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Our Four Pathways
How can you identify and build a culture that will enable you to fulfill your
strategic intent?
How do you create a culture that everyone is proud of and drives performance? How do you integrate an acquisition’s culture?
Our Company Culture
At STRATAM, we draw upon rich philosophical traditions to create and refine innovative frameworks, distinctions, and practices that enable our clients to see their organization in a new light and develop new pathways to the future. All our projects are unique, as every masterpiece is unique.
We can approach the project through multiple pathways, all outlined here, or through all of them together.
Cultures are unified by a shared organizational mood.
Beyond the basic doings, cultures have a unity in a shared organizational mood like hope or fear. The mood determines how situations and things matter. In hope things matter so far as they can help people change the world. In fear, things matter so far as they are threatening. Whenever we enter a new organization, we get a certain feel. That’s the shared mood.
Cultures also have a style which serves as an ordering principle. A culture with an opportunistic style has people constantly looking for adjustments to get ahead. A culture with a pragmatic style has people looking to make smart tradeoffs to get work done.
Cultures get weak when they fall into negative moods like resentment, resignation, fear, or arrogance or when they have moods and styles that do not complement each other. Imagine a company with a mood of zeal and a style of hanging out collegially.
We work with you to create your strategic story through an iterative process of exploration and decision-making.
We work with you to create your strategic story through an iterative process of exploration and decision-making. Questions start the process. Answers are challenged for insight and grounding. Decisions frequently open new areas for exploration. We involve key performers from multiple levels to ensure that answers are grounded in the reality of the situation. We design the conversation to require honesty, directness, insight, and boldness.
Central questions: What is our vision for thriving? What constitutes winning for the next design of our enterprise? What is the story that will guide us?
The result of this exploration is a strategy and plan for mobilizing it that unifies leadership, employees, processes, and culture, in the creation of a potential masterpiece.
No one gets into or holds a position of leadership for long without possessing admirable, hidden virtues.
With CbM, we introduce the Accountability Loop as a core practice for effective communication.
At the heart of CbM is the recognition that great accomplishments are driven by the commitment of individuals, teams, and organizations. Where accountabilities are weak or unclear, so are the results. Accountability, though essential, is insufficient by itself. Alignment of accountabilities is critical, too. CbM increases accountability and alignment by focusing attention on the quality of commitments made and on the practices for maintaining shared and coherent understandings of commitments in dynamic situations.
With CbM, we introduce the Accountability Loop as a core practice for effective communication. We also introduce practices for rich listening, cultivating productive moods, and strengthening trust, all of which are essential aspects for commitment and coordination. Introducing superior raises both performance and morale.
And Testimonials
Testimonials
“Chris and his team introduced me to the principles of Commitment-based Management 15 years ago. I have utilized what I learned from them in leading multiple organizations, including large technology firms, major money center banks, an online brokerage, and technology start-ups. From leadership development to project constitution and management, these practices have directly resulted in enhanced team performance and predictable product delivery schedules.”
Vince Passione
Former President
DealerTrack
Testimonials
“Our customers were so delighted by the increased visibility into our processes and the quality of our deliverables that they offered to partner with us on a new technology initiative. Commitment-based Management is now an integral component in our software testing and quality engineering practices. ”
Brian Branagan
Former QA Manager
Testimonials
"Jean Dunham's coaching with me and our president has been instrumental in our management turnaround, focus and communications."
Andrea Bordenca
COO, DESCO
Diagnostic Equipment
Service Corporation
Testimonials
“Leadership would be a safe undertaking if your organizations and communities only faced problems for which they already knew the solutions. But there is a whole host of problems that are not amendable to authoritative expertise or standard operating procedures. Without learning new ways—changing attitudes, values, and behaviors—people cannot make the adaptive leap necessary to thrive in the new environment.”
Ronald Heifetz &
Marty Linsky,
Leadership on
the Line
“Our customers were so delighted by the increased visibility into our processes and the quality of our deliverables that they offered to partner with us on a new technology initiative. Commitment-based Management is now an integral component in our software testing and quality engineering practices. ”
Brian Branagan
Former QA Manager
“Chris and his team introduced me to the principles of Commitment-based Management 15 years ago. I have utilized what I learned from them in leading multiple organizations, including large technology firms, major money center banks, an online brokerage, and technology start-ups. From leadership development to project constitution and management, these practices have directly resulted in enhanced team performance and predictable product delivery schedules.”
Vince Passione
Former President
DealerTrack
“In 2002, we embarked on a new, innovative strategy to reduce the costs of producing hydro plants. The strategy required a major change of our company, in processes, tools, and even culture. Chris Davis and his team led the work for changing processes and culture. Over the next year, Chris and Charles Follett led teams involving experts from all our major global centers to design the most efficient, customer-centric processes in the industry—all based on networks of interconnected commitments. They trained our experts to mobilize these new processes and to introduce a commitment-based style of work. The results of our strategic initiative have been outstanding."
Hubert Lienhard
President
Voith Siemens Hydro
“Our company had an area of expense that was increasing at an alarming rate and we struggled to find solutions to deal with it. We engaged Chris Davis and his team to help identify ways to address this issue. Working with our executive and management teams in a collaborative manner, Chris identified problem areas to which we were blind and worked with us to develop our people, processes and tools to address the problems. As a result, expenses in the area under review were reduced by over 80% with annualized savings of $30 million.
A more personally meaningful benefit received from Chris was the coaching he provided to the Executive Management Team. We now have a much more candid, trusting, and respectful environment. These improvements were crucial to our success as we rapidly approach $1 billion in revenue.”
Steve Stevenson,
CFO
Nova Corp.
Contact Us
Lets work together and achieve great things!
Stratam
Articles and Reference Material
Strategic Alignment
Strategic Alignment
Process Excellence
Process Excellence
Person-to-Person Business Process ManagementCommitment-based Management (CbM)
Commitment-based Management (CbM)
Culture Change