Kate Mannen,
Organizational Development Specialist, HR Division
City of Hamilton

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am an Organizational Development Specialist with the City of Hamilton. I have been with
Hamilton for approximately 5 years, 2 of those managing social housing, the rest in OD. I have
worked in HR for about 15 years and previously another 15 years of experience in
management and social work.
OD is a small team at the City; our work involves: Strategic alignment, Change Management,
Leadership Effectiveness & Coaching, Succession Planning & Employee Engagement

Personal interests – I love change so change management is both a professional & personal
interest. Other personal interests – travelling, downhill skiing, hiking, swimming & reading

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
See above – part of my job
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Kate Mannen,
Organizational Development Specialist, HR Division
City of Hamilton

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Strong at the moment – Our city manager has initiated a corporate culture change initiative,
which will aims to succeed by 2017 with a culture of Collective Ownership, Steadfast Integrity,
Courageous Change, Sensational Service and Engaged Empowered Employees. This initiative
is being driven by the City’s leadership team with OD as a resource.

How would you define organizational culture?
Blend of human psychology, attitudes, values, actions and beliefs that people hold within an
organization.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
1. How to achieve a consistent corporate culture (currently each of our departments has its
own culture)
2. How to improve performance through culture.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
1. Communication – creating key messages
2. How to drive communication bottom up to achieve culture change.
3. How to create a business case for culture change.
Michelle Gladden
HR Generalist, Structural

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am a Human Resources Generalist and a strong emphasis in employee relations and
performance management here at Structural. Structural specializes in reinforcement,
protection and restoration of existing and new structures. I have an interest in traveling,
reading, and spending time with my family.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
I love when a positive culture leads to meeting organizational goals and collaboration
between divisions leads to forward progression. I like that my role in HR helps to support
our employees in any level to become leaders in the organization. We can see how our
influence impacts the organization in a real way through growing our future leaders. A
healthy culture and an aggressive approach to leadership development can take an
organization from weak and financially stagnant to strong and profitable.
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Michelle Gladden
HR Generalist, Structural

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
I believe leaders create the culture of an organization. They set the standard for how
the organization does business and whether its with integrity or shifty.

How would you define organizational culture?
I would define it as the collective actions and feelings of the employees of an
organization. It’s the way in which they strive together to reach goals and come up with
solutions to issues.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I hope to gain knowledge and skills that will help us to move towards a more all around
productive and consistently happy organization.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
I believe some of my branches have a hard time internally with trust. So I would like to
learn how to raise their level of trust on a day to day basis.
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Grace Bohn
HR Generalist, Structural

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am an HR Generalist for a large construction company. I focus mostly on the
Organizational Development side of HR. Along with the OD Manager and 2 other HR
Generalists, we handle employee discipline, terminations, investigations, leadership
development, employee development, performance management, etc. Our
organization has around 2000 employees so we are always busy. One of our main
initiatives is to build our company culture and encourage employees and management
to live our operating principles. This is very important to our CEO. In my personal time, I
enjoy hiking and fishing, playing with my dog, traveling, the beach, music and movies.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
I firmly believe that without a solid and sound organizational culture a company is
destined to fail. Our employees are what makes the organization what it is. We need to
encourage and build our employees to become leaders and buy into a certain cultural
attitude. This is the biggest initiative and biggest challenge of our team, however this is a
large priority to the CEO and other company leaders.
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Michelle Gladden
HR Generalist, Structural

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Unfortunately, we see a lot of disconnect between how our leadership currently
operates and what they expect culturally from others. In order to gain buy in from our
employees, leaders have to live our culture and operating principles themselves. This is
an ongoing challenge.

How would you define organizational culture?
The values, behaviors, beliefs and attitudes shared by the employees of an organization
that contribute to the overall environment of an organization.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I’m hoping to get a lot of ideas of what to do next after we get the results of the
Denison Survey. Where do we go from here? How do we make a change and make a
lasting one? How to we address the disconnects and fix them? How do we make sure
leadership follows through?

