Deliver
Collaboration that actually works
The values exist. They are on the wall. Only the behaviour has not changed.
Do you recognise any of these?
- The values are on the wall – and nobody acts on them day to day.
- Departments work side by side – each one good on its own, sluggish together.
- Responsibility is not taken – it is passed on.
- Leadership is understood differently – depending on whom you ask.
- Change meets resistance – and nobody quite knows where it comes from.
- “It works fine, we treat our people well” – until the next new hire notices that it does not.
What this is really about
Culture is not a topic you decide to take up. It becomes a topic when something else does not work: when strategy and actual behaviour drift apart, when departments do not collaborate, when decisions are too slow, when responsibility is left lying. Culture is what connects those symptoms – and so it can only be worked on through those symptoms.
The difference to transformation is simple: transformation changes structures, processes, strategies – visible, plannable, time-limited. Culture changes behaviour, thinking and how people treat each other – felt rather than seen, created by daily action, and it takes time. The two belong together. Change structures without taking the behaviour along and you get a new organisation with old habits.
That is why I do not work with lists of values but with concrete behaviour: what exactly should happen differently in meetings? How is a decision taken and communicated? What does “taking responsibility” mean at this interface, on this Tuesday? Culture becomes tangible when it is pinned to situations – and measurable when those situations are observed.
What I actually do
- Make behaviour tangible instead of leaving values abstract: what does the value mean concretely, here?
- Develop clear behavioural rules – few, binding, checkable.
- Integrate culture into meetings, collaboration and decisions – where it is created every day.
- Use leadership as the lever for culture: align leaders on a shared stance.
- Negotiate clear expectations between departments so collaboration does not depend on goodwill.
- Make culture measurable – by observable situations, not by mood surveys.
- Read resistance: where it appears, there is usually an unanswered question.
- Use AI to address different audiences in the company appropriately and to convey change in an understandable way.
What changes as a result
Collaboration
Clearer, more binding alignment between departments. Fewer conflicts and escalations.
Leadership
More consistent decisions. Stronger direction in the team. Leadership that means the same thing when it says the same thing.
Stability
Results are reached more reliably. More structured communication, fewer misunderstandings.
Ways of working together
One or two days with the leadership level to make behaviour concrete. Workshops with teams and interfaces, where collaboration actually happens. Accompaniment over months when culture is to emerge not as a project but as a practice.
Frequently asked
We already have company values. Why is that not enough?
Because values are intentions and culture is behaviour. “Responsibility” as a value says nothing about what happens when a project is left lying between two departments. That is exactly what has to be clarified.
How long does culture development take?
Longer than a project, shorter than you think – if you start with behaviour. The first behavioural anchors work within weeks. For them to become habit takes months. What does not work: a culture programme that ends after the kick-off.
Can culture be measured at all?
Yes, if you pin it to situations. Are decisions taken in the agreed time? How often does a topic come up again? Do topics between departments arrive or are they left lying? That can be observed and counted.
What if leadership itself is the problem?
Then the work starts there. Culture follows leadership, not the poster. If the top level does not move, it is not worth starting below – and I will say that beforehand, not afterwards.
If your values are on the poster and not in everyday work, a conversation is worthwhile.
Half an hour to clarify where behaviour and aspiration are furthest apart.