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The Iceberg That Sinks Organizational Culture Change

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Most people are aware of the incredible power that company culture has in making or breaking a company.

While the concept of culture seems qualitative and fuzzy to many entrepreneurs or managers, the research on the impact of culture on organizations is very clear and data-driven. Companies with highly-engaged employees have low turnover, high productivity, more satisfied customers, and higher profits.

To sum it up culture’s potential impact more succinctly, management guru Peter Drucker famously put it a different way: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

The Pitfalls of Culture Change

The benefits of a strong company culture are many – and it’s no surprise to see companies all over the world aspiring to build world-class cultures within their organizations at almost any cost.

The problem is that company culture, just like the culture that permeates through society, is based on hidden sets of assumptions, social norms, traditions, and unwritten rules that represent the way things actually get done in a company. As a result, decision makers often underestimate how challenging cultural change can be.

Today’s infographic comes from executive consultant Torben Rick, and it uses an iceberg analogy to show why organizational culture change sinks so many ships. At the top of the mass, there are visible indicators of a culture – but underneath is a bigger, invisible mass that holds all the ingrained cultural assumptions that are extremely difficult to affect.

The Iceberg of Organizational Culture Change

As Torben Rick puts it, the iceberg represents “the way we say we get things done” in contrast to the deeply-ingrained “way that things actually get done” within an organization.

In other words, for managers to positively affect cultural change, they not only need to address the top of the iceberg (vision, mission, values, etc.) but they must also make inroads on the bottom of the iceberg, which makes up more like 90% of a company’s actual culture.

Unfortunately, transforming these underlying perceptions, traditions, and shared assumptions is the real hard part of the exercise, and it can take many months or even years to see the results of such initiatives.

How to Build a Strong Company Culture

Cultural change cannot happen in one week of meetings, or through a few memos sent from higher ups. To effectively shape the bottom of the iceberg – those deeply-ingrained beliefs held throughout the organization – change must happen over a longer period of time where leading is done by example, and employees have the support they need to grow.

The following infographic from ZeroCater offers six ways to help get you started in building a strong culture.

How to Build a Strong Company Culture

As you embark on your voyage to build a stronger company culture, remember that organizational change is more complex and ingrained than it initially seems.

The amount of companies that are successful in these endeavors is far fewer than the amount that have tried – and this iceberg of organizational culture change has sunk many ships over time.

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Misc

Charted: Car Brand Loyalty in 2024

This ranking of car brand loyalty shows what percentage of owners would buy from the same brand for their next vehicle.

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Car Brand Loyalty in 2024

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This graphic visualizes the best and worst car brands in terms of brand loyalty. This is measured by the % of current owners who would buy from the same brand for their next vehicle.

Data comes from Consumer Reports’ owner satisfaction survey, which includes responses from owners of more than 330,000 vehicles.

Car Brands With the Most Loyal Customers

Rivian takes the top spot in this ranking, with 86% of owners saying they would buy from the brand again. The EV startup has carved an interesting niche for itself with its outdoor adventure-focused models, and despite several recalls, appears to have won the hearts of its early customers.

Company% who would buy again
🇺🇸 Rivian86
🇩🇪 Mini77
🇩🇪 BMW76
🇩🇪 Porsche76
🇺🇸 Tesla74
🇰🇷 Genesis73
🇯🇵 Lexus73
🇯🇵 Subaru70

It’s interesting to note that Tesla held the #1 spot in last year’s ranking.

Car Brands With the Least Loyal Customers

At the other end of the spectrum we have brands with the least loyal customers, suggesting that owners are less satisfied with their purchase.

Company% who would buy again
🇺🇸 Cadillac61
🇺🇸 Chrysler60
🇩🇪 Mercedes-Benz59
🇩🇪 Audi59
🇺🇸 Jeep58
🇯🇵 Nissan55
🇩🇪 Volkswagen51
🇯🇵 Infiniti43

At the bottom of this table is Nissan’s luxury marque, Infiniti, with only 43% of owners saying they would revisit the brand for their next car.

Infiniti dealerships are aware of this alarming trend, and have attributed it to the brand’s aging lineup. In a recent interview, Steve Lapin, Chairman of the Infiniti National Dealer Advisory Board, said: “Product is king. Infiniti doesn’t have the right products right now to compete in the marketplace.”

Interested in learning more about the automotive industry? Check out this graphic, which ranks the world’s top 10 exporters of automotive products.

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