High Standards Pave the Way

October 7, 2014 by

Standards-Pave-Way-Culture-EngineIs your team’s work environment engaging and inspiring or dull and frustrating?

An engaging and inspiring environment is usually active and noisy. People are moving around, talking and working together to solve problems and deliver solutions. Team members are pleasant and happy.

A dull and frustrating environment is usually passive and quiet. Team members work independently, not cooperatively. Interactions between team members are often tense and short. Noise may come from unhappy people arguing.

Your work environment may fall somewhere between these two extremes. Do you pay attention to the your workplace culture?

If you’re like most leaders, probably not. Leaders typically pay more attention to products and services than they do to their team (or department or company) culture. Yet culture drives everything that happens in their organization – and yours – good or bad.

Culture by default isn’t a reliable way to craft workplace inspiration. Culture by design is.

Leaders must pay equal attention to performance and values. Both are required to create a productive, safe, and inspiring work environment for everyone.

Great (and effective and inspiring) bosses are intentional about their team’s culture.

They set high standards of performance as well as high standards for values – team citizenship – to ensure a healthy workplace.

They specify desired performance expectations in observable, tangible, and measurable terms. With clear performance standards communicated and agreed to, great bosses are able to hold people accountable for those performance standards.

They also specify desired values standards – in the form of observable, tangible, and measurable behaviors. With clear values standards communicated and agreed to – and modeled by leaders – great bosses are able to hold people accountable for demonstrating those behaviors in every interaction.

Creating and managing to behaviorally defined values is a proven avenue to an engaging and inspiring work environment. Yet most leaders have never been asked to manage values and behaviors before! Leaders are more experienced and more comfortable with managing performance expectations. They’re much less experienced managing values expectations.

What leaders need is a step-by-step guide to creating and managing to values standards. I present exactly this approach in my new book, The Culture Engine.

Would your team or department benefit from high performance standards and high values expectations? Learn more about creating an organizational constitution and managing to one in my new book, The Culture Engine. Get your free sample chapter at http://thecultureengine.com.

Please leave your comments and questions in the comments section.

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The Death of the Hero Leader

May 22, 2014 by

Leadership-Hero-LeaderThe old way of leadership is dying.  We can no longer wait to craft or discover the ONE leader who can create a culture of success. The new model requires a mindset of partnerships, not followers.  Leaders of today recognize that everything they do impacts the mindset of others AND they accept the responsibility to recognize this impact in order to choose their actions.  The intent of this mindset is to form partnerships for successful implementation and engagement on strategies, projects and initiatives.

Molly Harvey of Molly Harvey Global (UK) calls this new leader the Social Artist.

There are many adjectives to describe the Social Artist.  These include transparent, congruent and high integrity.  The challenge is never the description.  The challenge is in the behaviors to become a Social Artist.  What does a Social Artist DO?  How can you become a Social Artist?

In my twenty five years of work as a leadership development coach and consultant, it is clear to me that leaders need to move away from the “to do” list of leadership traits and competencies to a mindset of leadership.  That is, to BE a leader not DO leadership.  Following are three keys to being a Social Artist.

Be Present

Being present is the strongest leadership skill you can possess. You don’t always have to be right or be the wisest person in the world to be an effective leader, but being present will create the greatest amount of trust and respect. 

While researching my book, Leadership Energy: Unlocking the Secrets to Your Success, one of the survey participants summed up the “be present leader”, saying, “In a confident, almost charismatic and very friendly voice, my leader looks me in the eye and delivers compelling statements which tell me he genuinely cares about the business, the customer, and the team (me) in a balanced manner. He provides enough information to demonstrate thoughtful consideration, provides direction, asks what help I need, and makes time for me when I ask for 15 minutes to chat during which I always have his complete, undivided attention.”

So how can you be present when your organization, your projects, your customers/clients, your family, and your team all need so many things from you? Here are three practical tools you can use to bring things back into focus:

  1. Take charge of the speed dial: our natural tendency when we are juggling many things is to move faster. Leaders need to slow the speed dial for effective solutions.
  2. Turn down the volume: high speed and high anxiety turn up the volume on everything. Quiet your voice, quiet your mind, and turn down the volume.
  3. Move one step at a time: focus on what the next step is.

