A Different Look at Agility Through the Schneider Culture Model

Many agile transformations don’t deliver the expected results even when the methods are applied correctly. The most common reason is a clash between the new way of working and the organisation’s existing culture. William Schneider’s culture model offers a simple but powerful framework for seeing and talking about that mismatch.

What is the Schneider culture model?

In work published in the 1990s, William Schneider looks at organisational cultures along two axes:

• What does the organisation focus on? Concrete reality and the present (actuality), or possibilities and the future (possibility)?
• How are decisions made? With objective, analytical criteria independent of people (impersonal), or based on people and relationships (personal)?

These two axes give four core culture types.

Four culture types

Control culture

Focused on actuality and impersonal. Predictability, systems, order and hierarchy come first. Success means keeping control and reducing risk. Common in highly regulated industries such as aviation and banking.

Collaboration culture

Focused on actuality and personal. Teamwork, relationships and achieving together come first. Success is measured by how well teams work together and what they achieve together.

Competence culture

Focused on possibility and impersonal. Expertise, excellence and being the best come first. Success is measured by superior knowledge and skill. Common in technology and consulting firms.

Cultivation culture

Focused on possibility and personal. People growing, realising their potential and a sense of purpose come first. Success is measured by the development of people and the organisation.

Which culture is agility closest to?

According to the interpretation of agile coaches such as Michael Sahota, agile values overlap mostly with the collaboration and cultivation cultures: self-managing teams, individuals and interactions, experimentation and learning. Approaches that emphasise technical excellence, such as software craftsmanship, sit closer to the competence culture.

That’s why trying to apply agile methods as-is in an organisation dominated by a control culture often meets resistance: the idea of a self-managing team clashes with approval processes and hierarchy.

How to use the model in a transformation

• Get to know the current culture first. Use a short survey or workshop to find out which culture leaders and employees see the organisation as closest to. It’s not surprising for different units to have different cultures.
• Talk about the mismatch openly. Make contradictions visible, such as “we want to be agile, but every decision goes through three approvals”.
• Target behaviours, not culture. Culture can’t be changed directly, but behaviours such as delegation, measurement systems and meeting habits can. As behaviour changes, culture follows.
• Prefer methods that start from the current culture. Evolutionary approaches like Kanban, which say “start with what you do now”, create less resistance where the control culture is strong. See Moving to Kanban for more.

Conclusion

No culture type is “right” on its own; each has its strengths. What matters is knowing where your chosen way of working fits the culture and where it clashes, and designing the transformation accordingly.

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Related: Does building an agile culture matter?, Are organisational structures the enemy of agility?. To design your transformation around your culture, request a free assessment.