Pact 3 of 6 · Lived Behaviour

Culture Pact

Agenda PDF unavailable

The agreement about how we behave with each other — the behaviours we design intentionally rather than inherit by default.

Overview

Culture in a senior team is not the values poster. It is the worst behaviour the team is willing to tolerate, repeated. The Culture Pact asks whether the behaviours observed daily match the ones espoused.

Strong culture pacts are consciously designed. The team has chosen its behaviours, made them specific enough to observe, and holds each other to them — including the leader, whose behaviour sets the ceiling.

The practical test is simple: can each member name one behaviour to stop, one to start, and one to protect?

Signs of strength

•Espoused values and observed behaviour match
•Undermining behaviour is addressed quickly and proportionately
•The leader models the culture under pressure
•Members feel co-ownership of the culture, not compliance with it

Signs of strain

•Values language used ironically
•Long-tolerated behaviour everyone privately names
•Culture described as 'the way things are here'
•Leader exempt from the standards set for others

Questions worth asking

“What behaviour do we tolerate that we would not defend publicly?”
“What must we protect as we grow?”
“Where does the leader's behaviour set a different standard?”

Workshop agenda

Half day (3.5 hours)

This agenda is currently being updated and is not available to run or download. It's shown here for reference only.

Outcome: A short behavioural charter — stop, start, protect — with agreed signals for calling it.

0:00
Frame & data walk-through
Review Culture Pact scores; focus on the gap between espoused and observed behaviour.
0:25
Observed vs. espoused
Two columns on the wall: what we say we value, what a visitor would actually see. Populate honestly.
1:00
Stop / Start / Protect
Individually, then in trios, name one of each. Converge on the team's list.
1:30
Break
15 minutes.
1:45
The tolerated behaviour
Structured round: name one behaviour we tolerate and its cost. No defence permitted during the round.
2:20
Leader's commitment
The team leader responds publicly to what has been named and commits to specific changes.
2:50
Designing the signal
Agree how anyone calls a breach in the moment — words, tone, and expected response.
3:15
Charter & review
Write the charter in behavioural language. Agree a 90-day review.

Materials

Pact dashboard printout · Two-column wall chart · Charter template

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