HOW WE DO THINGS ROUND HERE!

I see productivity is down again and to address this we need to look at the culture of organisations, businesses, schools, colleges and universities. It is something I have wrestled with all my working life but how do you move on from saying the words to actually making the cultural change? We have some brilliant organisational development plans, so many briefing sessions for staff, so much training and development, we invest so much in our people. However, for some strange reason, it hasn't changed the way we do things around here! We need to create passionate organisations where learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability drive performance and I think the problem is that our focus too often is on management and not leadership!

Culture is 'how we do things around here' and divides into three aspects that are inextricably linked:

• Assumptions: beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings.
• Values: goals, strategies and philosophies.
• Systems: visible, day-to-day organisational structures and processes.

Any organisation, in pursuit of excellence, needs to carefully consider the factors that shape culture, the characteristics of culture and the impact of culture.

1. Shaping Culture

• individuals’ actions
• vision, purpose and strategy
• structure
• performance measures
• people practices
• competitive context.

2. Characteristics of culture

• philosophy, values and beliefs
• symbols
• norms
• climate.

3. Impacting on culture

• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: communicate passionately and personally to ensure that everyone understands the new cultural values and how they are aligned to the organisation’s strategic direction.
• Organise: develop interactive events through where everyone can engage directly with the substance of the cultural change and understand how their role in this will support the organisation’s future success
• Lead: establish a leadership programme where everyone can measure their actions and behaviours against those expected in the new culture.
• Provide Feedback: change reward and performance measurement systems to encourage the demonstration of new shared values.
• Manage: revise management processes so that recruitment, induction, development and evaluation practices incorporate the new shared values.
• Create Beautiful Systems: adjust systems, processes and procedures to reinforce the new culture.