The Present State existed because the company’s Core/Culture supported it. This wasn’t really a CFO/VP Marketing issue—it was a company-wide cultural issue. Ah ha!

The CEO was treating the Symptoms instead of the System. He was working only at the Environment, Behavior, Capability levels and missing the Belief, Identity, and Core/Culture. So the executive fights continued, as they had for five years.

Let The BlameFest End!

When the CEO realized how he perpetuated the Present State he wanted change pronto. To help the company get deeper emotional engagement, and substantially improve performance of their team, top line and bottom line we needed to develop their Desired State.

Company X Desired State

Core/Culture: Culture makes communication safe, accountability strived for and rewarded, trust and sense of belonging essential

Identity: I AM powerful/making a difference/valued; Team members work out challenges with one another

Beliefs: “This is where I belong,” “We are a team,” “My team members are competent and care”

Capability: Accountability and execution structures, rewards and consequences, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to improve efficiency

Behavior: High accountability, execution, trust, team members find solutions together

Environment: Team aligned and collaborative