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Dr Marcus Bowles
WHO DO WE WANT TO BE?
MATCHING HUMAN CAPABILITIES TO ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
2
THE FUTURE NORMAL
White Paper No. 3
Author
Dr Marcus Bowles, Chair, The Institute for Working Futures, https://www.workingfutures.com.au
Published
DRAFT July 2024
Copyright
© 2024
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any
process without prior written permission from The Institute for Working Futures or Capability.Co.
DOI: TBC
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
3 © Capability.Co
Abstract
This paper explores how the Human Capability Standards (HCS) can build a workforce
best suited with different types of organisational cultures to foster high performance and
engaged talent. By using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) as a generic model,
organisations can assess and map which human capabilities support specific cultural
dimensions—Collaborative, Creative, Competitive, and Control—to drive the required
leadership and workforce mindsets and resulting behaviours. The paper presents a
scientifically reliable method for aligning organisational mindsets and behaviours with
long-term strategic goals and values, emphasising a balance must be struck when
developing both skills and mindsets. This alignment ensures that capability development
not only supports immediate business needs but also fosters a future-ready, adaptable
workforce.
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
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Contents
Abstract ...............................................................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Competing Values Framework .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Building Capability across the Four Dimensions of the CVF .............................................................. 7
Using HCS to rebalance and shift cultural domains .......................................................................................... 8
Case Study ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
End Notes ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
5 © Capability.Co
Introduction
In a world of rapid change and AI-driven job disruption, it's vital for organisations to instil
in every employee a mindset that transforms their skills and what they can do into a
genuine commitment to perform, behave, and continuously adapt. To achieve this
outcome the Working Futures™ Capability Development Playbook emphasises that
developing human capabilities should align with an organisation’s long-term strategic
goals and values.1 This alignment ensures that individual and collective capabilities
support the organisation’s overarching purpose.
Figure 1 Capability as the currency for aligning strategy and culture to organisational purpose
© 2020, Capability.Co, with permission
Following previous publications on assessing and reporting skills and capability
development, this article examines how selecting specific Human Capability Standards
(HCS) offer a scientifically reliable method to embed an organisation’s values through
aligned mindsets and behaviours.2 The HCS serve as a benchmark auditing workforce
maturity, shaping workforce development priorities, aligning learning and talent initiatives,
and measuring their impact against strategic and cultural targets.
Aligning to cultural values helps the capability development process answer several
critical questions:
• Do the capabilities integrate our culture and values into the mindsets and DNA of
every employee?
• Can we track and measure how well our learning and development interventions
are changing both performance and adaptive capacity?
• Do the capabilities go beyond skills and competency and physical activities to
balance cognitive and emotional aspects?
• Are the capabilities transformational and improving future readiness, or are they
solely improving the skills and competency required to perform today?
• Can we measure what people and leaders do (skills) and how values are driving
the required behaviours and cognitive responses (mindsets)?
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
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Competing Values Framework
The Competing Values Framework (CVF), developed by Robert Quinn and John
Rohrbaugh3 in the early 1980s, helps organisations understand, assess, and transform their
cultures by identifying key indicators of organisational effectiveness, embedding desired
cultural values, and prioritising certain capabilities and leadership behaviours.4 The
framework is based on two main dimensions: internal versus external focus and flexibility
versus control.
These dimensions create four distinct quadrants, each representing a different type of
organisational culture, human capability, and leadership requirement:
Clan Culture (Collaborative): Emphasises collaboration, teamwork, and
developing human capital, aligning with interpersonal emotional intelligence and
communication capabilities.
Adhocracy Culture (Creative): Focuses on entrepreneurship and creativity,
mapping to cognitive problem-solving and innovation capabilities.
Market Culture (Competitive): Oriented towards competitiveness and goal
achievement, corresponding to entrepreneurial business and leadership skills.
Hierarchy Culture (Control): Stresses control, efficiency, and stability, covering
process management, compliance, technology, and data analysis capabilities.
While the CVF has been chosen as an indicative model from a range of alternates, it does
help to show that culture is always a balance between competing values.5 By measuring
the organisational culture leaders gain insights into how well they have balanced cultural
values with strategic purpose. Any gap in alignment can be addressed through
recalibrating values or prioritising workforce capability building initiatives.
Figure 2 Competing Values Framework circumplex
© 1983 THE INSTITUTE FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND T HE MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
7 © Capability.Co
Building Capability across the Four Dimensions of the CVF
Th following table maps the HCS (including the LEAD capabilities) and the underlaying
mindsets and behaviours to the CVF domain where they have the greatest influence.