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
See number 5. This is what I hope to get out of this workshop.
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Emily Sulzer
HR Generalist, Structural

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I have been employed in Human Resources for almost 6 years now. I graduated with a
degree in Human Resources Development and worked in the transportation industry as
a generalist for 5 years. I currently work for a concrete repair company that has
locations all over the US and the Middle East. I am responsible for five branches within
the organization and primarily work in an employee relations/development role. My
home base is currently in Houston, TX but I have only been there for about a year. I
grew up in Wisconsin and spent many years living in Minnesota. I am a crazy college
sports fan (Badgers), have an active lifestyle, and enjoy spending time with friends and
family as much as possible.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
I think the heart of an organization lies within its culture and that culture is cultivated by
the leadership team. I think it’s important to identify what that culture is so you can not
only live it, but recruit employees whose own values align with that culture.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
The leaders define and shape the culture. In order to have a strong company culture
the leadership has to define the culture and then live it everyday. Their actions must
support the culture they are trying to create, whatever that may be. Without strong
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leadership and a clear message, the outcome will be every person for themselves and
the culture will be that there isn’t one.
Emily Sulzer
HR Generalist, Structural

How would you define organizational culture?
I would define organizational culture as the internal language of the company. It’s the
oddities that make one organization different from another one. Its core should shift
and change infrequently as it’s a set of values put into place by a leader or leadership
team.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I hope to discover tools and resources that will help develop the culture my company
wants, but is having trouble achieving. I hope to find examples of how other people
have been successful when dealing with multiple locations. I hope to come back with a
knowledge base to act on the cultural challenges we are faced with daily.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
From branch to branch, the dynamics change so drastically it’s been observed that it’s
like working for another company. What are some tools we can use to help develop
more cohesiveness within the branches without making them carbon copies of each
other? (Still want the branches have some personality that makes them special). How to
get leaders to truly understand actions speak louder than words?
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Rogelio Martinez
CEO, Transcendum / HR Tools
•
In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I got a doctoral degree in organization change from Pepperdine University and I have
been working in this field for many years as a independent consultant. I also teach in 4
different universities both in the US and in México. I want to learn more about culture
and to incorporate the the Denison instrument in my work.
•
Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
Dr. Ed. Schein was my professor in the MSOD as well as in the doctorate and I was
always fascinated with this topic and now in my consulting work I see a lot of possibilities
to incorporate this dimension.
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Rogelio Martinez
CEO, Transcendum / HR Tools
•
How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?.
One of the books published by dr. Schein is named Leadership and Organization culture
and that is exactly the link that I see between these two topics. Among other things the
leader mode culture.
•
How would you define organizational culture?
Unspoken rules that determines the way the organization behaves and accomplishes
the organization mission.
•
What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
Learn about organization culture, learn how to use the Denison assessment and
hopefully be certify to use it in my daily work.
•
Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Given that English is not my first language, it would help me very much if the instructor
do not use jargon or idiomatic expressions, that will be difficult for me to understand as
an outsider.
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Bernd Wildenmann
Founder, Wildenmann Consulting
•
In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I’m the founder and owner of Wildenmann Consulting and Wildenmann Tools &
Services. Our team consists of about 30 people and we focus on leadership
development and on improving of individual and organizational performance.
Additionally we develop and adapt questionnaires and inventories for individuals,
teams and companies. Our special interest is – particularly in our own research – to find
the connection between human behavior (leadership skills etc.) and the company’s
performance. This is for what our slogan “Turn soft skills into hard facts” stands.
From my private site: I’m a professional pilot and I like to play piano and tuba in my
orchestra.
•
Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
Organizational culture and leadership development is a topic of our interest because
we see a strong connection between these factors and organizational performance.
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Bernd Wildenmann
Founder, Wildenmann Consulting
•
How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?.
Both factors mutually influence each other - leadership causes a specific culture and a
strong culture causes a specific leadership behavior.
•
How would you define organizational culture?
Organizational culture could be defined as the result of the existing values and the
existing culture patterns (power, incompetence, harmony, taboos etc.)
•
What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
To get a clearer view how a high performance culture looks like and how a high
performance culture could be established.
•
Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
(No answer)
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John Moskow
Senior Consultant, Market Edge

