Cultural Transformation

Culture of Curiousity or Fear?

In today's world of rapid change, it is imperative that organizations have a Culture that is naturally curious about how to improve everything imaginable.  In organizations with a naturally curious Culture, team members are open to new ideas and receptive to constantly evolving.

On the contrary, those organizations that are married to a Culture that are fear-based typically defend the status quo and are sentenced to a world of mediocrity and a future of limitation and risk.

What is the primary difference between a Culture of Curiosity and a Culture of Status Quo?

One word.  Fear.

Organizations where fear is a part of the Culture are organizations that have a very limited future.  Fear-based organizations will never compete with organizations that are naturally curious. 

Where does this fear come from?

From my personal observations over the last decade - the primary problem is poor Job fit where management and employee team members do not fit their jobs. 

Those who do not fit their jobs will be emotionally sentenced to defending what they do and how they do it.  I call it the "Justification Doom Loop".  Why do most Culture Transformation endeavors fail?  Simply because one cannot address the Culture of the organization without understanding Job Fit and what the current Culture is.

Is there fear in your organization?  We would love to show you how to measure the Culture of your organization.  One cannot transform the Culture of the organization without understanding what it is.

What gets measured gets improved.

Is Your Corporate Culture All Hat and No Cattle?

The great state of North Dakota is my home.  Yes...  It is cold here.  The people are wonderfully kind and helpful.  North Dakota is a fantastic place to raise a family... 

For the record, I did not grow up on the farm.  It is an interesting thing to see some of my neighbors driving big four wheel drive pickups that could be pulling cattle trailers but they are not.  Instead, these big pickups are going to the grocery store but never the farm field.  Many of these big pickups have not actually been on a dirt road. 

And once in a while I see someone that I know who does not have any cattle with a big hat on driving their big trucks from grocery store to home.  One might say, "They are all hat and no cattle..."  They have the big truck and the big hat...  But no cattle. 

Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with companies and CEOs that "got it" in terms of true awareness of their Culture and others that did not. 

Interestingly, the organizations and CEOs that had a more realistic grasp of their Culture actually performed better. 

Key Corporate Culture Distinction - Every company has "Culture".  Unfortunately, not every CEO has a real grasp of what their Culture truly is.

Some CEOs are unaware or in denial about what their Culture really is.

Naturally, as we work with our Clients, we spend time with them.  As a result, we often find a "disconnect" between what the CEO and senior leadership thinks the Culture is and what we observe.  This is a common occurance.

Saying what the Culture is does not make it so.

A conversation I had with a CEO a couple years ago serves as an excellent example...

Me:  "I need to share something with you...  There is an obvious lack of Personal Accountability in your organization.  From you own words, Personal Accountability is important in your organization but few employee team members are actually living it.  In fact, few of your values are being "lived" at the present moment by your employees.  In summary, your view of the Culture and what it actually is from my perspective and experience are completely different."

Side note...  This particular company had a history of a strong product that practically sold itself.  Most sales team members actually sold less in raw dollars than what their salaries were.

CEO:  "That's just not possible.  My employees are very accountable.  Employees are rewarded for their performance.  They are hard working..."  More defensive language follows...

To clarify - Note what the CEO said...  "Employees are rewarded for their performance."  When the company did well, everyone received the same bonus.  This bonus does not represent "Personal Accountability".  "Group accountability" is an oxymoron.   

Important Cultural Transformation Note - The CEO sets the Cultural tone of the organization.  Therefore, all problems start at the head...  The buck stops with the CEO. 

It is the responsibility of the CEO to know what their Culture is and how that Culture is creating shareholder value, helping retain top performing employee team members, and maximizing the Customer Experience.

In the past, intangibles such as Culture and values have been challenging and costly to accurately measure.  The result is Culture and values are not typically a part of the leader's scorecard or "dashboard" of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).  The good news...  The Cultural Transformation Tools or CTT is a detailed diagnostic report of the Culture of the organization. 

The Cultural Transformation Tools are based on the Seven Levels of Consciousness Model.  Awareness of the Seven Levels of Consciousness Model enables measuring the alignment of the personal values of employee team members with those of the current Culture of the organization, and those of the current Culture with the desired Culture. 

Important distinction...  It is difficult to change what you do not know with relative certainty.  What gets measured gets improved...  Our experience suggests that the Culture of the organization should be measured on an annual basis.  How else can one measure improvement?

