presentsCHOICE
because culture is a choice.
A culture framework for public service leadership teams.
The challenge
Culture is a risk. Manage it like one.
Inspectorates, independent reviews and communities are all asking the same question: is the culture inside this service fit for the people it serves?
Fire and rescue
Health and care
Emergency servicesMaternity
201
babies might have survived with better care at one NHS trust, where the Ockenden review found staff afraid to escalate concerns and poor standards accepted as the cultural norm.
Hospitals
49.5%
of NHS staff trust their organisation to act on concerns they raise. Fewer than half.
Government
29%
of civil servants who reported bullying or harassment said appropriate action was taken.
Fire
12 of 17
fire services graded poorly on values and culture were also graded poorly on effectiveness. Culture and performance move together.
Policing
The biggest single barrier to fixing the force is the Met’s culture of defensiveness and denial.
The idea
Culture is not inherited.
It is chosen.
Every decision is cultural
Each meeting, policy, promotion and conversation reinforces either the culture you want or the one you have.
Values on walls don’t change behaviour
Choices do. CHOICE turns stated values into deliberate, visible leadership behaviour.
People own the culture. Leaders deliver it.
Culture belongs to everyone in the service, not to HR. Leaders deliver on it through governance, decisions and everyday behaviour.
The CHOICE framework
Six commitments that make culture a choice
Each commitment works three ways: as a diagnostic lens, as a leadership module and as a test for governance. Together they give a leadership team a shared language for the culture it wants, and a way of noticing when it starts to drift.
Developed with, and for, public service leadership teams.
- CCommunity
- HHumanity
- OOwnership
- IInclusive
- CContribution of All
- EEmotional Safety
Roadblocks and outcomes
From what gets in the way to what becomes possible
Roadblocks
After more than 13 years working in the public service sector, from local councils through to emergency services, we’ve identified the key behaviours and cultural roadblocks that stop a purpose-led culture gaining the traction it needs to deliver a service well. Our CHOICE programme tackles each roadblock in turn, with tools that help participants embody the value of new ways of working, whilst remaining psychologically safe.
The outcome
When culture is chosen rather than inherited, a service starts to move as one. Shared purpose replaces silos, and the human impact is weighed in every decision. People own their mistakes and learn from them, decisions are open to genuine challenge, and contribution is noticed in every role. Above all, people feel safe enough to speak up, and that is when a service starts to deliver at its best.
How it works
Three connected parts
01Diagnose
We map where culture is helping and where it is getting in the way, using your data and your people’s stories.
02Develop
An experiential leadership programme grounded in established psychological and behavioural science. Leaders work on their own live dynamics, together.
03Embed
Practical tools build the commitments into governance, decisions and everyday conversations, so the change lasts.
Built on the Senseia process: culture audit, leadership learning and executing the insight.
Culture supports governance
One lens. Every decision.
Board papers, policies and change programmes are tested against the six commitments before they are agreed. Culture stops being a side project and becomes part of how the service is run.
The people own the culture. Leaders deliver it through governance.
Culture is a choice. Make yours.
When the people own the culture and leaders deliver it through governance, services turn around. Start with a conversation about your leadership team and the roadblocks you are facing.
Make an enquiry