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am a technology and marketing professional with experience in medical, electronic,
military and industrial markets. I have focused on product innovation and
commercialization. Today, as a consultant, I work with clients to improve their business.
Because of years at a culture focused Best Place to Work that was very successful
financially, I believe that the Denison Model is a key to activating success.
Market Edge is a global consulting group which works with category leading companies
with strong regional and international brands. The senior consultants all have line
management experience at Fortune 500 companies making us very pragmatic.
My top interests are international travel (with a focus on the cultures), scuba diving and
triathlons. A great day for me is an early swim (ocean or lake), ride in the mountains or
around the lake and finish with a run in the countryside.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
As consultants, we diagnose businesses for gaps in capabilities. Having worked for
traditional (i.e. culture challenged) as well as Best Place to Work (cared about the
culture), I have experienced the benefit of culture on performance. Being able help
our clients analyze where they may need to invest in their culture to achieve their
strategic goals is a strong value proposition.
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John Moskow
Senior Consultant, Market Edge

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
As consultants, we diagnose businesses for gaps in capabilities. Having worked for
traditional (i.e. culture challenged) as well as Best Place to Work (cared about the
culture), I have experienced the benefit of culture on performance. Being able help
our clients analyze where they may need to invest in their culture to achieve their
strategic goals is a strong value proposition.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
What leaders do speaks volumes about the culture of the company. If the culture they
tell you about is not the culture you experience, there is significant dissonance and, I
believe, their integrity is suspect. I do recognize that it may be a blind spot for them but
it still speaks to self-awareness and integrity.

How would you define organizational culture?
Organizational culture is basically how things get done. It tells you what is valued and
what is not. It shows you how to treat people both internally and externally.
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John Moskow
Senior Consultant, Market Edge

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
Since we use the Denison Model and Survey with some of our clients, my goal is to
become more proficient in working with the model as well as more effective at
describing its value to our clients.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
We would like to develop the use of the Denison Model and Survey into a value added
tool with our clients. My challenge is to create the value proposition as well as the
compelling business case for implementation.
15
Janet Mabrey,
Sales Manager, PepsiCo

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.

Career in Sales Management at Frito-Lay, national snack food division of PepsiC

Lead national team of Field Change Leaders who support field sales leadership
teams in deployment of various change initiatives; route delivery design, technology,
compensation, pricing, market execution, etc…

Football fan; Uof M and Steelers season ticket holder

Foodie; love unique restaurants & good wine

Love lake activities

Enjoy Travel; business and personal
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Janet Mabrey,
Sales Manager, PepsiCo

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
Both are integral to leading successful change

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Leaders influence and define an organization’s culture

How would you define organizational culture?
Behaviors and beliefs that are consistently evident

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
New ideas for successfully leading broader, cultural change