Be Clear

As leaders gain followers, the followers look to the leader to create roadmaps of where to head for success. For many new leaders, the creation of this road map can seem overwhelming.

The majority of leaders I work with are high-achievers. What motivates a high achiever?  Getting an “A” on every endeavor they undertake. Now you become the leader who needs to set the road map or vision for you team. There are no guaranteed A’s on this road map. Granted your organization has a vision and goals, but for most followers, the organization’s vision gets lost in the many demands they have.  Gallup organization’s Q12 Engagement Survey found that “the best workplaces give their employees a sense of purpose, help them feel they belong, and enable them to make a difference.” What does that mean for the vision you set for your team?

Leaders are often promoted to their leadership position based on hard work and results, not on creating vision and engagement for their team. As they move into these roles, they need to shift from being 80 percent technical expert to 80 percent people expert. That is a major challenge, so what do you do?

Being clear is not about adding complexity; being clear is about simplifying. Start by asking yourself three questions:

  1. What do I want for my team?
  2. What does my team bring to the organization?
  3. What do we want to achieve and celebrate as a team?

The answers do not lie in numbers and profits. Most employees don’t get out of bed each morning trying to hit a profit number.  Think beyond numbers and profits; think about the types of successes and the reasons you and your employees want to bring passion, focus, and results to their world of work.

Be Genuine

Above all else, you must be genuinely you. Don’t be a mini-someone else. You have to operate knowing that you have everything you need to be a leader. Can you polish a few things? Sure. Will you learn ways to become more effective? Absolutely, but the canvas that you work from is you. I rarely meet a leader who is 180 degrees off the mark in being a leader that others want to follow.

Here are three things to increase the level of genuine you’re bringing to the office:

  1. Be vulnerable; if you don’t know, admit it.
  2. Admit your mistakes and then make it right.
  3. Act with integrity. Integrity means to do the right thing even when no one is watching.

If you focus your leadership on being present, clear, and genuine, your leadership confidence, focus, and results will grow. As you grow, so will your team. Everyone wins!  It is the impact and responsibility of the Social Artist.  

Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Building a Foundation for Mentoring Success

May 21, 2014 by

Mentoring-Leadership-Coaching“I want to start a mentoring program.”  You may have said this.  You may have heard this.  You may have been tasked to lead this effort. Mentoring programs are quite popular within corporate circles these days – for good reason.  Effective mentoring links to improved employee productivity and retention.

In addition, mentoring programs are a key component of leadership development, succession and future organizational growth. You may think it is a simple task to get on the “mentoring bandwagon.”  And the mechanics of planning and implementing a program are easily executed thanks to an abundance of available best practice literature.  But, before you start with design, you might want to take a look at the foundation upon which your program will be built.

  • Culture:  Is your organization ready to take on this task?
  • Commitment:  Are all participants dedicated to follow the program through to closure?
  • Collaboration:  Is the stage set for open dialogue among all players?

Organizational Readiness:  Your Culture

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”  We often hear this Peter Drucker statement and nod our heads at the truth of it.  Mentoring programs succumb to culture as easily as any other organizational strategy or program. Mentoring is all about learning.  That is the premise behind the pairings, the objectives, and the measures. 

Successful mentoring programs come out of organizations that value development.  These organizations are characterized by having robust and differentiated programs for the entire employee populace. A development culture is easily identified by the actions of senior leadership and managers.  How much time is spent on developing direct reports and others?  If the answer is little to none, then expect the mentoring program to fall flat on its face.  As the percentage of time devoted to organizational development increases, so does the probability that the program will be a success.

Mentoring thrives in a culture of accountability.  Participation in a mentoring partnership is not a passive activity.  Mentors, protégés, program sponsors, and organizational managers have responsibilities to ensure successful outcomes.  Lack of preparation and responsiveness on any participant’s part leads the program down the ineffectiveness track.

