Cultural Styles

One of the easiest ways to understanding and explain a culture is through narratives or stories. This approach is clearly seen in “Gods of Management” written by C Handy. Using narratives aids with explanation. Storytelling transforms abstract information into a structured journey, helps in enhancing comprehension, retention, and engagement.

Often when walking into an organisation a visitor develops an impression of how that company “feels”. The cultural styles identify that feeling in an easily understandable way.

The CdI has seven – statistically valid – stories that bring the organisation culture to life. These stories explain how an organisation’s culture actually functions. It identifies which of seven recognisable culture styles it most resembles. The reality is that cultures are not uniform and that is why a CdI report shows two styles for an organisation. The primary style mirrors the dominant pattern, while secondary style mirrors a pattern that reinforces, tempers, or complicates it.

The seven styles further offer a shared vocabulary for talking about decisions. They explain how people make decisions, how leaders guide others, and how communication and commitment operate from day to day. The names of the styles have also been chosen to act as a reflection of the underlying functioning.

The Seven Styles

Space Lab

A future-facing organisation that treats innovation as central to its identity. Ideas and possibilities drive conversation at every level, leadership is visionary and willing to back bold ventures, and communication stays open rather than confined to senior levels. The organisation places less emphasis on the present and more on what could exist next.

Empowered

An open, fast-moving organisation where communication flows freely across every level and department. Leadership stays accessible, engaging directly with staff rather than governing from a distance, and employees are trusted to choose their own way of working. That freedom sits alongside firm accountability and the organisation trades hierarchy for trust, and trust is repaid with speed, adaptability, and genuine ownership of outcomes.

Village

An organisation held together by voluntary commitment and a genuine sense of belonging. The organisation empowers people to pace themselves and choose their working style. Roles align with individual strengths. Leadership encourages rather than directs. The team welcomes challenges, and the culture feels more like a family than a conventional workplace.

Collegiate

A structured yet people-centred organisation in which discipline exists to support people rather than constrain them. Management is firm and accountable, and it gives employees real freedom to reach objectives in their own way. Interaction flows easily across levels of seniority, and a strong sense of camaraderie sits alongside clear expectations for delivering results.

Regiment

A tightly structured, procedure-driven organisation defined by clear hierarchy and meticulous planning. Policy and process determine how work is done, top-down communication persists, and the structure’s status holds real weight. This order can deliver consistency, but it also risks letting position and procedure matter more than the people carrying them out.

Disengaged

An organisation running on inertia rather than shared purpose. Employees have largely withdrawn, focusing on getting through the day rather than investing in ideas, relationships, or long-term plans. Management maintains distance, systems drive decisions over people, and the overall pattern indicates quiet self-protection rather than active conflict.

Isolation

A fragmented organisation in which employees work alone, avoid visibility, and stay largely disconnected from management, colleagues, and customers alike. Decision-making sits well above where most people operate and rarely accounts for how it affects them. Commitment persists — people continue to show up and deliver — but relationships and connection are consistently secondary to simply completing the task at hand.

How the Styles Relate

Across the seven styles, three — Village, Space Lab, and Empowered— form a mutually reinforcing cluster built on openness, trust, and a belief in people’s potential. Two others — Disengaged and Isolation — form a related cluster defined more by withdrawal and self-protection. Regiment and Collegiate stands apart from these groupings, sharing common ground around discipline, order and structure.