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Ensuring local leaders take ownership for change initiatives
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Victoria Zapata,
CEO, HRTOOLS, Mexico
•
In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
My profession: I have a University degree in Human Resources, a diploma and a master
degree in Human Development. 25 years of experience in the HR field and worked in
executive positions being responsible of the HR function for several multinational and
national companies and have been working full time as a Consultant for 5 years.
My organization: HRTools was founded by me and my husband Alberto Villarreal in 2005.
Since then, we represent Hogan Assessment Systems. Our experience encompass more
than: 50,000 assessments to more than 100 customers (companies and consulting firms),
800 executive feedback sessions, 300 certified people in Hogan, and we represent since
2009 The Versatile Leader (Kaiser & Kaplan) for Mexico. Our market share continue to
grow. Our team is formed by 6 Consultants, 1 Marketing person, and 3 administrative
staff.
Special interests: as we get more involved into our customer’s needs and processes, we
find out a great opportunity to contribute with them with additional solutions to continue
helping them to improve their organization performance. We see Denison as a great
resource to integrate to our services.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
First, because we have customers that require cultural counseling and I would like to be
knowledgeable with a specific and validated model and research.
Second, because it is part of my previous experience and I would like to increase my
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knowledge and domain for our company and our customers.
Victoria Zapata,
CEO, HRTOOLS, Mexico
•
How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?.
I would describe it as a unity. Leadership and culture are systemic and they live
together all the time.
•
How would you define organizational culture?
Organizational culture is the sum of shared behaviors, policies, beliefs, practices, and
actions that a specific group practices every day.
•
What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
Refinement in my previous knowledge. Particularly based in the Denison model. Be able
to help organizations and my own organization in understanding and model the culture
towards results or strategic goals.
•
Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
No, I am open to learn and willing to make questions as they arise during the course.
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Yarel Montelongo,
Psychologist & Jr. Consultant, HRTOOLS, Mexico

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am a Psychologist. In HRTools, we evaluate and diagnose candidates and current
collaborators in organizations for Selection and Development processes. I am a Jr.
Consultant in the Mexico City’s office. Personally, I like puzzles, classic movies and spend
time with my husband.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
I like to participate in the growth of people. Specifically organizational culture interests
me because I think that is the engine through which to achieve or hinder productivity
and welfare of the equipment.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Leadership sets the tone for the organizational culture. The leader stimulates or represses
behaviors that are the drivers of the organization.

How would you define organizational culture?
The set of beliefs that most team agree in an unconscious level, and will be the reason
of do or do not do certain behaviors in day to day.
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Yarel Montelongo,
Psychologist & Jr. Consultant, HRTOOLS, Mexico

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I want to have more knowledge of the way in which you can observe, diagnose and
develop a work culture. Since my knowledge on this is limited, as I have more
experience in diagnosing personality.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Only with regard to the acquisition of knowledge.
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Andrew Rahaman
Manager, Emergency Preparedness, Federal Reserve Board

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I work at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington DC where I am responsible for
overseeing the emergency preparedness and business continuity programs. I also work
as an adjunct faculty member for the Center for Creative Leadership providing
leadership development and coaching programs. Lastly, I have a small coaching and
leadership development practice that I would like to grow to include culture
assessments and leadership on-board.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
Leaders by virtue of their position are highly visible. Their actions are noticed and often
times emulated. Helping leaders understand the nexus between living espoused values
and behaviors may help them see how they are creating culture. A culture where
organizational members are aligned may result in higher creativity, performance and
job satisfaction
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Andrew Rahaman
Manager, Emergency Preparedness, Federal Reserve Board

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Overall I would say it’s a reciprocal relationship. Culture informs how people act in the
future and gives meaning to those actions.

How would you define organizational culture?
The values, norms and behaviors that determine what people view as significant and
consequently act on.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
Deeper understanding of leadership and culture. Very practical experience on how to
interpret the assessment results and lead team discussions on how to align culture.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
No
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Christopher Schmelzer,
HR Manager, GE Corporate Audit Staff

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your
personal interests.
I’ve spent the last 3 years working in HR for General Electric. In my most recent role I
support a group of high potential finance and IT employees with selection & assessment,
leadership development, and career coaching. In the fall I am returning to school to
purse a degree in I/O Psychology.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest
to you?
Because the two are vital for sustained success in an organization.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Is it the leader that creates the culture or the culture that creates the leader?
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Christopher Schmelzer,
HR Manager, GE Corporate Audit Staff

