Template 6.2.5: Cultural Web Exercise
Purpose
To develop an understanding of your service culture in order to increase readiness
for change. This exercise will assist in mapping and analysing key cultural factors.
It contains six inter-related elements that represent the artefacts (what we see), values
(what we attribute intrinsic worth to) and assumptions (beliefs) about your service.
This knowledge can be used to design and monitor ongoing developments, and to
plan how to work with concerns and resistance in the system.
How to use it?
Baseline measure: Identify through an engagement process the prevailing culture
of the team or service and subcultures – see Columns 1 and 2 below. Understanding
culture requires ‘being present’, listening to the lived experiences of staff and service
users and observing how the service actually operates in practice.
Repeat the exercise to describe the ‘desired culture’ – see Columns 3 and 4 as part of
the Visioning Exercise (see 3.3, 3.3.1). This will provide you with a focus for intervention
and assist in describing the vision for your service.
The Cultural Web diagram above identies six interrelated elements that help to make
up what Johnson, G (2017) calls the ‘paradigm’ – the pattern or model – of the work
environment. By analysing the factors in each, you can begin to see the bigger picture
of your culture: what is working, what isn’t working, and what needs to be changed.
Source: Johnson, G. (2017) [228]
People’s Needs Defining Change Health Services Change Guide