1. CLAN CULTURE (COLLABORATIVE)
2. ADHOCRACY CULTURE (CREATIVE)
Characteristics: High
flexibility and internal focus.
Values: Loyalty, tradition,
family friendly.
Example: Start-ups, family
businesses and professional
associations.
Strategic Focus: Emphasise
is on people and
relationships
Leadership Focus: Leaders in
clan cultures focus on
human needs across both
the customer and employee
experience, build strong
relationships, foster a sense
of shared purpose, and
encourage collaboration.
Human Capabilities:
Communication,
Collaboration, Ethics,
Empathy
LEAD Capabilities:
Engagement & Coaching
Enabling behaviours:
Empowerment, Recognition,
Inclusivity, Sensitivity,
Influence, Respect,
Trustworthiness
Leadership Mindsets:
Leaders that are humble,
engage in authentic
conversations, encourage
diversity and inclusion, and
actively develop their
employees.
Characteristics: High
flexibility and external focus.
Values: Innovation, dream
big, courageous, visionary,
knowledge expansion.
Example: Dynamic and
entrepreneurial
organisations.
Strategic Focus: Emphasise
is on
cognitive activities and
discovery and being the first
or most creative.
Leadership Focus: Leaders
in adhocracy cultures drive
innovation, creativity, and
change, encouraging
employees to experiment
and take risks to seize new
opportunities.
Human Capabilities:
Critical Thinking, Adaptive
Mindset, Creativity
LEAD Capabilities: Agile &
Innovative
Enabling behaviours:
Curiosity, Exploration,
Challenge, Imaginative,
Optimistic, Reasoning
Leadership Mindsets:
Innovators and
entrepreneurs who
encourage controlled risk-
taking and creativity.
4. HIERARCHY CULTURE (CONTROL)
3. MARKET CULTURE (COMPETITIVE)
Characteristics: High control,
and internal focus.
Values: Order, rules, data
driven, scientific, stable,
champion success.
Example: Government
agencies, bureaucracies,
technocracies (STEM
organisations such as health,
technology manufacturing)
and large corporations with
formal structures.6
Strategic Focus: Emphasise
is on process management
and improvement
Leadership Focus: Leaders in
hierarchical cultures focus on
maintaining stability,
ensuring smooth operations,
risk management, and
adhering to established
procedures and standards.
Human Capabilities:
Problem Solving & Data,
Digital Acumen (including
Data & AI Fluency)
LEAD Capabilities: Direction
& Purpose
Enabling behaviours:
Analysis, Focus, Approach,
Vision, Execution, Objectivity
Leadership Mindsets:
Coordinators and organisers
who prioritise efficiency,
stability, accountability, and
process optimisation.
Characteristics
: High
control and external focus.
Values
: Being the best, bold,
excellence, customer
oriented, results orientation,
and market success.
Example: Companies
focused on market share
and profitability.
Strategic Focus: Emphasis
centres on performance,
productivity, and results.
Leadership Focus: Leaders
in market cultures
emphasise goal
achievement,
competitiveness, and
delivering high-quality
products and services.
Human Capabilities:
Customer Focus
LEAD Capabilities:
Leadership
Enabling behaviours:
Determination, Persuasion,
Solutions Orientation,
Accountable
Leadership Mindsets: Hard
drivers and competitors
who focus on achieving
market dominance and
performance.
Table 1 Human capabilities and the four CVF dimensions
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
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Using HCS to rebalance and shift cultural
domains
The HCS can help orient leaders and workers towards the skills and the mindsets required
to transform behaviours to support the organisation’s desired cultural values. Here are
some common scenarios:
From CONTROL to being more CREATIVE
Aim: Steep hierarchies and top-down control are no longer able to
keep pace with technological change, particularly AI and
automation. Efficiency and quality remain priorities, but
responsiveness to continuous change and future readiness become
important.
Human Capabilities: Critical Thinking, Adaptive Mindset, Creativity, Problem Solving
& Data
LEAD Capabilities: Agile & Innovative (often relabelled in this scenario as Innovation
& Change, or Adaptive Leadership)
Enabling behaviours: Curiosity, Exploration, Challenge, Imaginative, Optimistic
From CONTROL to being more COLLABORATIVE
Aim: Move away from command-and-control top-down structures
to improve long-term focus on purpose and human-centric
approaches. Leaders empower others and encourage inclusion and
growth, while general staff collaborate, improve interpersonal
relationships, and focus on human needs.
