On Tue, 18 Jun 1996 John Woods wrote -
> Chris Michel said of my post:
>
> >This is a very interesting paradox. I agree that the issue is symptomatic
> >and system related. We can not or should not attempt to change people. But
> >we must at least create an environment where people can be receptive to
> >change or, how are we going to change the culture? How will the
> >organization reach a state where "the culture has really changed?"
>snip>
> Chris poses the question how are we going to change the culture unless we
> have an environment where people are receptive to change? My answer would
> be that top management has a lot of influence on the nature of that
> environment or culture. Employees adapt to the environment created by top
> management. In creating a culture based on the idea that the organization
> is a system, this will mean managers will want to facilitate more
> cooperation among people, focus on process improvement, and improving
> quality for customers, and so on. What top management must do is help
> establish values that generate such behaviors. And then, once the culture
> is established, they have to let go of personal ownership of it. In a
> really healthy culture, I believe that everyone feels ownership and
> responsibility for its perpetuation. And top management can no longer
> decide to make wholesale changes in the culture nor would they want to.
To add a few cents, John's two steps should be merged into one.
This very simple and easy to execute process consists of
demonstrating that the boss cares about employees by acting as a
supplier of support to employees who are thereby customers of the
boss' support. Support includes tools, planning, procedures, rules,
discipline, training, coaching, material, and the like. The boss
demonstrates the values to be used by everyone, that is, the culture,
through the values reflected in these elements of support.
Perhaps the most important values are caring, humility and respect
for others. The boss demonstrates these by going to his/her customers
to find out what support elements don't meet the customers needs or
standards. If the boss causes these deficiencies to be corrected to
very high standards for all values and certainly to the satisfaction
of those affected, the value standards of the culture are raised.
Through this simple process, bosses show a willingness to change
which makes everyone receptive to change, a willingness to adjust to
what the customer really needs in order to do the best job which
makes everyone responsive to external customers, a respect and
humility for employees which causes them to take charge of the
workplace while being respectful and cooperative with others, AND -
AND ------. This must be done one-on-one and in groups. Group
meetings are at least 5 times more powerful in building a healthy and
value based culture than one-on-one.
This is a very simple, but extremely effective process to establish a
very productive, creative culture where performance meeting the
highest known standards will become commonplace. There is much more
to this process (a book full), but bosses who treat their internal
customers well will reap great rewards.
Regards, Joan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joan Pomo The Finest Tools for Managing People
Simonton Associates Based on the book
jpomo@gate.net "How to Unleash the Power of People"
--"jpomo@gate.net" <jpomo@gate.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>