are made visible.
- 05
Implementation and anchoring are an integral part: a roadmap, responsibilities, monitoring and regular reviews are needed to achieve an effect and to steer along the way.
How do you achieve behaviour change?
Staff have a seismographically precise sense of what is expected of them.
Am I rewarded for complying with the rules? What counts for more in our organisation in the end – keeping to the regulations or achieving a real result?
Does my boss expect me to be successful – whether or not I keep to the official "guidelines"?
Who gets promoted here – the conformists or the ones who get their way in the end?
So the quickest and most efficient way to change a company's culture is to make sure that changed behaviour becomes advantageous and plausible for staff, and to change the conditions under which people act together.
Examples of conditions that work in culture change:
- Sub-strategies and strategic objectives for departments and teams
- Objective-setting and reward systems
- Innovation processes
- A shared understanding among all managers of what "good leadership" means
Important prerequisites for culture change to succeed
- Support and prioritisation by top management
- Continuous involvement of representatives of the company leadership, or constant feedback into top management
- The recognition and insight that in all likelihood the leadership culture belongs on the "test bench" too – that is, that one's own leadership behaviour may also have to change if the culture of an organisation is to change for good
- Sufficient resources across the whole project phase
- A capable project team is available for the whole duration of the project. It includes the key stakeholders in the culture change process, for example HR and the works or staff council
- … and not least a strong, respected and experienced project lead with sufficient resources, ideally very well connected within the company.
The strongest "levers" for targeted cultural change
So the strongest levers for effective culture change are:
Corporate culture consulting – at a glance
Who it is for
- Managing directors, boards, heads of authority
- HR, organisational development, change management
- Heads of division, leadership teams, committees
Typical occasions
- Growth, scaling, new business models
- Change of strategy, digitalisation, transformation
- Restructuring, mergers, post-merger integration
- Loss of trust, project fatigue, friction losses between areas
What we do
- Diagnose culture and make it measurable
- Derive the target culture and culture goals from the strategy
- Identify levers in structures, systems and rules of the game
- Shape culture change so that it lands in everyday work and stays there
Your benefits
- better strategy implementation
- fewer friction losses and escalation loops
- greater capacity to deliver, and greater reliability
- stronger employer appeal and employee retention
Who is this consulting particularly relevant for?
- When you have the feeling that strategy and everyday work are drifting apart.
- When leadership teams talk a great deal about culture but little happens in everyday work.
- When areas work past one another and conflicts pile up at the interfaces.
- When earlier culture projects have petered out and the organisation is "project-weary".
Next step: in an initial consultation without obligation we work out what role your corporate culture plays today – and which way in makes sense.
Purposeful culture change: our consulting approach & services
Culture diagnosis & picture of the culture
- qualitative interviews, focus groups, analysis of typical situations
- where useful: an additional culture analysis / employee survey
- a systematic view of objective systems, promotion logics, rules of the game
The aim: from gut feeling to a picture of the culture everyone supports.
Target culture & culture goals
- Deriving culture goals from your strategy
- Translating these into concrete, observable behavioural anchors
- Defining how, in 2–3 years, you will recognise that the culture really has changed
Lever design
- Identifying the levers that shape behaviour: structures, processes, roles; systems of objectives and indicators, bonuses; appraisal and promotion systems; rules, exceptions, and how "rule-ignorers" are handled
- Prioritising by impact, feasibility and political viability
Support for leadership, committees & key roles
- Work with the management or board, heads of division, HR/OD
- Clarifying and sharpening the leadership culture
- Support with delicate decisions and conflicts
Implementation, embedding & measuring impact
- Pilot projects, iterative learning, steering along the way
- Building indicators and observation routines, for example: decision lead times; the quality of interfaces; reliability in delivery
- Anchored in governance, HR systems and regular processes
Where to start
Many organisations first want to check where they stand without launching a major project. For that we have two lean, clearly defined entry products.
"Quick Culture Check" – a one-day workshop
The aim: to gain a shared picture of the current culture challenges in a short time – and identify the first levers.