How would you define organizational culture?
The beliefs, traditions, & rules (both written and unwritten) handed down in an
organization.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
Learn something new and a stronger professional network.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like
to have addressed during the workshop?
No
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Patrick McGuire
Organizational Development Consultant, Structural

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am an Organizational Development Consultant (Internal) with STRUCTURAL. I have
been in this role for just over 5 years. Prior to that, I was in recruiting with the STRUCTURAL
for 5 years and in recruiting during my career before STRUCTURAL. Our organization is a
specialty construction company with between 1500 and 2000 employees depending on
business needs.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
We have been tasked with maintaining a company culture of (sentence was left
unfinished)

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
In my opinion, the leadership is somewhat disconnected from the culture. They have an
idea of what they want it to be and they hold on to that idea even though the
company struggles to follow that culture. They allow certain culturally corrosive
elements to exist in the company. These elements are sometimes profitable parts of the
business. I think it is difficult for the owners to make any big changes in that sense. This
does not go unnoticed and in turn affects the employees’ trust in the company and
they see the Company as hypocritical.
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Patrick McGuire
Organizational Development Consultant, Structural

How would you define organizational culture?
“The way we do things here” is the most succinct way that I can describe it. It is about
the way we treat our people and the way we go about our business on a daily basis.

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I hope to learn some follow up activities to the Denison survey that will help us identify
and improve aspects of the culture.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Follow up activities are my main interest.
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Sarah Malone
Consultant, The AldonMalone Group

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
I am an Org Development consultant and leadership / executive coach with over 25
years experience working with non-profit & for profit organizations in the US and
Canada. The focus of my work is helping leaders lead change and helping them
develop organizational agility and change capacity throughout their organizations. I
also teach in Benedictine University’s Ed.D. program in Higher Ed and Change. In this
program I teach the Org Development, Change & Innovation course and the Change
Leadership courses. I’ve also taught the Executing Strategic Change course and am
guest speaker (topics: Appreciative Inquiry / Positive Change, & Managing Change
with People in Mind) in the MBA program @ Northwestern.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
My experience and my research in the areas of continuous & adaptive change, and
complex adaptive systems bears out the link between leadership and culture. Thru
words and more importantly deeds, leaders create context -- the environment . So it is
imperative that leaders understand their impact—how they influence individuals and
the organization as a whole.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
See above.
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Sarah Malone
Consultant, The AldonMalone Group

How would you define organizational culture? Culture is the manifestation of the
underlying values, assumptions, and beliefs that inform behavior. Here are a couple of
definitions / descriptions I like:
•
•
•

“Culture is like the air we breathe.” We take it for granted. We don’t give it much
thought. We assume how we see the world is reality – the truth – the world’s point of
view.” ~Norma Carr-Ruffino.
Culture is the “collective unconscious” of the organization ~Peter Block
“When the organization’s culture is aligned, it reflects the vision, mission, and values
in everyday life throughout the organization. The many visible signs of culture, like
symbols, myths, artifacts, language, how people relate to one another, and
leadership style are far more revealing of the organization’s culture than the vision
and mission statements hanging on the walls.” ~Unknown
What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
My goal is better understand the model, its application and underlying research. I was
introduced to the Denison model while working with a client. I’ve looked at the OCI
and I am drawn to Denison’s work because it incorporates and aligns with my research,
experience and interests

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Not at this moment. I’m looking forward to learning about the model, application and
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research.
Nancy Zentis
OD Consultant, Institute of Organization Development

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests
I’m an OD Consultant and my expertise as a consultant is in the field of Talent
Management using an OD approach. My company, Institute of OD offers online OD
Certification Programs for in OD, Talent Management and Leadership Development.
We also work with clients on various OD assignments and we offer various assessment
instruments and an online Mentoring program. I’ve been in the field over 25 years. I
have a Ph.D. in Organization Development.

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
We have a model for OD that leads to culture change through systems learning on five
levels. One of our sessions deals with different assessment instruments and we refer the
Denison Model as our preferred model.

