- Make sure that any changes you propose are in the best interest of the organization as a whole, not in the self-interest of your work group. Build sustainable capacity and infrastructure that benefits the entire organization instead of optimizing your own position and sub-optimizing overall organizational performance. Website design By BotEap.com
- Solve your own work group’s problems first and become an example of the change you are trying to achieve. Operate from a “no blame” philosophy that does not point fingers at others, but instead takes personal responsibility for the performance of your work group within the organizational context in which it is embedded. As Jim Collins describes, when there are issues and problems to solve, look at yourself in the mirror of personal responsibility. When praise and recognition have to be contributed, look out the window and give credit to those who made the change possible. Website design By BotEap.com
- Create your own organizational “space” and gain additional resources based on the value you add. Don’t hang around other managers’ areas or “lightly pick” the most visible high-leverage projects. Find a new area to develop or one that has been traditionally neglected by the organization and turn it into a high performing business. Strive to develop a new organizational capability that can be turned into revenue or an enhanced ability to achieve the organization’s purpose and goals. Website design By BotEap.com
- Align your workgroup vision with other workgroups, departments, and functional units by focusing on the things you have in common. While each work group may have a different role in the overall organization, their activities must be aligned to achieve a common purpose and overall organizational goals. Alignment of purpose and goals and a focus on what an organization has in common are the main differences between being a “group” of people and being a “team.” Website design By BotEap.com
- Communicate the advantages and disadvantages of actually achieving the change to the members of the working group. For example, if your goal is to increase productivity, this will require more time and energy from group members, and more resources may not always be immediately available until the work group demonstrates its increased productivity to senior managers. But positive change often brings increased visibility with senior management that can result in career advancement for those involved in the change. Website design By BotEap.com
- Manage “meaning” to people inside and outside your work group so that changes are interpreted through the lens of your work group’s vision. The purpose of culture (any culture) is to teach people how to “see” the world, so make sure your work group’s actions and interactions are properly explained and interpreted to senior managers and peers so it’s clear. How is your vision linked? with the overall purpose and goals of the organization. Remember that people tend to see exactly what they expect to see, so help shape those expectations for people inside and outside your work group. Website design By BotEap.com
- Only engage in constructive conflict with other work groups or managers, and only do this when it is necessary for the best interest of the overall organization. While constructive conflict can create synergy, creativity, innovation and improvement, the destructive Conflict that comes from criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and obstructionism displayed in meetings, emails, and other human interactions frustrates and undermines an organization’s ability to achieve its purpose and goals. Website design By BotEap.com
- Cultivate allies who support the change and build open coalitions to ensure the change is sustainable. Focus on winning the support of those who are skeptical of the change by involving them in the process or showing them how they achieve similar improvements in their work groups. If the change agent follows the first seven guidelines outlined above, then other managers at all organizational levels will begin to align to support the change and willingly throw their shoulders behind the wheel to increase its momentum and ensure its sustainability. Website design By BotEap.com
- Create a concrete, tangible way forward with credible next steps and a well-defined picture of the added value the change will bring to the organization as a whole. Having established the long-term vision for change and achieved some initial results that show change is possible, it is important to define what constitutes a “win” or how we will know when we have arrived. It is also important to map out the behaviors, skills, and process changes that will be needed to bring the change initiative to the finish line. Website design By BotEap.com
- Find and use measurements to reinforce the fact that the change is actually happening and also for speed up exchange. Use existing measures (or create new ones) to debunk old ways of looking at the level of work group performance and build quantitative evidence that change has occurred and will be sustainable. Identify exemplars (examples) that convincingly demonstrate the value the change is adding to your work group and the organization as a whole.
Ten guidelines for managers who want to create culture change
Website design By BotEap.comA common perception is that cultural change has to start at the very top of an organization. But studies and field experience have shown that cultural change can begin with the subculture of a work group where a manager a level or two below top management decides to become an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity. As other managers learn objective evidence of credible performance improvement, change is often horizontal across the organization through other work groups, then up through the line organization to senior managers. There are ten guidelines that managers should follow when undertaking this type of culture change.