Organizational Dedication:  Participant Commitment

Culture is the backdrop.  Commitment is the next step. When we think of mentor relationships, we visualize a mentor and a protégé.  When we think of formal mentoring programs, we also include a program manager.  However, effective mentoring program participation is much broader than this trio.  A successful outcome also depends on the commitment from the organization’s senior leadership and the organization’s managers. 

Effective mentoring is a TEAM activity. Successful mentoring programs are not executed in isolation.  So ask yourself:  Are the senior leaders on board – in words AND actions?  Is the downstream management on board?  These crucial voices of support prepare the program for success.

Organizational Practice: Collaboration

Informal mentoring partnerships may pop up anywhere.  But if a structured formal mentoring program is to succeed, attention must be paid to constructing a collaborative network. Collaboration begins before the initial kick-off meeting of the mentoring class.   Those who can contribute the most to the success of the mentoring program are the mentor’s and the protégé’s managers.

In the view of managers who have not been involved in the process, mentoring programs are part of a secret society – where the doors are locked and a “code word and secret knock” must be used to gain entrance.  Because they have not been included in the “reason why” and the path the partnership will take, these managers tend to make up their own (most likely negative) story. The mentor pairs will have established guidelines regarding their own communications.  Adding the manager into an open dialogue about the protégé’s objectives and progress positively impacts mentoring success. 

Managerial resistance is eliminated.  The manager becomes a team player supporting the success of the partnership. Culture + commitment + collaboration = a strong foundation for successful mentoring programs.  Come to think of it – aren’t these the requirements for success in any initiative?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Silos – If We All Don’’t Get There, No One Gets There!

February 5, 2014 by

silo-silos-leadership-management-Todd-NielsenSilos are Ugly! Some time ago I worked with an organization that offered telecommunication services (60% of revenue) as well as IT services (40% of revenue). The two service types were very complimentary to each other, and each had the potential to boost and feed revenues and profits on both sides of the company. Unfortunately, there was a big frustrating and annoying problem that caused contention, fighting of resources, hurt feelings, and lack of innovation. That problem was a big wall, which in the business world, we call… silos!

Silos can exist between individuals, teams, departments, offices, and divisions. It is frustrating to see the jockeying of power, political games, finger pointing, and contention set in and begin to rot the company from the inside out. I remember talking to an employee at this company and he told me that whenever his boss asks him to do something, he just shakes his head say’s “OK,” and then goes and does what he thinks should be done instead. Even within the teams there were silos of individuals.

There was another team that was in charge of projects. That team and the others were constantly at war with each other over resources. During projects that involved telecommunication and IT, the two sides often fought on architecture and other tangible resources that caused projects to go consistently sideways . They fought over marketing dollars, and other resources. Then after it was all said and done, poor customer satisfaction caused the pointing of fingers at each of the teams and then at the sales department for supposedly selling the project too low. It was a sad state of affairs. 

The idea of, “If We All Don’’t Get There, No One Gets There,” is meant to encapsulate the idea that a company is made of its parts, all the way down to the individuals, and the entities in the organization that the individuals belong to. One department or team, rarely can be successful on its own. They require tangible (People, reports, etc.) and intangible (Time, collaboration, etc.) resources from other areas of the company.

Destroying Silos

For these reasons, silo destroying should be a super power that all leaders strive to master. To overcome this problem at this company I walked the entire organization through a workshop and series of steps as defined below. These are not end-all steps and depend in some respects on the maturity of the organization and depth of the problem:

