At Aletheian Advisors we have developed a process that enables a company to analyse, diagnose and manage its corporate culture in alignment with its strategic objectives.
It’s a three stage process, applying one of four “Aletheian” corporate archetypes (Servant, Craftsman, Merchant & Warrior), which we use as a high level map of the corporate culture landscape, and utilising up to six culture management levers through a focus on the company’s (1) corporate habits, (2) decision making processes, (3) corporate structure, (4) story telling about itself and what its management (5) say and (6) do.
This Aletheian process for managing corporate culture is largely focussed on the apparently ordinary, mundane and habitual aspects of corporate life, driven by a bottom-up approach to making changes. Small changes can have a big impact.
All six levers represent powerful means of adapting and managing your company’s culture, but we recommend starting with a focus on Corporate Habits which have a number of distinct characteristics, making them a good starting point in implementing organisational change, namely:
- Changes in respect of corporate habits can typically be implemented at short notice
- A wide range of corporate habits applicable to most corporate settings provide extensive intervention options
- Flexible manner in which corporate habits can be adapted, implemented and terminated in a company means there is a low threshold for making changes to a company’s corporate habits.
Drivers and Principles of Corporate Habits
At Aletheian we define corporate habits as routines or patterns of thought and behaviour typically acquired or adapted through repetition by individuals and groups in the company.
Such aspects of corporate behaviour might be described as what we do naturally in a particular situation, in a way that becomes a direct expression of the culture of the company; and hence inevitably is a significant contributor to the performance of a company.
Given the illustrations below of how such micro detail around routines and behaviours can be adapted and managed without a requirement for investing considerable upfront costs etc, this is a clear example of an aspect of corporate life which can be defined as low cost in implementation and management of change but with high impact delivery potential.
This is reflected in the manner in which corporate habits can impact employees’ 1) experience of working conditions, 2) levels of work satisfaction and 3) capacity and effectiveness for delivering the company’s strategy and equally importantly how your company is perceived by outsiders.
Types and Varieties of Corporate Habits – some illustrative examples
Corporate habits will differ widely in application across the broad spectrum of global company activity, but at Aletheian we categorize them into three different types. Within the three categories outlined below, there of course exists a great variety and abundance of activities and the examples listed below represent just a small sub-set of corporate habits.
| Operational | Behaviour Norms | Social Relationships |
| Office Hours | Dress Codes | Networking & Mentoring |
| Routines & Processes | Work-life balance | Client engagement & entertainment |
| Performance reviews | Personal Behaviour expectations | Individual and team status recognition |
| Goal setting | Time management norms | Social interactions in working hours |
Utilising and Adapting Corporate Habits to manage your Archetype culture
The particular choice of corporate habits to use as a means of intervention is secondary to the manner in which a company seeks to implement such a habit in the life of the company. The table below provides guidance for such an implementation process, not on the specifics which such a habit should take within your company, but instead on the suggested decision drivers for the application of corporate habits for each of the four Aletheian archetypal corporate sub-cultures.
You know your company best, so for instance we don’t seek to address the details around what dress codes to apply in your company, but the key decision drivers for each of the four archetypes in application of such a corporate habit are proposed as respect for clients (Servant), functional nature of the work (Craftsman), market conventions (Merchant) and an enterprise branding opportunity (Warrior).
Consider how you might apply the Aletheian Decision Drivers below for your particular preferred corporate archetype to align corporate habits with what you are trying to achieve.
| Corporate Habit | Servant Drivers | Craftsman Drivers | Merchant Drivers | Warrior Drivers |
| Office Hours | Availability to clients | Product & creative cycle | Optimising market access | Communicating commitment |
| Routines & Processes | Adhoc based on client needs | Methodical based on product cycles | Predictable based on market cycles | Unchanging, rigorous & transparent |
| Performance Reviews | Irregular, in-depth & motivational | Product cyclical & knowledge enhancing | Market cyclical & performance incentivising | Frequent, simple & directional |
| Goal setting | Client performance metrics | Product performance metrics | Financial performance metrics | Mission specific performance metrics |
| Dress Codes | Respect for clients | Functional nature of work | Market conventions | Enterprise branding |
| Work-life balance | Trusting & supporting staff | Attracting & retaining talent | Sustaining a culture of high performance | Rewarding performance & achievement |
| Personal Behavioral expectations | Modest & empathetic | Creative & disciplined | Professional & competent | Committed & energetic |
| Time management norms | Adapted for client needs | Adapted for product disciplines & quality control | Imperative discipline of market trading hours | Mission deadlines are sacrosanct |
| Networking & Mentoring style | Servant leadership | Developing a culture of excellence | Coaching for economic performance | Training for mission performance |
| Client engagement & entertainment | Insight & providing hospitality | Feedback & displaying expertise | Intelligence & demonstrating market edge | Affirmation & showcasing mission impact |
| Individual & Team status recognition | Success with clients | Product Expertise | Market Expertise | Immediate Track record |
| Staff social interactions | Building relationships | Sharing knowledge | Celebrating achievements | Team bonding |
How to initiate and manage change in your company through Corporate Habits
The Aletheian process for implementing changes in corporate habits is purposefully simple and transparent in its approach, namely:
- Establish your company’s target Aletheian Corporate Archetypal sub-culture (see https://aletheian.co.uk/ for full details)
- Review your company’s existing corporate habits for their compatibility with your chosen corporate archetype
- Select existing (or new) corporate habits for adapting or introduction into the working routine of the company (suggest changes limited to no more than three applications initially, perhaps selecting one from each of the respective varieties listed in the operational, behavioural and social types of corporate habits)
- Use the Aletheian Decision Driver table to adapt the application of the respective corporate habits according to your target Aletheian corporate archetype
- Contact Aletheian Advisors (find us on LinkedIn) for support through any of the above steps, or to access our broader corporate culture advisory services
