Glossary of Key Terms
authentic informal leaders/AILs. People who influence and energize others without relying on their title or formal position in the hierarchy to do so. They have an innate ability to influence others and are a powerful resource to spread critical few behaviors from the bottom up.
behaviors. Patterns within a company of how individuals spend their time, make decisions, live relationships, handle conflicts and truths, and perform their jobs; what people “do” on a day-to-day basis.
critical few. A strategic, thoughtfully selected subset of traits, behaviors, people, or emotions, narrowed down for the purpose of having the most impact on a company within the shortest possible period of time.
cultural action/intervention. Targeted acts that alter and influence how people behave day to day; in some contexts, called “spreading mechanisms” or “enablers.”
cultural boost. A burst of positive energy across the organization, a series of integrated moments when employees at all levels feel positive energy connections about their affiliation with the organization.
cultural coherence/incoherence. In the positive form, a state to be aspired to, where culture, strategy, and operating model all are in alignment. In the negative form, a state where it’s discernible to people that a company’s culture does not support its strategic goals.
cultural insight. Knowledge of how work “actually gets done” within an organization—what people feel strongly about, what motivates people; in this methodology, the self-knowledge that develops as a result of a thorough diagnostic.
culture. The self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking, and believing that determine how things are done within an organization.
culture thumbprint. A “critical few” unique, characteristic organizational traits, enriched by positive and negative behavioral manifestations; in this methodology, the output of a thorough diagnostic—the synthesis of the collective input of many members of an organization through focus groups, interviews, and sometimes a survey.
emotional energy. A collective response of people within an organization that is difficult to explain or recognize through a purely rational framework or set of reasons. Emotional energy always exists but usually becomes visible to leaders or outsiders when triggered by some stimulus—a crisis, a leadership announcement, a change in policy, a shift in strategic direction. Like a trait, it can have both positive and negative manifestations.
keystone behaviors. A term coined by Charles Duhigg for select behaviors that, if repeated over time, can help change habits. In this methodology, used to refer to behaviors that can be practiced organization-wide to help evolve a culture.
KPI. Key performance indicator used to measure the impact of behavior change.
leading outside the lines. An approach to management premised on the idea of harnessing/leveraging an organization’s formal and informal sides, helping them “jump together.” See Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan’s book by this title.
mechanisms or spreading mechanisms. An initiative to support the critical behaviors in a culture evolution effort; also, interventions.
neutral. In this methodology, an aspiration for descriptive traits of an organization, meant to designate that a trait has both positive and negative potential manifestations; significant because core to the premise that no culture has “good” or “bad” elements—that all traits can be understood as both enabling and interrupting strategic aspirations.
symbolic act. A deliberate, purposeful action taken by leadership that sends a strong archetypal message; a form of cultural intervention that is specific to those in a leadership role.
trait. A recognized organization-wide tendency for people to behave in a certain way. A trait’s “neutrality” means that it has positive and negative repercussions, representing two sides of the same coin.
values. Fundamental beliefs of a person or organization that guide behavior and action, always positive and aspirational in nature.