  1. Define The Core Purpose – I know this looks and sounds like a mission statement, and it could be, depending on the situation, although it can take more than one form. The idea was that people need to unite under ONE core purpose. Most mission statements are long and boring and full of mind numbing language. A good one is short and inspiring. The same is true for a mission statement, manifesto, or whatever else you call your core purpose. Once we defined this core purpose, people began to see that their “world,” in their team or department, was actually pretty small compared to the encompassing purpose of the entire organization.
  2. Define The  Core Objective – Now that you know why you exist, what your core purpose is as an organization – people need to know where they are going. It’s important to have a unifying point that everyone is striving to achieve. Not three points, one point. This also needs to inspire people so that they realize that they will never live to see that day of achievement unless their activities promote collaboration from other areas in the company. They can’t get there on their own.
  3. Align Behaviors and Goals – This is usually a very complicated process, one in which I have met few that are skilled in. We setup short-term objectives and goals and aligned the behaviors and actions of everyone in the company with that core objective. I am simplifying this somewhat, but it brought down the inspiring purpose and objective down to each person’s everyday level and helped them see that their work effects the whole organization.
  4. Track Like Crazy – Goals and behavior have to be managed through. We tracked everything that we were trying to achieve, and were quick about making course corrections when we got off the course towards our core objective.
  5. Communicate Until It Is Annoying – Uncertainty was prevalent and to prevent a mass exodus and decline in morale, we met often, and communicated often. People just want to know what is going on and want to feel some security.
  6. Create a Culture of Learning – This seems a little off topic from the others. The idea is that now that you have people’s behavior aligned with the core objective, now is the time to feed them with knowledge that will help unite them, and foster innovation. When everyone is learning it changes and catapults the idea generation in a company. This was done through reading of books, training sessions, employee taught training, and other methods. Little spurs innovation like a bunch of people learning new things that make them more knowledgeable and able to perform their jobs.

Silos can be stressful, but by adapting the philosophy of, “If We All Don’’t Get There, No One Gets There!” and implementing these 6 steps, a leader can push through this and get the organization in sync with each other. Of course there is a lot of messy work along the way, but together you will be able to get through it much more easily.

Please share your thoughts on destroying silos in the comments section.

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Thermostats and Thermometers – Effective Leadership Changes the Climate

September 23, 2013 by

Thermostats-and-Thermometers-Effective-Leadership-Change-the-Climate-Todd-NielsenOften paraphrased as “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Mohandas Gandhi actually wrote:“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” (Vol. 13, Ch. 153, page 241)

Put another way, we might say that leadership is concerned not with being a thermometer, but with being a thermostat. Our primary interest is not just reporting the temperature – but in exerting influence and encouragement in order to change the temperature.

Just as a thermostat must have an accurate thermometer, a leader must be able to honestly assess the current state of the organization in order to make corrections to the environment. However like a thermostat, a leader must also outline the steps necessary to change the climate of the organization toward the preferred future.

As leaders, it’s important that our own attitudes, actions, and words are consistent with this preferred vision of the future. Even though the preferred future is not yet reality, we must live as though it is coming true day by day. As we do this, team members begin to catch the vision, and it not only guides our future – but the present as well. Rarely does this happen all at once, and the wise leader learns to celebrate each baby step toward the goal.

Consequently, change within an organization begins at the top. A leader must not only see the current state of the organization, but have the vision to see the desired future. With that vision in mind, the leader executes the steps necessary to change the culture, and begins to communicate expectations to the team members.

A leader must not only see the current state of the organization, but have the vision to see the desired future. ~ Tweet this!

Instead of merely mirroring the status quo, or getting caught up in the negative aspects of the environment, wise leaders take to heart those words of Gandhi, that by changing oneself – we thereby change the attitudes of the world around us.

What are some of the ways you have seen a leader move from being a thermometer to being a thermostat? What are some of the steps you take toward changing the culture of your organization?

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Want Better Employee Engagement? Change may be the Answer.

March 26, 2013 by

Employee-Engagement-William-PowellUnless you have been sleeping under a rock for the past 10 years or so, employee engagement has quickly taken front and center. Its influence on bottom line numbers has been researched extensively and CEOs and other organizational leaders are sitting up and taking notice. According to a Boston Consulting Group report, companies that focus on being “People” Companies have “outperformed the market average in eight out of ten years“. In 2011, that difference was 99 percentage points in favor of “People” Companies. What’s a People Company? One that is committed to investing in the development of people as a means to enjoy better economic performance.

Employee engagement has to meet organizational goals and still add value to the personal and professional goals of the individual. The moment this balance is skewed in favor of one party over another, they both lose. If you’re not up to scratch on your engagement efforts and feel like you’re trying to sort out how to begin eating this elephant, take heart. You can utilize something that may already be on your radar to help.