Format
- structured workshop with the management, the leadership group or selected key people
- gathering typical challenges and points of friction (strategy implementation, leadership, collaboration, interfaces)
- Condensing this into cultural patterns and hypotheses ("How do we really tick today?")
- a first sketch of possible fields of action and levers
Results
- a visual overview of your culture topics
- named priorities, where culture change brings the most
- a recommendation on which next steps make sense (from a single culture project to a full programme)
A good fit when …
- you are starting a new strategy or transformation programme
- a leadership team is to develop a shared picture of the culture
- you want to check whether a larger culture project is really needed
"Culture lever scan" – online survey
The aim: to gather the views of 20 to 100 staff with a GDPR-compliant online questionnaire – and derive concrete fields of action and levers from them.
Format
- Online survey with focused, behaviour-related questions on: leadership culture and decision paths; collaboration and interfaces; how mistakes, conflicts and criticism are handled; the incentives and risks people perceive for particular behaviour
- Evaluation by area / level (where useful)
- Compact results workshop with your leadership team
Results
- a clear culture map: where does the culture support you, where does it hold you back?
- identified fields of action and prioritised levers
- a proposal for a targeted approach to culture change
A good fit when …
- you want to gather the perspective of staff systematically
- you already have hunches and want to check whether the overall picture bears them out
- you are looking for a data-based way into culture change, change management or organisational development
How we understand corporate culture & culture change
Corporate culture: shared habits, not slides
For us, corporate culture is the sum of the shared habits:
- how decisions are prepared and taken,
- how mistakes, conflicts and disagreement are handled,
- how responsibility is taken on or passed along,
- how people talk about clients, citizens, students or service users,
- how people deal with pressure, uncertainty and change.
We draw a clear distinction:
- Official culture – mission statements, values, leadership principles that "hang on the wall".
- Culture as lived – behaviour that actually has consequences, positive or negative.
Culture change always addresses the culture as lived.
"Circumstances shape behaviour"
In organisations, people mostly act rationally towards a purpose, from their own perspective. They respond to:
- objective and metrics systems
- incentive structures, bonuses, career paths
- decision paths and power relations
- formal rules and informal rules of the game
- the risks they perceive in deviating
That is why we always look at both:
- Behaviour – what do people actually do?
- Conditions – what makes this behaviour plausible?
Culture change that runs mainly on mindset rhetoric while leaving objective systems, processes and roles unchanged usually stays symptomatic and short-lived.
Culture change means developing behaviour patterns further
For us, culture change is the purposeful development of the behaviour patterns that are decisive for your organisation's future:
- starting from your strategy and your business models,
- translated into concrete behaviour aimed for in key situations,
- supported by adjusted conditions (structures, systems, rules of the game).
What you will not get from us
- no culture campaigns with "feel-good slogans" that have no connection to the core business
- no standard programmes that run regardless of context and organisational structure
- no pure "mindset coaching" while systems of objectives and governance remain unchanged
Instead we work on behaviour AND conditions – always with a view to strategy, organisation and real constraints.
Typical occasions for culture consulting
Consulting on cultural change makes sense above all where there are real "pain points". Typical triggers are:
Growth and scaling
- informal routes reach their limits
- responsibilities are unclear
- new staff struggle to settle in
Change of strategy, digitalisation, transformation
- on paper it is clear that "more agile", "more customer-focused", "faster" would be needed
- old routines and decision logics still dominate everyday work
Restructuring, mergers, post-merger integration
- official structure: "one company"
- in fact: several cultures, loyalties, lines of conflict
Loss of trust & change fatigue
- many projects started, few carried through
- Employees respond with cynicism, withdrawal, "working to rule"
Friction losses between areas
- energy goes into coordination, escalation, apportioning blame
- internal competition is felt more strongly than shared direction
Our initio framework for culture change: the process
We work with a proven and at the same time flexible initio framework with four phases:
Clarity of purpose & clarifying the brief
Why culture change?
Diagnosis & picture of the culture
How do people actually act today?
