Culture · Reading it · Component
Reward trace
Who was promoted, praised or protected, and for what — the behaviour the organisation actually pays for, read from its own decisions.
The deliverable
What it is
Kerr’s observation that organisations reward one behaviour while hoping for another is the reason this component exists. People learn to do what they see rewarded, and the reward is not only pay: it is promotion, praise, visibility, protection from consequences, and the attention of senior people.
The trace reads these from decisions already taken. It is a diagnostic record of what has been rewarded. The promotion criteria themselves are owned by HR, and the response when a stated value is breached is recorded under core values.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
Promotion reading
Recent promotions and senior appointments, each with the behaviour colleagues say visibly earned it.
3 attributes: Promoted to · Known for · Promoted on
LearnAttention signals
What leaders ask about first, measure and follow up on — the first of the mechanisms Schein lists for leaders.
3 attributes: Asked about · Asked by · Observed over
LearnTolerated behaviour
Conduct that is known, unwelcome in principle and left without consequence — frequently because of who does it.
3 attributes: Behaviour · Why tolerated · Confidence
Learn
List who was promoted in the last two years and what colleagues say they were known for. That list is the culture’s working job description.
The other components in reading it
Observation log
Dated episodes from ordinary work, each recorded as it happened and tagged with the pattern it suggests and who saw it.
LearnCompeting values profile
Current and preferred profiles across the four culture types of the Competing Values Framework, used as a comparison lens with its limits in view.
LearnSubculture map
The units whose cultures differ from the whole, on which assumptions they differ, and the interfaces where those differences meet.
Learn