Visually mapping the Culture Development Cycle

>>click here to open the map and images

Abrasive Technology Inc. (ATI) held a workshop during which the associates explored their roles in the learning culture of the organization. The did two rounds of selecting and discussing VE images, first for the question "What is your role in the learning culture?" and then for the question "What is your understanding of the learning culture?"

Both groups got into arranging their VE images into a cycle--independently, without instruction or communication between the groups. Tanya leans over to me and says "that the culture development cycle!"

The Culture Development Cycle (CDC) is a research based model from the Center for Creative Leadership on how leadership cultures can be intentionally transformed over time. The map above, created in Compendium, shows the CDC in the middle with the VE images from the first group from ATI as they track the cycle.

For more on the evolving leadership culture at ATI see the research report Interdependent Leadership in Organizations: Evidence from Six Case Studies, CCL Press, 2008.