Let’s say that you’re a home DIY enthusiast. Completely comfortable with basic car maintenance. Checking tire pressures, topping up the windshield washer fluid, perhaps even changing the oil.
For routine maintenance, your tools and knowledge are perfectly adequate.
But along comes something more complex. A major service, a timing adjustment, swapping out a differential or diagnosing a persistent engine misfire.
Now you turn to a professional. A seasoned mechanic equipped with the specialised tools and expertise to handle such tasks efficiently, safely and effectively.
Organisational culture can be likened to the complex workings of a car’s engine. Without proper servicing, alignment and tuning, even the best laid strategies can falter.
That’s where a Culture Mechanic steps in, armed with a specialised toolbox designed not just to tune but to transform.
Come take a look inside the Toolbox
Let’s open up the toolbox and give you a tour of some of the specialist tools, skills and services that make up a specialist Culture Mechanic’s repertoire.
Clearing the Windscreen (The Outsider’s View): The first tool in a Culture Mechanic’s kit is the ability to act as an external viewer. Think of this as cleaning the windscreen and peering inside with a trained eye. Revealing the often-hidden patterns across an organisation. Patterns that can be hard to see when you work too closely with them.
Thus begins a deep dive situational analysis of the organisation’s goals, strategy, mission and values. And a 360 Culture diagnosis where needed, pinpointing what’s thriving and what’s ailing.
Spanners and Screwdrivers of Culture (Workshops): Practical, hands-on workshops serve as the spanners and screwdrivers in our toolbox. These dirty-fingernail workshops bring the organisation’s vision, mission and values to life. Open conversations across leadership and team levels are crucial for team members to align on values and link them to everyday work expectations.
Whilst we’re at it we always find some loose bolts to tighten and misaligned parts to adjust!
Calibrating the Steering (Leadership Alignment): For leadership teams calibration workshops are vital. They align different leadership styles and set in place clear collaboration methods.
It’s a setting where team members can voice concerns and adjust any wobbly wheels. This creates a common understanding and makes certain that everyone is running smoothly and pointing in the same direction.
Diagnostic Tools (Behavioural Profiles and 360 Assessments): Like a car’s diagnostic tools, Individual or Team Behavioural Profiles and 360 Assessments help uncover diverse behavioural preferences within teams.
These proven tools provide an objective platform to discuss patterns that can hinder execution or decision-making.
By examining and discussing this data in dynamic team settings, teams first build awareness and then learn to leverage core strengths while sealing gaps.
Installing the Right Parts (Recruiting Expertise): Sometimes a missing piece is identified. Perhaps a strategic HR manager is what an organisation needs to shift gears effectively.
Identifying and recruiting the right person (part) for such roles ensures that they click into place and work perfectly with all the other complex moving parts.
A professional Culture Mechanic makes certain that the organisation is supported by someone who aligns with the organisational ethos and strategy.
Performance Fine-tuning (Coaching and Mentoring): Coaching and mentoring are the tuning tools that a Culture Mechanic uses to ensure optimal performance.
For senior leaders, having a trusted (and candid) sounding board and broadened perspective is highly valuable. It’s about developing new habits, challenging existing mindsets and navigating transitions effectively, ensuring the leadership drives the organisation forward with clarity, precision and insight.
Upgrades! (Skills-Based Training): Finally, practical, skills-based training for leaders, managers and high potentials sprinkles magic across the enterprise.
It further develops and refines the relational dynamics, self-management and self-awareness crucial for thriving as your business transforms.
From IT services moving to cloud-based models to engineering firms undergoing cultural shifts, these development sessions cultivate and embed the mindset and behaviours necessary for growth.
Beyond Routine Maintenance
A Culture Mechanic is far more than a routine maintenance worker. They are a specialist who upgrades and transforms an entire system.
Like with any engine preparing for high performance, having the right specialised tools, training and expertise is not just beneficial — it’s essential for driving forward.
At FPC our toolbox is full, beautifully organised and ready to be put to work!
What challenges in your organisation could benefit from a skilled Culture Mechanic?