There is little in the life of a business that captures its attention more than significant change. A laser-like focus begins to develop and people are at least expecting something new as a means to navigate the yet unfamiliar territory change tends to bring in its wake. Change provides an opportunity for questions, the openness to communicate uncertainty and the need to become more human with others in your organization.

Questions. Open communication. Human vulnerability. All key components to good engagement. Change also gives you enough latitude to revisit your values and cultural norms. Change that’s going to come anyway may be the best excuse to get off your duff and get cracking on improving your engagement levels and work towards becoming one of those mysteriously profitable “People” Companies.

Questions. Open communication. Human vulnerability. All key components to good engagement.”~William Powell Tweet this

Here are a few tips to help make change a great catalyst for improving your engagement levels:

  1. Critique your values – Will your current values support the change AND facilitate engagement? Be true to your organizational DNA, but make sure the language around your values has adequate purpose to communicate effectively enough to increase engagement. It has to speak to individual – as well as organizational – needs, desires and goals.
  2. Re-visit your mission statement – I’ve seen many organizations spend so much time crafting language around values and engagement and cultural refinement then not even touch their mission statement. Often times, this can lead to a seriously mixed message and actually decrease engagement. It’s tough to engage in something that is confusing or contradictory.
  3. Communicate alignment – As you reinforce the ranks to be prepared for change, take that opportunity to connect their roles to the vision and values and how that will make the change less painful. When people know HOW they are contributing to the success of something bigger than themselves, engagement happens much more easily.
  4. Challenge leadership – Don’t let your leaders sit in the corner and chew their nails while they wait to get run over by the change train. Completely uncool and unfruitful. Rally them around the benefits of navigating the change. How will the change develop them as a team? As leaders? What will be the individual win and the organizational win? Have them be active in the process and the communication of the benefits of it. This will drive engagement.
  5. Get your hands dirty – Find out where people feel overwhelmed and ask how you can help make it less ominous. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own engagement, but leadership is responsible for creating an atmosphere that facilitates that ownership. Provide an opportunity for people to communicate their anxieties and perceptions of the situation. Simple dialogue can do wonders for engagement.
  6. Include others – There needs to be a plan of action to effectively navigate the change. People doing the job probably have some great insight into how best to make it more effective and productive. You hired adults, so instead of being a babysitter with a manager title, listen to what they have to say. The more influence you can give them, the more effort they will put into implementing the solution they helped develop.

Change doesn’t have to be a four-letter word. It can be the biggest blessing your organization can receive if positioned properly. Imagine coming out on the other side of change stronger and more engaged, instead of beat up and only having survived the process. It’s time to make a difference. What will you do?

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Culture trumps Strategy in Business Success

March 11, 2013 by

Strategy-in-Business-Success-Heidi-Alexandra-PollardEvery business has a culture – some are inspiring and healthy, others are crippling and toxic. The level of an organization efficiency and wellness is a direct reflection of its culture.

Traditional corporate cultures are no longer adequate to succeed in the new world of business. Cultures that originated in the era of the industrial revolution are now obsolete precisely because they discourage learning, change and innovation.

A huge demand exists for a new type of culture in our organizations today in order to become productive, profitable and sustainable well into the future.

Why culture is critical

Workplace wellness isn’t just a factor of the employees fitness or BMI ratings, it is particularly characterized by how motivated, inspired and engaged the workforce are to do great work. Key indicators of healthy workplaces are the presence of creativity and innovation and an energy of possibility – which all result in a positive, sustainable culture.

Unhealthy cultures tend to devalue creativity, stifle innovation and leave their workers feeling miserable and frustrated, stuck in the rut of the daily grind and stressed by the demands of productivity they no longer have the energy to face. Managers tend to create these cultures by discouraging new ideas, frowning on change and stymieing enthusiasm. The result, major disengagement that sucks the life out of the organization and its people.

The best culture is a UQ culture       

While understanding and managing culture is fundamental to success, for many organizations, the idea of going down the road of a ‘cultural change’ initiative is too daunting. It needn’t be. It is possible to convert low-engagement teams and cultures into engaged, high-performance UQ Cultures with some intent and a slight shift focus.