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
Leaders should model the cultural values, and leadership styles and competencies
need to support the culture.
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Nancy Zentis
OD Consultant, Institute of Organization Development

How would you define organizational culture?
Organization culture represents the values proposition promised by the organization and
builds the foundation for organization success both externally and Internally,

What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
I would like to learn more about the instrument and how it’s used to improve the culture.
Also, interested in your work in organization systems design.

Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
Not right now
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Ashley Klecak
Intern, gothamCULTURE

In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.
After several years on the West Coast as an advertising account manager, I moved to
New York City to pursue a MA in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia
University. During my final semester, I discovered gothamCulture, an OD consulting firm
devoted to improving performance through the lens of leadership and culture. I was
drawn to the firm for its strong focus on organizational culture and creative, customized
client solutions. I began at gothamCulture as an intern and, since graduation, have
joined the team in an associate capacity – strategizing how to cascade large-scale
culture change initiatives, designing executive development programs, and supporting
gC marketing initiatives. Personally, I love travel, food, writing, yoga, and as of late –
Game of Thrones. : )

Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?
I became fascinated by organizational culture after experiencing at the start of my
career a range of organizational cultures from Time Inc. to a boutique ad agency to a
tech start-up. The leadership dynamics and culture of the organizations and became
more interesting to me than the advertising work itself. I am also interested in culture for
the important role it plays in driving or impeding business strategy. I feel that this is still a
link that executives don't readily consider.
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Ashley Klecak
Intern, gothamCULTURE

How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
At gothamCulture, I’ve heard the link between leadership and culture described as
“two sides of the same coin.” I think this an accurate representation of the
interrelatedness of the two. Leaders drive culture, but it is also important for leaders to
initiate dialogue at all levels of the organization to better understand what about the
culture is helping or detracting from his/her vision.

How would you define organizational culture?
I often hear culture defined as ‘the way we do things around here.’ I like this definition
because it captures the sense that culture goes beyond the espoused rules, values, etc.
and gets to the reality of how employees communicate, how work gets done, the
unspoken rules of behavior, etc.
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What do you hope to gain from this workshop?
In this workshop, I hope to gain a stronger sense for the link between culture and
performance. Having observed and been involved with designing programs where
gothamCulture uses the Denison DOCS and DLDS assessments, I see great value in the
tools. I would love to gain a better understanding of the research behind the DOCS
and practice analyzing culture through case studies in order to be able to more
comfortably speak to varied DOCS results in future client engagements.
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Ashley Klecak
Intern, gothamCULTURE
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Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
One of the challenges that I’d like to work through is how to approach executives or
reports who see little value in culture work. I’d like to strengthen my argument for the
link between culture and performance. More specifically, I’d also hope to address the
challenge of workgroups within organizations who don’t feel that the DOCS data is
reflective of their specific group (when an organization-wide survey is administered.
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Lawrence Williams
OE Coach, The Clorox Company
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In 10 sentences or less, tell us about your profession, your organization, and your personal
interests.

Current Profession is driving Organizational Empowerment with Clients through
Operational, Human Resource and World Class Operation Practices. Prior experience
in managing manufacturing operations and human resource roles.
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Consumer Products Goods related to household cleaners, personal care and food
businesses
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Broaden knowledge and application of Denison tools to enhance engagement.
Why is organizational culture and/or leadership development a topic of interest to you?

Both directly linked to role and responsibilities.
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Lawrence Williams
OE Coach, The Clorox Company
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How would you currently describe the link between leadership and culture?
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How would you define organizational culture?

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The 360 view of how work is done through critical elements (i.e. Galbriath Model) with
Leadership ownership
What do you hope to gain from this workshop?

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Leadership defines Culture
Understand analytical knowledge / application of Survey
Do you have any pain points, challenges, or specific topics that you would like to have
addressed during the workshop?
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N/A
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