Lever design & change architecture
Which levers do we pull?
Implementation, embedding & measuring impact
How does this stay effective?
Between the phases we build in feedback loops, so that the approach, the communication and the actions can be adjusted as we go.
Worth knowing: cultural change is rarely a "project with an end date". Our aim is to enable your organisation to steer and readjust on its own – even without permanent external support.
Diagnose culture & make it measurable
So that culture does not remain a "soft factor", we develop a solid basis for diagnosis with you:
- A combination of qualitative depth, quantitative breadth and structural analysis
- a clear separation between perception and systemic fact
- a focus on behaviour patterns rather than on abstract opinion
Typical questions
- Which patterns show up in many areas – and where are the outliers?
- Where does the culture already fit the strategy well – and where does it not?
- What systemic signals do your structures and systems send today?
Culture change in different contexts
- strong identification, long service
- decision-making structures built around individuals
- implicit rules ("that is how it has always been")
Important: respect for the entrepreneur as a person and for the history of the company – and clear language that still connects.
- a dense framework of law and collective agreements
- strong committees and formal co-determination
- high demands on transparency and fairness
Important: shaping culture change so that it is legally sound, politically viable and able to connect within the participation structures.
- a strong connection to values and purpose
- tensions between volunteers and paid staff
- limited resources against high expectations
Important: clarifying roles, decision logics and working through conflict – without damaging the identity that makes the organisation strong.
Short cases: what culture change feels like in everyday work
Case 1 – mid-sized manufacturing company
A growth phase, new sites, sluggish decisions, tensions between sales, production and development.
Culture diagnosis, clarification of responsibilities, adjustment of decision and objective systems, support for the leadership team.
faster decisions, fewer escalations, noticeable relief for top management, better collaboration at critical interfaces.
Case 2 – public administration
The merger of two authorities, parallel cultures, distrust and a high level of change fatigue.
focused culture analysis, a shared target culture agreed with committees and staff representatives, clear rules of the game for collaboration, support for the leadership team on critical decisions.
clearer responsibilities, improved flow of information, culture change that is legally and politically viable.
Case 3 – non-profit organisation
Tensions between volunteers, paid staff and the management, unclear roles, conflict over priorities.
Clarifying roles, dialogue formats, adjusting decision paths and communication routines, coaching for managers.
transparent decision logic, fewer personal attributions, more focus on questions of substance and on impact.
Why US as your partner for culture change?
Experience
- more than 20 years of consulting on corporate culture, culture change, change management and organisational development
- projects in mid-sized companies, corporations, public administration, universities and non-profit organisations
Expertise
- a strong grounding in systemic organisational development, psychological models of change and practical transformation work
- an extensive knowledge section with articles, whitepapers and tools on corporate culture & culture change
Authority
- our own proven initio framework for culture change, integrating diagnosis, levers and implementation
- many years of supporting leadership bodies in strategically sensitive situations (mergers, restructuring, turnaround, culture programmes)
How we work
- clear, comprehensible language – even on complex subjects
- a focus on impact in daily business, not on symbolism
- a rigorous link to strategy, structure and governance
Whitepaper download: efficient culture change
In this whitepaper we bring together central lessons from many culture projects – compact, close to practice and without marketing phrases.
What to expect:
- a 4-phase model, tested in practice, for changing culture purposefully
- a structured overview of the most effective levers
- approaches for diagnosing the existing culture systematically
- orientation on how culture change works out differently in different contexts
Client voices
What clients say about working with us
A very helpful, well-run workshop. The results served us well through the restructuring phase too.
That was a very efficient process, and it gave us valuable insights and results. I am looking forward to the next stage.
I always love working with professionals — many thanks for facilitating so purposefully.
Your sharp analytical mind was impressive and genuinely useful.
That was a very good method. We would not have managed it without you.
You prepared our workshop thoroughly and precisely. Both the method and the facilitation fitted our objectives very well. We were able to carry on working very successfully with the results. Many thanks.
Many thanks again for the excellent collaboration, the organisation and the very good workshop results.