In UQ (Uniqueness Quotient) Cultures there is a subtle shift to WHO people are rather than WHAT they do. That is, WHO they are is more important than WHAT they do. A strong UQ culture shapes how employees perform and gives them a strong sense of purpose.

What is a UQ culture?  It’s one that is powered by an inner force, it’s who they are and why they do what they do, it’s one that has a unique, competitive edge. In today’s crowded marketplace organizations need to be able to stand out as Unique and different from their competition with a unique brand. A strong UQ culture is the key to setting a business apart from its competition and ultimately attracting and retaining high quality employees to grow with the organization.

With companies large and small competing for the same global talent pool, a UQ Culture will set them apart and deliver tangible, measurable benefits to any business.

Micro-managers Kill Culture

Micro-managers or Container Managers are those managers who find it hard to let go of the reins, to trust the team and get out of the way. In some ways, this is counter-intuitive and atypical of traditional role models and therefore understandable, however in high performing UQ Cultures there is always more macro managing than there is micro-management.

Container Managers are typically good at doing what has to be done. They are good at dealing with facts and not letting their emotions or other people’s emotions get in the way of making a decision. They are great at developing procedures, implementing plans, and no-one can do the job as good as they can. However, their tendency to hold onto decision-making and undertake jobs that could be delegated is not conducive to the creation of a UQ culture full of motivated, inspired, and engaged staff.

Container managers are typically responsible for the bottleneck in organizations, where innovation is stymied and ideas are shelved. They may be producing revenue and results however they rarely create a leadership pipeline, are reliant on the command and control approach and can ill-afford time off as their teams become co-dependent. This approach may have worked in 1965 but it will not allow a company to survive in 2020.

The New Leadership Alternative

One way for organizations to begin to shape and construct a more positive and productive UQ culture is to start with its managers and leaders – importantly with those in linchpin positions – in middle management.

In their book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown discuss how great leaders extract at least two times more capability from their people than poor leaders.

A UQ culture is one that does just that by turning managers into Expander Leaders who live by the motto that you have to give power to empower.

Expander Leaders value inclusiveness and participation, they hand over the decision-making process, and let their employees govern themselves. Expander Leaders deal with the facts, but also consider how it impacts people. They listen to their employees, realize their strengths, tap into their potential, and include them in the growth of business.

Expander leaders create healthy relationships, a caring environment and an openness to trying new things which brings out best in their team. By appreciating others, engaging in purposeful conversations and helping their people to find work they love to do, they create driven, loyal employees who are engaged and energized, and want to make a valuable contribution to the organization and go the extra mile.

Essentially, it takes an attitude of figuring out how best to serve the teams, rather than asking the teams to best serve you. ~Heidi Alexandra Pollard Tweet this!

Expander leaders create UQ Cultures by:

  • Telling their people WHAT needs to be done and WHY but letting them figure out HOW
  • Not shooting them down for any crazy ideas, instead COACHING them to find ways to improve or refine their ideas
  • Treating their people as human BEINGS not DOINGS and getting to know their Uniqueness and what makes them tick
  • Not only TELLING them what to do all the time, instead ASKING them how they envision the future and how they would create a more successful, sustainable company.
  • Encouraging rebellion, creativity and risk-taking
  • Recognizing and rewarding achievement, progress and innovative behaviors

Do you consider yourself an Expander Leader? In what way have you contributed to your team? Share your thoughts below.

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Patient Centered Healthcare: Conditioning Your Culture To Go the Distance

March 9, 2013 by

Conditioning-Your-Culture-To-Go-the-Distance-leadership-Susan-ThornWe are now knee-deep and headlong into Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act. The Main Event is set, at least for now, on January 1st, 2014. This is when purportedly all Americans will have purchased their tickets to seek admission to the insured affordable healthcare match. Healthcare organizations, doctors’ offices, and community clinics will begin to see and treat a population of folks that has historically not had access to insurance, and they come sicker than we  have seen before. Our operation, fiscal, and quality outcomes resources will be challenged like never before. If your fight card does not include a pound for pound approach to strategy and culture, get ready for a TKO! In this time of focused patient centered care delivery models and innovative transformational approaches to healthcare, there is a real barn burner about to begin.

Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. If that’s the case, where then do we put our efforts? Strategy alone will not be enough. If healthcare organizations expect to come out the winner in the next decade, they will need to condition themselves to go the distance in both culture and strategy. As we begin to see a population that has not had access to routine healthcare for many years, or ever, the strength of our strategy and culture will be put to the test.

Operationally our strategies need to include a focus on culture as it relates to leadership excellence, the empowerment of our workforce, consistency in the delivery of quality service, and creative innovation. Walt Disney did a great job of this. Walt effectively demonstrated with great heart and passion that the actions of one leader, multiplied be the actions of many, can re-shape a culture and an organization. Operationally we need to invest in our leaders, empower them, and hold them accountable to creating a healthy and conditioned workforce that has been well equipped to meet the challenging needs of the populations we’re tasked to serve. Operationally we need to invite every person in our organization that has anything to do with patient care to take part in finding innovative ways to do things better and leaner.

One often missed leadership strategy in creating great operational outcomes is by inviting your customer into the ring. Who are your customers? Remember, everyone is your customer when it comes to operations. Anyone that has anything to do in your organization is a customer. This includes your management team, billers, coders, housekeepers, those that answer the phone, and the patient! Everyone is your customer. Your entire team of customers should be given the title of Personal Performance Partners. Invest in them as a strategy and the organizational  culture will win in every round.

Everyone is your customer.” – Susan Thorn Tweet this!

What about the organizational level of fiscal fitness? The promise of more in the way of budget cuts and payment denials has the fight purse getting smaller and smaller. As the purse gets smaller, our number one strategy needs to include a fully engaged culture. Organizations that look at their bottom line without understanding the impact of culture on it will suffer. Culture is like the wind, it is invisible to the eye, but felt by all. Culture is built by the values expressed through its leadership. If you want to assure that you will be at your ideal level of fiscal fitness then your battle cry needs to be “Culture is our bottom line”.

What about outcomes? We are now being held to a new level of accountability when it comes to creating favorable healthcare outcomes for the populations we serve. If we don’t do it well, we are as good as a white-collar boxer, we don’t get paid! As a healthcare leader and consumer I have seen both sides. Quality in outcomes with the resources availed to us will take new and innovative approaches if we expect to go the distance. We are already seeing hospitals partnering with community clinics to prevent hospital remissions. Healthcare organizations are beginning to move toward a case management model approach for the high-end users of our healthcare systems. Population based case management for our most vulnerable populations’ results in a unanimous decision in adding to the way we can all deliver better and leaner quality in healthcare.

So where does your organization weigh in on culture and strategy? If your strategy and culture don’t touch knuckles before the opening round, somebody is going to get sucker-punched. Make cultural competency your organizations biggest innovative strategy to win in healthcare!

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Culture Inhales Strategy for Breakfast… Then Spits it Out!

March 7, 2013 by

Culture-Strategy-leadership-breakfast-Joan-de-winnePeter Drucker, often considered the inventor and  father of modern management stated, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This saying explains why many people in a formal leadership position are struggling to obtain the results they are looking for. It also explains why so many change programs fail, even when they are supported by a clear and compelling vision.

To realize a vision and obtain desired results, we need to develop certain strategies, objectives, and processes. This is the part most managers are very good at. What is often forgotten, however, is that other road to be followed. Indeed, there’s also the culture of the company, the organization, the division or the team to take into account. Culture is defined by the common values, the individual behavior, and the attitude of the people working in the organization. This is where managers often fail – perhaps because they’re simply unaware of the cultural aspect’s importance, perhaps because they don’t feel comfortable with it or because they don’t have a proper road-map at their disposal.

I’d like to suggest to you a clear road-map, based on 3 simple principles: come out of your office, tell stories and focus on behavior.

First Principle: Management by Wandering Around

‘My door is always open. Whenever you feel the need to address any issue, feel free to come talk to me.’  This is what managers very often enjoin on their employees. Just as often, though, they find themselves surprised that when problems do arise, causing friction on the work-floor or even financial loss, no-one came to them beforehand. Many managers advocate the ‘open door policy’ but they too often see it as a one-way communication. They forget what it’s all about: when the door is always open, people can come in and talk to you, indeed, but you can go out and talk to your employees and team members yourself just as well! Don’t be an “undercover boss”.

