Deriving a company-wide behavioral model from your strategy
Does your strategy call for greater customer proximity, faster decisions or stronger collaboration, but your existing values and leadership guidelines do not translate these priorities into concrete behaviors? We work with you to develop a company-wide behavioral model that turns strategic priorities into observable expectations for day-to-day work.
The model is designed to remain clear and manageable while connecting to the processes in which behavior is discussed and developed, such as leadership, feedback and performance management.
When does a revision make sense?
A new or revised behavioral model is particularly relevant when:
- A new strategy calls for different behaviors.
- The existing model is too extensive or too general.
- Leaders and employees interpret expectations differently.
- A culture or transformation program requires specific behavioral changes.
- Performance, feedback or development processes are not aligned with the desired behaviors.
A behavioral model alone does not change culture. It provides shared direction that becomes effective only through leadership behavior, supporting processes and consistent application in day-to-day work.
Why do many existing behavioral models fail in practice?
Behavioral models often remain too general when they are not clearly derived from strategic priorities and concrete situations in which they will be applied. Too many or overlapping dimensions can also make them difficult to navigate. The right structure and number of dimensions depend on the strategy, use cases and target groups. What matters is that expectations are expressed as observable behaviors and can be used in relevant leadership and HR processes.
When is undconsorten the right partner?
Our approach is particularly well suited to companies that want to use a behavioral model not as a communication exercise, but as a lever for strategy execution and cultural development—for example, when:
- A new corporate strategy requires different approaches to leadership, collaboration or decision-making.
- An existing values or competency model needs to be simplified, refined or re-embedded.
- HR and leadership need a shared reference model aligned with the strategy.
- An international organization needs to create company-wide direction while accounting for regional perspectives.
- A cultural transformation is intended to have a concrete impact on leadership, feedback and performance management.
In an initial conversation, we explore your starting point, vision, relevant stakeholders and intended applications. This provides a basis for assessing whether a revision of the existing model is sufficient or whether developing a new one makes more sense.
What sets the undconsorten approach apart?
We translate strategic priorities into behaviors that can be recognized and discussed in day-to-day work. To do this, we bring together the perspective of company leadership and the experience of the leaders and employees who will ultimately use the model. Through co-production, we create not a generic list of values, but a practical framework with concrete steps for application and embedding.
The process consists of three sequential phases:
1. Benchmarking & goal-setting:
Benchmark best practices at comparable companies and derive the model’s guiding principles from strategic goals (e.g., innovation capability, time-to-market, customer proximity and global responsibility).
2. Iterative design workshops
A series of workshops with HR leaders and a responsible C-level sponsor to identify the dimensions and develop concrete behavioral anchors. Deliberately separating content from layout has proven effective: visual design begins only once the dimensions have been defined.
3. Stakeholder-Sounding
Structured interviews with key leaders - typically the CEO, heads of business areas and operational leaders from different regions - to test and refine the model before final approval.
This approach ensures that the model is both strategically grounded and accepted within the organization before it is incorporated into communication and performance management.
What does the development process produce?
Depending on your starting point, the outcome may include:
A clear connection between strategic priorities and the behaviors needed to deliver on them
A small number of distinct dimensions with concrete, observable behavioral anchors
A shared description of what the expectations mean for different roles or contexts
A decision on which leadership, feedback and HR processes will use the model
A roadmap for communication, rollout and subsequent review
We clarify the content and intended application before beginning the visual design. This ensures the model is not only presented clearly, but also designed for practical use from the outset.
How do you create a model that works across the organization?
We connect the strategic perspective with the experience of the people who will ultimately use the model. At the outset, we clarify which leaders and functions will help shape it, who will make decisions about its content and how regional or functional differences will be considered.
Early feedback from key leaders helps identify unclear terms and impractical expectations before the model is finalized. Participation serves to improve the design—not to secure retrospective approval for an already completed model.
Anwendungsszenarien: Entwicklung unternehmensweiter Verhaltensmodelle
Scenario 1: Technology company facing global competitive pressure
Starting point: A global technology or industrial company with tens of thousands of employees is under strategic pressure as part of a broader cultural transformation. Faster decisions, greater innovation and a stronger customer focus are required. Its existing behavioral model is too complex, too generic and has no clear connection to strategic goals.
Approach: The approach connects strategic priorities with clearly articulated, observable behavioral anchors. Changes from the existing model and their potential impact on approval time and application should be assessed using project-specific data.
Impact: Projects of this kind typically reduce model complexity by 30–50% compared with previous models, while making expectations more concrete through clearly defined behavioral anchors. Comparable organizations report that early involvement of senior leaders typically shortens the time to executive board approval considerably—even in organizations known for a hesitant decision-making culture.
Scenario 2: Industrial company with decentralized leadership
Starting point: A manufacturing company with several operating divisions and geographically dispersed leadership needs a shared behavioral model that works across the company despite differing local cultures. Previous attempts to impose a model top-down failed because of a lack of local acceptance.
Approach: Before work on the content begins, the intended applications are defined—for example, providing guidance to employees and integrating the model into performance management. Operational leaders from different regions are then involved through structured interviews.
Impact: This allows regional perspectives to inform the design early on. Whether their involvement increases acceptance and use of the model should be assessed after rollout using appropriate feedback.
What do both scenarios have in common?
Both scenarios point to a consistent principle: behavioral models guide action effectively only when they are derived from concrete applications and strategic goals rather than expressed in abstract terms - and when key stakeholders contribute to the design instead of merely approving it after the fact. This approach - use-case-driven design, a clear separation of content and layout, and early feedback from leaders - reduces friction during approval and increases the likelihood that the model will be embedded in day-to-day work.
Infineon case study
In the Infineon project, strategic priorities such as innovation, time-to-market and customer collaboration were translated into five company-specific behavioral dimensions. The Infineon case study, “A behavioral model as the anchor for a global transformation”, describes the development process, behavioral anchors and implementation in detail.
How can you identify the right consulting partner to develop a behavioral model?
Developing a company-wide behavioral model is particularly critical when it forms part of a cultural transformation, a strategic realignment or the evolution of the leadership system. When selecting a consulting partner, experience with values or competency models alone is therefore not enough.
Pay particular attention to whether the partner can:
- Translate strategic priorities into concrete, observable behaviors.
- Work effectively with company leadership, HR and operational leaders.
- Connect the model to relevant leadership, feedback and performance processes from the outset.
- Design participation in a way that builds acceptance without sacrificing clarity.
- Support implementation through to practical adoption, rather than ending the engagement when a document is approved.
undconsorten combines strategic organizational consulting with the practical design of leadership and collaboration. We work in co-production with relevant stakeholders and tailor the approach to the situations in which the behavioral model will need to provide guidance.
Next step: clarifying the use case and how the model will be embedded
In the initial conversation, we explore together which strategic change the model should support, which existing guidelines can still be used, and in which leadership or HR processes the model should have an impact. This shows whether a revision is sufficient or whether developing a new model makes more sense.
