Connecting the parts

How the parts connects

The parts are interconnected in various ways. It's like a spagetti chart. Everything influences everything. However, there is one common pattern.

Route one - we do what we are...

• What we value as individuals influences our behaviours.

• How we behave, the actions we take and the decisions we make, influence our culture.

• The culture we live will long term influence the strcuture we chose and build.
  
  

Route two - we become what we do...

It works also the opposite way:

• If we change our ways of working and organising, it will influence our culture.

• Our culture will influence our ways of behaving as individuals.

• Our behaviours and the decisions we make as individuals will long term influence our ways of being, what we value and think is important as individuals.

Creating positive or negative spirals

The interconnection between the parts creates a chain reaction of either positive or negative developments. That is, if we invest in one part, it will positively influence the other parts. And if we neglect one part, it will negatively influence the others.

Creating a positive spiral

When we set a structure based on the IKEA key values, we create a culture that empowers co-workers to live and make decisions based on our values (behaviour). What we do will by time shape our way of being (values).

Then we have created the conditions for a positive spiral, where our way of being (values) will shape our way of doing things (behaviour), that shapes our way of working together (culture) and in the end shows up in how we work, lead and organise (structure).

Creating a negative spiral

But because of the disruption and increased complexity that we are facing, we could instead create a negative chain of developments – a negative spiral.

 

An example

A market manager wants to create 300 problem solvers that dare to take initiative. This demands trust. On the other hand he/she needs to be in control of resources and seeing the totality.

• If the manager choose to value “control” over “trust”, it will sooner or later show up in the structure - the way he/she govern, organise and control people

• This will influence the culture, where people might feel that more and more initiatives needs to be approved

• This in turn will influence behaviours, where co-workers might feel increasingly afraid of making decisions on their own

• Long term, this will shape what is valued in the organisation, where following processes, rules and policies becomes more important than to explore and experiment

• As a result the market manager will not have created 300 problem solvers, which was his/her original ambition.

 

Built on trust or fear

The difference between a positive versus a negative spiral equals the difference between trust and fear in an organisation:

• The more trust in the system, the greater the probability for a positive spiral and the more likely we are to work together, find better ways and get things done. When trust goes up, speed goes up and costs go down. Trust reduces bureaucracy and we become more efficient and effective.

• The more fear in the system, the greater the probability for a negative spiral and the more dysfunction in an organisation. For example, ‘control’ or using position/status becomes fear-driven values in most adult contexts, resulting in a dysfunctional structure, culture and behaviours.

Our business reality risk increasing the level of fear

• The world we operate in is increasingly uncertain.

• That makes us as individuals increasinly uncertain, which could activate amygdala (our warning centre in our brains) and cortisol (our stress hormone). That makes us feel anxious, afraid and fearful.

• When we feel fearful, we naturally seek control (order) and focus on saving ourselves (selfishness).

• Control and selfishness risk nurturing a culture of fear, which takes us away from the IKEA culture we want to see.

What should we do?

Living the IKEA key values removes fear and increases trust

We build trust by living our IKEA key values. The more we live our values, the more trust there is. The most important driver for trust is to lead by example. That is to walk-the-talk, both as individuals (Me) and as a collective (We). Because, if we say one thing, but do another, then trust is significantly impaired, our relations are impaired, and so also the positive spiral in the Culture model.