Douglas R. Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup Company and author of the book ‘TouchPoints’, talks about how he implemented this very principle in his own company in an interview with Jon Katzenbach, leadership expert and Senior Partner at Booz & Company.

Second Principle: Corporate Storytelling

Storytelling is a very powerful tool to influence an organization’s culture and its employees’ behavior.

Eric Van Zele, CEO of Barco and elected ‘Manager of the Year 2012’ in Belgium, swears by the storytelling principle. “I am a conceptual  with a synthetic mind. Talking to everyone around me, provides me with the answers our organization needs. It’s not that difficult, really – you just need to listen. Focusing on the essentials, I then build up a good story and communicate it. The key to  a good story is understandability – everyone should understand your story, be it a Chinese worker, an American engineer or a Belgian HR person “.

The basics of storytelling are summarized very nicely by Sigrid Van Iersel, a Dutch expert in this field:

  1. The wish: Almost all stories begin with a dream, an ambition or a deep desire to put the story in motion.
  2. The obstacle: The main character takes action but is confronted with a barrier, an obstacle.
  3. The solution: In the end, a solution is found  and the obstacle is overcome.
  4. The result: And so ….  (Fill in what the result of this solution means for the organization, the team or the employees.)

Not all stories have a permanent solution or a crystal clear happy ending. The ‘result’ may also be  an  insight gained.

Third Principle: Focus on behavior and attitude

Douglas R. Conant  also asserts that “Behavior matters”.  Dick Brown, former CEO of Electronic Data Systems Corporation once said: “A company’s culture is really the behavior of its people… leaders get the behavior they tolerate.”

You may find changing someone’s behavior a harsh job – just think of all the times you already tried it with your children, partner, employees, or colleagues. Perhaps, though, you were unsuccessful only because your approach was rather clumsy.

The simple four-step method  outlined below will help you putting this third principle into practice.

Step 1: determine very precisely which kinds of behavior contribute to the realization of your
company’s vision. Do so by translating your company’s values ​into clearly defined behaviors.

Step 2: define which kinds of behavior are counterproductive and unacceptable.

Step 3: set a good example by complying with the defined rules of conduct yourself.

Step 4: consistently reward positive behavior and immediately address unacceptable behavior.

 A company’s culture is really the behavior of its people… leaders get the behavior they tolerate.” ~Dick Brown Tweet this

Try it out these three basic principles. You’ll be amazed at how they will contribute to developing the desired organizational culture your reaching for.

What other methods do you use to build a better culture in your organization? Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts and experience.

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Chris Edmonds – Driving Results Through Culture

October 2, 2012 by
I met Chris at an author marketing event in San Francisco, put on by Berrett-Koehler. We sat down next to each other and looked at one another and I think simultaneously raised our eyebrows at each other, and said, “Hey I know you.” We had interacted on Twitter but had not taken it any farther. I enjoy Chris’s enthusiasm, energy, and sense of humor. He is the one to blame for putting the podcasting idea in my head, and for helping me understand some of the ins-and-outs of it. Thanks Chris!
Name:
 S. Chris Edmonds
 Company/ Blog Name:
 Driving Results Through Culture
Website: 
Click Here
 Home:
Conifer, CO (USA) 

BIO:

S. Chris Edmonds is a corporate culture expert, executive coach, speaker, and facilitator. He helps leaders create high performance, values-aligned teams and organizations. Thousands of followers look forward to his blog articles and the quotes that he shares on his blog; as well as on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook each day. In his free time, Chris is a working musician with Graystone Records recording artist Jones & Raine in Denver, CO, USA.

Randomness from Chris:

  • Mission/purpose: – To help leaders passionately create & maintain high performance, values-aligned teams.
  • Passion: – Values, people, culture, & music
  • Claim to Fame: – I’m a working musician on the side with Graystone Records recording artist Jones & Raine (http://chris-edmonds-music.com)

Links to Connect With Chris:

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