Culture Leadership program
Helping leaders to strategically influence culture
This 3 day in-person workshop is aimed at providing a framework and a set of practical methods and tools with the view to understand and influence culture.
The Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) understands culture Semiotically and Poetically (i.e., through that which cannot be measured). The industry normally seeks to define culture conceptually and propositionally which misses out on how to influence culture and cultural change.
This workshop addresses the way leaders think of culture and offering a more holistic and Transdisciplinary understanding. This helps leaders not only understand culture but also empowers them to use the right tools and become strategic about cultural change. It will help leaders develop the competence and understanding to better tackle the challenges of culture.
About Culture
Culture is misunderstood in so many ways in the industry, people claim to measure culture, talk about culture and even use the word culture in their organisation’s name and simply mean behaviour.
The three most prominent definitions of culture in the industry are: behaviour-as-culture, legislation-as- culture or systems-as-culture.
Unfortunately, the excessive misuse of the ‘spin’ of culture in organisations has now made it all the more difficult to really tackle the issue of culture and risk in a meaningful way.
The best way to understand culture is as the ‘collective unconscious’. It serves a a helpful way of thinking about the intangible and non-measurable nature of culture and all it comprises.
The concept of the collective unconscious is borrowed from C.G. Jung and has been applied to an understanding of culture in this workshop. The best way to understand culture is through semiotics, i.e., through signs/symbols systems. It is through semiotics that we can demonstrate relationships and engage with the intangible that is not gained through text.
Culture needs to be understood more as a ‘cloud’ than the collection of systems, behaviours and leadership of an organisation. Culture permeates everything in an organisation just like a cloud fills the sky. The affects of Culture can be seen but they are difficult to touch. As the prevailing winds of change blow across organisations, so too does culture shift like a cloud and buffet in turbulence. Lotman called culture the semiophere, Culture is in the air we breathe and presents in every facet of human ‘being’.
Workshop outline
The workshop outline is as follows:
- Introductions
- Language Audit
- Risk maturity model
- How humans make decisions? (1Brain 3Minds)
- How we speak and listen (risk listening)
- Pitching, priming and framing (How to ask questions)
- How we observe risk? (safety observations)
- Introducing the Culture Cloud (A method to influence culture)
- iCue Engagement for risk management
- Micro-training exercises
- Reflections
Workshop outcomes
By the conclusion of the workshop leaders will:
- Better understand the challenges of culture
- See how language shapes culture
- Practice iCue methods for pro-active and reactive risk management (for example learning teams, incident investigations, tool box talks, leadership site visits, safety and quality audits etc.)
- Culture audit toolkit
- Gain a vision for cultural influence
Additional support
As part of the program, training videos, e-books, podcasts, pocket guides, training manuals, culture checklist and iCue kit will be provided to each participant.
Day 1
- Language audit
- (What is your risk and cultural maturity?)
- How humans make decisions
- (1Brain 3Minds)
- Risk listening
- (How we speak and listen)
- Pitching, priming and framing
- (How to ask better quality questions)
Day 2
- iCue engagement
- (a framework for listening and engaging)
- Using company case studies and examples to practice listening using a whiteboard
Day 3
- Culture Cloud
- (a framework for understanding and influencing culture change)
- Observing and listening for cultural indicators
- Micro-training exercises and group work to understand Culture Cloud
- Culture toolkit
- Tools and checklists to understand and improve culture
- Culture walk (experiential learning)
