An Analogy For Culture Change

The The term "culture" refers to the patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving in organizations.  It represents the unwritten rules that determine how people act.  Understanding your organization's culture is an important responsibility of senior leadership.

In early October, I had the chance to visit Cape Cod, MA.  While walking the beach, I noticed a number of rocks in the sand at the base of the surf.  The rocks were of different shapes, sizes, and colors.  The one thing that was consistent among the rocks was the smooth nature of their surface. These rocks reminded me of a motivational poster that I have hanging in my home office.  The poster reads,"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins... not through strength but through persistence."  Although the rocks are extremely hard and easily cut through the surf, the persistent and gently pressure of the surf has worn through the rough exterior and smoothed the surface. The smoothing of the rocks' surface through persistent, gentle pressure over time is analogous to the effort required to change the culture of an organization.

The self-sustaining nature of an organization's culture makes it difficult to change.  Culture is formed over many years and is reinforced each time a supporting behavior is repeated.  Culture often starts out as a reflection of senior leadership behavior, but can also evolve from predominant behavior of staff that is directly or indirectly supported by Management.  Culture can be compared to oxygen in the air we breathe.  It plays an important role in our ability to do things, but we generally don't think about it. However, change it and it becomes obvious that it exists. 

Management needs to determine if the behaviors defined by the organization's culture support the overarching goals they have established.  If not, then it is up to Management to change the culture.

As organizational leaders, we should first ask ourselves what behaviors and attitudes are necessary among our team in order to be successful at reaching our goals and fulfilling our Vision?  If the current behaviors and attitudes of our team do not reflect those that we deem as necessary, then it is up to us to change the culture to reflect those desired behaviors.  

How Do Leaders Go About Changing the Culture?

A change in culture should begin with the most senior members of the organization.  They need to effectively communicate the goals of the organization, and have a courageous and authentic conversation with staff about how the current culture will hinder the organization's ability to reach its goals and how the new culture will help.  Next, the leaders must model the new behaviors in a very real and authentic manner.  Through their own actions and by rewarding the right behaviors among staff, the rough and sharp exterior of the old culture will slowly wear away, leaving the smooth exterior of the new culture.  

It is important to remember that the culture won't change overnight.  Just like it takes time for the ocean surf to smooth the exterior of the rocks, it can take years to embed a new culture in an organization.  Factors such as how effective leaders are at making the case for the new culture, how committed they are to modeling the desired behaviors, and the degree to which employees recognize a sense of authenticity on behalf of Management will all impact how quickly the culture changes.

Identifying Your Organization's Culture

Culture is the foundation of any organization  The term "culture" is widely used as a way to describe an organization's internal environment.  I think of culture as the unwritten rules that determine how people act in an organization.  It is the self-sustaining actions, behaviors, and beliefs that determine how things are done.  If you have two organizations with the same product and market, that are of the same size and have the same resources, the difference between them is usually their culture.

As managers and organizational leaders, we must seek "alignment" between our organization's culture and its core values. We must also ensure that the behaviors, actions, and beliefs that comprise our culture also support the goals we have established for the organization.

The answers to the questions listed below can help you identify your organization's culture.  It is important to review your answers collectively and not in isolation.  There is no right or wrong answer to the questions.  What is important is that your answers are honest and true.

1. What typically happens when someone makes a mistake?  Are employees afraid to make mistakes?
2. What happens when a new employee is hired?  Is there a formal orientation?  What are new employees told in the orientation?
3. How are new employees trained?
4. Who makes the decisions in the organization?  Is it individuals or teams?  What type of input and/or feedback is requested?
5. Does the organization celebrate employee birthdays?  If so, how?
6. How do employees find out about the organization's goals and strategies?
7. How does Management communicate with employees? Is Management approachable?  Do they listen to employee ideas and suggestions?  Would you describe managers' behavior as "authentic"?
8. What happens when someone leaves the organization?  Are they just sent packing or are their contributions recognized and appreciated?  Does the organization conduct an exit interview?
9. How would you describe the way employees dress? Formal or informal?
10. What are employees attitudes toward customers?
11. What is your organization like when it comes to spending money? Are they cheap? Do they purchase the best quality? What type of things do they invest in? 
12. How does the organization go about implementing changes?  Do they spend a lot time planning, but then come up short with the implementation?  Do they announce new initiatives that ultimately end up fading away; or are new initiatives implemented, evaluated, and integrated into the organization? 
13. Do organizational departments have a "silo" mentality or do they have a systems-wide or enterprise-wide orientation?
14. What people in the organization have the most influence? What are the characteristics of these people?
15. Does the organization try to anticipate changes and the impact on the organization?  If so, do they plan accordingly and act proactively, or does the organization just react?
16. Are employees promoted from within the organization or hired from the outside?
17. In what ways are employees trained?  Webinars, in-person, mentoring, books or manuals, conferences, trade organizations?  How often?
18. How does the organization talk about employees after they leave?  Are they openly criticized or respected?
19. Do employees keep the work areas neat or organized or don't they care?
20. Is schedule flexibility given to employees for family events?
21. Are all employees treated the same? Are certain employees "untouchable" and are allowed to get away with things that other employees can't?
22. Do meetings start on-time and as scheduled?  Are they formal or laid back?
23. Do employees feel free to discuss their life out of work or is it a business-only environment?
24. Do managers spend most of their time in their offices or do they spend most of their time interacting with employees where the "work" gets done?
25. Is the workplace formal and bureaucratic or casual and laid back?
26. Is serving the customer a core value and the primary purpose of the organization or is it viewed as something the organization must do to make money?
27. Do employees show up at work early, late, or just on time?  How about managers?
28. Do employees leave at the end of their shift or do they stay late?  What about managers?
29. Are certain departments viewed as more important that others?  Or is each department viewed as a critical component of the value stream?
30. Does the organization actively support charity?  Do employees support and participate in the organization's philanthropic efforts?
31. Do managers greet and actively engage with employees or basically ignore them?
32. Do managers actively seek feedback or input from employees?  If so, is it acted upon?
33. Do employees feel comfortable communicating to Management or others when processes aren't being followed properly (e.g. nurse asking a surgeon to wash his/her hands if they didn't)
34. Do employees trust their leaders?  Do they trust each other?
35. How many levels up the organization are required for  hiring decisions?  Do co-workers participate in the interview process? 
36. Does the organization constantly recruit for potential employees or do they only look for an employee when a position is available?  What type of biases are introduced into the hiring decision?
37. Are the organization's facilities and vehicles organized and clean?
38. How does the organization communicate with employees, customers, and other stakeholders?
39. Do managers and other leaders share information on progress toward goals?  How do they celebrate accomplishments?
40. Do employees act differently when senior managers are around?  If so, how?