Give us a call and we will be happy to share how to measure your team or organization's Culture - 866-988-RAIN (7246).

Seven Distinctions between Cultural Change and Cultural Transformation

Change is constant.

Competitors come and go changing the competitive landscape.

Products and services are created and evolve.

If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less

General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army

The one thing that is a constant in business is adaptation.  Adapt or crash...

Adaptation must be constant.  Corporate cultures adapt or their business models fail to thrive or fail altogether.  Cultural change is often forced due to some "external" economic impact - creating short and long-term employee engagement costs.  Cultural Transformation is a long-term "process" where the buy-in of employee team members plays a role.

The question is - "Are we talking about Cultural Change or Cultural Transformation?"  Is chnage forced or transformed through employee team member engagement?

From my research and experience, the differences between Cultural Change and Cultural Transformation may be described in the following "dimensions":

1. Internal or Externally-Driven - In other words is the culture transition through force, evolution, or constant gentle pressure? The more management or economic "force" required to make the corporate culture transition, the more likely the culture transition is Cultural Change. If employee team members are more "willing" - they will proactively listen to leadership and take part in the Cultural Transformation.
2. Duration of Culture Transition - The amount of time that a culture transition occurs depends upon the stimulae that are encouraging or forcing that adaptation. If economic forces or new management are forcing a culture transition within a short time frame, it is Cultural Change. The longer the period of time of culture transition, the more likely it is Cultural Transformation.
3. Belief - The lower the "belief level" in the organization's mission, vision, and guiding values, the more likely the culture transition is Cultural Change. The higher the "belief", the more likely the culture transition is internally-driven Cultural Transformation that comes as a result of employee team member engagement and active involvement. Therefore it is important to have employee team members who have the ability to believe in the mission, vision, and guiding values.
4. Learning Organization - The more an organization is committed to training and developing their talent and future leaders, the better equipped employee team members will be to making long-term Cultural Transformation a reality. Organizations that invest in training and development from a "reactionary" perspective in order to address "problem areas" reactively will be more likely to force corporate culture transition through short-term-oriented Cultural Change.
5. Low / No Transparency - If the corporate culture does not foster transparency and candor the result will be missed opportunity to create long-term Cultural Transformation.
6. Performance-based Compensation - If compensation is not directly tied to performance, "force" will be required in order to create lasting change. The result is Cultural Change.
7. Job Fit - The lower the overall "Job Fit" - the more likely "force" will become necessary in order to create the desired corporate culture transition. The more force - the more likely the culture transition is Cultural Change. Better Job Fit means employee team members are able to focus on doing what they need to do to get the job done and create the desired future through Cultural Transformation.

Cultural Change is the result of external forces from management and/or competitive threats. 

Cultural Transformation comes as a result of constant gentle pressure that is internally-motivated rather than externally-originated.

Cultural Transformation creates better-lasting, long-term results.

Questions?  866-988-RAIN (7246)

Now Go Maximize Possibility

 

Make Personal Accountability a Core Value

Few values matter more in shaping the future of a team and organization than Personal Accountability.

Without Personal Accountability, employee team members spend significant amounts of time playing the "blame game", procrastinating, and taking part in victim thinking. 

Personal Accountability must be a core value for your organization to succeed long-term. 

Not only must it be a core value of the team and organization, Personal Accountability must also be an attribute or skill each individual employee team member possesses. 

The symptoms of low or no Personal Accountability include:

Asking questions that begin with the following:

Why - "Why questions" are "victim thinking questions".  Victim thinking is the result when one spends time asking questions like "Why does this happen to me?"

When - "When questions" are "procrastination questions".  The result is action is deferred until a later time.  Perhaps action will never occur.

Who - "Who questions" are "blame questions".  The result of asking "blame questions" is employee team members are seeking to shift blame on to others.

The key is to make questions that begin with these words taboo in the organization.  When you change the language of the team, you change the mindset and culture.

We have helped teams and organizations transform their culture over the last decade through a powerful Personal Accountability training program called - QBQ - The Question Behind the Question.  The QBQ Personal Accountability Training Program is powerfully-simple and easily trained.  We often certify organizations to deliver their own Personal Accountability training. 

To learn more about the QBQ Personal Accountability training program, give us a call today or visit our website to learn more.