Four days of workshop and still playful, creative, inspiring and well structured, with good methodology. Thoroughly recommended.
The change management training was very good. You understand the subject in real depth, and it shows.
The interactive conference design was a real help in implementing our WIR strategy. The high level of staff involvement gave us important ideas for the work ahead. The preparation was precise and working with you on site was professional and very pleasant. Thank you.
After the workshops with you we see with fresh eyes how we can develop further and what needs doing now. Thank you very much for your support.
It was striking how much came out of our workshop. That was outstanding.
Knowledge area
In our knowledge section you will find more than 120 specialist articles
In our knowledge section you will find more than 120 specialist articles on corporate culture, culture change, change management and organisational development. A selection of further reading:
- Corporate culture: soft factor, hard consequences – the business significance of culture.
- Culture change: a strategy for rebuilding shared habits – the central logic of effective culture change.
- Strategic development – with respect for the existing culture.
- Corporate culture: the most important models at a glance – models for analysing and changing culture.
- Culture analysis: measuring, analysing and purposefully changing leadership and corporate culture
- Culture change: 6 effective steps for changing corporate culture for good.
- Conditions: how structures and systems shape culture.
- Measurement systems: how goals and metrics steer behaviour.
- Defining indicators: translating abstract goals into observable behaviour.
- Dealing with mistakes, conflicts and criticism: handling imperfection better.
- Trust and distrust in organisations.
- Communication in culture change: communicating through words and deeds
Project examples of changing corporate culture
You will find project examples on our overview page “Project examples and references”.
FAQ
FAQ on corporate culture consulting & culture change
How long does a project to change corporate culture take?
That depends on size, starting point and ambition. The first visible changes can show up after a few months in leadership circles or pilot areas. Until new behaviour patterns are broadly anchored, think in terms of years rather than months. What matters is realistic expectations, clear interim goals and regular reviews.
Can corporate culture be measured at all?
Culture is not a single figure, but it can be diagnosed and systematically observed through: structured surveys, qualitative analyses and interviews, indicators that start from behaviour patterns, regular reflection in leadership teams.
What does consulting on corporate culture cost?
The cost depends on: scope (one area or the whole organisation), depth of the diagnosis, how intensive the support is to be (from occasional advice to support for a whole programme). In the initial consultation we clarify your situation and work out an approach with a transparent estimate of the effort involved – from a Quick Culture Check and a culture lever scan through to a complex culture programme.
How does a culture diagnosis actually work?
The typical combination is: interviews and focus groups with managers and staff, an analysis workshop with key stakeholders, where useful: an online survey for a broader view, a structured look at objective systems, rules of the game and governance. At the end there is a condensed picture of the culture that names strengths, risks and fields of action clearly – as a basis for decisions.
Can culture change be started in individual areas?
Yes – and in many cases that makes sense. The conditions: the area chosen is strategically relevant, there is a sufficient leadership coalition, and the interfaces to the organisation as a whole are deliberately designed. Projects in one part of the organisation can be pilots and learning grounds – what matters is not to run them as an "island project" if the organisation as a whole is to follow later.
Does culture change absolutely require the support of top management?
Yes. Without solid support from top management, culture work stays limited in its effect. Not everyone has to be involved at all times – but it takes: a sufficient coalition of decision-makers, a willingness to change one's own routines and decisions, and clarity about which decisions really are "a matter for the boss".
How closely are staff involved?
That depends on context, size and objective. As a rule: staff are involved where their perspective is indispensable for diagnosis, developing actions and everyday routines. At the same time, clear levels of responsibility for decisions are needed, to keep the organisation able to act.
Next step: your situation, our proposal
If you have the impression that your corporate culture is currently holding you back more than supporting you, a closer look is worth it.
Proposal:
- You sketch out your situation and your goals for us in a few sentences.
- We propose which way in fits: a Quick Culture Check or a culture lever scan – or a more broadly set-up culture change project.
- You decide how deeply you want to draw on our support.
Arrange a free initial consultation now – and find out which levers will develop your culture most effectively.