Human Capabilities: Communication (with an emphasis on Storytelling),
Collaboration, Ethics, Empathy
LEAD Capabilities: Engagement & Coaching (with a focus on High Performing
Teams), Leadership (with a focus on Shared Leadership)
Enabling behaviours: Empowerment, Recognition, Inclusivity, Sensitivity, Cooperation
From COLLABORATIVE to being more COMPETITIVE
Aim: This transformation is usually associated with a move to agile
or away from a culture where staff are afraid or unable to express
ideas. The focus on top-down or consensus at the cost of a market
or customer-driven approach requires a culture more accountable
for results, faster responses, and rapid decisions in response to
business imperatives.
Human Capabilities: Customer Focus, Collaboration, Critical Thinking (with a focus
on Systems Thinking)
LEAD Capabilities: Leadership, Engagement & Coaching (with a focus on
Empowerment and Accountability)
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
9 © Capability.Co
Enabling behaviours: Determination, Persuasion, Visionary, Accountable, Future
Focus
From COMPETITIVE to being more CREATIVE
Aim: In recent years, highly niched competitive organisations have
moved from digital transformation to a point where traditional
business models are less effective. Organisations must become
more responsive, incorporate human input into business processes,
move away from risk aversion, and promote AI usage aligned with
human requirements and core purposes.
Human Capabilities: Ethics, Problem Solving & Data (with a focus
on Informed Decision Making, Data-Driven Decision Making) Creativity, Critical
Thinking, Adaptive Mindset, Digital Acumen (AI Fluency)
LEAD Capabilities: Leadership, Agile & Innovative (often relabelled as Adaptive
Leadership)
Enabling behaviours: Curiosity, Challenge, Imaginative, Logical, Analytical,
Judgement
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
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Case Study
A financial services company with nearly 2000 employees had a culture survey showing a
moderate orientation to hierarchical compliance and control and a strong collaborative
culture. The organisational values emphasised teamwork, ethics, and collective pride,
consistent with a Collaborative Culture. However, the goals in the five-year strategy
focused on customer experience, innovation, and simplification, and the use of AI and data
to improve responsiveness, highlighting a disconnect between culture and strategy. Issues
such as high staff turnover (>24% per annum), low employee engagement, and
dissatisfaction with leaders’ micromanagement indicated a need for recalibration.
Figure 3 Circumplex showing overall culture scores
The organisation is well-adapted to its historic environment but has an immunity to
changes necessary for future challenges. Efforts to enforce changes to achieve strategic
goals are accepted, but leaders often revert to known routines, undermining these efforts.
Skills-based recruitment or development aimed at addressing change or technical
challenges is unlikely to support long-term values and goals.
To help transition towards a more creative, innovative, and market responsive culture, the
company prioritised the following capabilities to shift individual and collective mindsets:
Human capabilities: Collaboration, Adaptive Mindset, Customer Focus, Data-Driven
Decision Making (Problem Solving & Data)
LEAD capabilities: Leadership, Engagement & Coaching (with a focus on
Empowerment and Accountability), Agile & Innovative (with a focus on Adaptive
Leadership)
Technical Capabilities: AI & Data Fluency
Enabling behaviours: Influence, Challenge, Empowerment, Inclusivity, Accountable,
Future Focus
Bowles | Who do we want to be?: Matching human capabilities to organisational culture
11 © Capability.Co
Summary
Aligning Human Capability Standards with models like the Competing Values Framework
enables organisations to shape workforce capabilities that bridge the gap between
current mindsets and those needed to uphold cultural values that support strategic
purpose. This alignment ensures a balanced approach to capability development,
allowing organisations to meet immediate business needs while cultivating a future-ready,
adaptable workforce.
End Notes
1 Bowles, M. & Britt, K. (June 2023). Capability Frameworks: From Authoring to Buy-in, The Next Normal 4:2023, Capability.co.
2 Working Futures™ (2020). Human Capability Standards Reference Framework, The institute for Working Futures.
3 Quinn, R.E. & Rohrbaugh, J. (March 1983). A Spatial Model of Effectiveness Criteria: Towards a Competing Values Approach to
Organisational Analysis. Management Science, 29(3).
4 Mindtools (n.d.). The Competing Values Framework: Analyzing Corporate Culture
5 There are many alternatives available in the marketplace such as available from CultureAmp®, Human Synergistics® Culture
Capital Group®, and Denison Consulting.
6 Gallagher, M. (15 Nov. 2005). Competing Values Framework: An Analysis, University of Edinburgh.