What other questions do you think we should be asking to identify an organization's culture?  Please share them with me.

Synergy Through Alignment

Synergy is a common buzzword you hear from organizational leaders and consultants, but what does it really mean to organizations?  Simply put, synergy is the exponential increase in output or value that occurs when resources (i.e human, physical, and financial) are all working together to accomplish common goals.   Synergy is a byproduct of  resource "alignment".

 

Throughout my career, I have always been frustrated when departments worked in "silos", meaning that leaders only focused on the performance of their department and didn't consider the impact of their decisions and practices on the organization's overall ability to service the customer.   The term for this behavior is "sub-optimization".  In my experience, silos evolve when organizational goals are set with individual departments in mind, and not from the perspective of how all of the departments work together, as a system or enterprise, to service customers.  I refer to this as having an enterprise-wide or system-wide orientation.

"Synergy through Alignment" begins at the top of the organization, where the Vision is created.  Leaders play the critical role of communicating the overall direction and goals of the organization to every member.  To do so effectively requires an understanding of the "value stream", or how the individual functions and processes work together to meet the needs of customers - that is, using an enterprise-wide or systems-wide approach.  Once each department and individual understands the role they play in adding value to the customer, then they can determine their role in helping the organization meets its overarching goals.  The result is departmental goals that work in support of, and not against, other departments in helping the organization meet its overarching goals.  This is the most basic form of alignment. 

In the image above, the triangle represents an organization.  The arrows represent the resources (i.e. employee, financial, and physical) available to help the organization meet its Vision.  With all the arrows pointed toward the Vision, the image becomes a visual representation of "synergy through alignment".  Most organizations, however, don't realize this ideal state.  For most organizations, things like poor communication, office politics, and external influences cause many of the arrows to be  directed away from the Vision, like below.

An Organization That is Out of Alignment

  A lot of factors can affect the ability of an organization to keep all of its resources aligned toward completing its Vision.  Perhaps the most important is the culture of the organization.  Culture refers to the self sustaining patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that determine how things get done.  These are typically unwritten rules about how people should act.  The goals and strategies must be supported by the culture.  If not, the arrows won't stay aligned.  For example, if one of the organization's goals is to implement a performance improvement model based on employee feedback, but the culture is one where employees are afraid to admit problems or make mistakes, then the organization will not receive the necessary feedback from employees to develop an effective performance improvement program.  The goal will not be achieved because the arrows representing employees will be misaligned.

 Other factors the will affect the ability of the organization's resources to be aligned are forces that are driving change within and outside of the organization.  Within the organization, things like disgruntled employees, changes in leadership, turf wars between departments, or the implementation of a new computer system can temporarily or permanently distract resources from their role in helping the organization meet it Vision.  Outside the organization, things such as what your competitors are doing or the state of economy can also cause the use of resources to be misaligned.

Effective management is the key to "synergy through alignment".  Managers must ensure that the culture of the organization supports the goals and strategies they develop.  If not, it is up the senior leaders to begin the process of changing the culture.  Managers must also monitor the environment within which the organization operates, and develop contingency plans to react to changes in the environment that could misalign resources.  For example, if the organization's goal is grow its retail sales and the strategy is to do so by opening up new stores, the organization must monitor the new store opening plans of its competitors.  It the organization ends up opening a store in an area where a competitor just opened a new store, the impact on sales growth would be less than if the organization's resource were used to open up the new store in a market where less competition existed.

The manager's role in support of its employees is most important.  Managers must make sure that each employee understand the value they, and their unit or department, plays in helping the organization meets its goals.  Managers must ensure that employees have the necessary support and training to be effective in their roles, and that compensation systems encourage behavior that results in employees acting in a manner that also supports the goals. 

Synergy through Alignment is easy to understand, but very difficult to achieve.  It requires effective communication, capable management, and an authentic collaboration between employees and managers.  Organizations that don't embrace this model will always be exposed to influences that will detract from the organization's ability to be successful.  Organizations that pursue this model of operation will achieve exponentially better results.  Imagine the power of everyone in your organization focusing all of their actions, everyday toward helping the organization achieve its Vision.