Do I Really Want to Work Here: What’s Your Culture Telling Me?

Have you ever walked into an organization and just got that “hum something just doesn’t feel right feeling”… I know I have (more times than I’d like to count). Many of us know from the first time we enter into an organization, whether as an employee or a consultant, that what they say is not what we see – or feel. The ever so important “gut check” we shouldn’t ignore.

“Corporate Culture can have a significant impact on a firm’s long-term economic performance.” – John Kotter

So, what are some things that trigger your culture gut check?

• We realize it is probably because of many different factors – however - we were intrigued that more  people are not interested in how to create a high performance culture. Perhaps they just don’t notice what a negative impact poor culture can have? Regardless, building a successful business requires more than just saying you have a good culture, it requires creating and espousing the traits of a high performance culture so employees, vendors, and stakeholders can see you “mean what you say” –a culture that is open, honest, trusting, transparent and engaging.

So what makes a high performing culture?

High level – we’ll offer a few qualities that may trigger your “gut check” and a few that make for a high performing culture.

Poor Performing Culture	High Performing Culture
Poor Communication	Open Communication
Secrecy	Transparency
Mistrust	Trust
Abuse of Power	Socialized Power
Inflexible Structures	Flexible Structures
Uninventive	Innovative
Unclear Strategy	Defined Strategy
Practices Oppression	Values Equality
Poor Engagement	High Engagement
Rigid Processes	Flexible Processes

 

So how do you create a positive and high performing culture?

...for starters, check out our whitepaper on the topic titled: What is a High Performance Culture? Creating a culture that supports long term growth and sustainability.

Short answer – develop and excel in the “high performing culture” qualities listed above – you can get started in 3 steps.

Direction: The first step in creating a high performing culture is defining your direction. An organization cannot achieve a high performing culture without having a clearly defined direction - a detailed strategy, including a clear mission and a defined vision statement. The strategy should help determine who you want to be, where you want to go, and how to chart the course to help you get there. The strategy should answer several imperatives, including but not limited to: what can we do best? Do we have flexible processes and structures in place to support execution of our mission? What motivates our people the most and how do we provide that to them? What is essential for our financial stability? And how do we exceed customer expectations and define and measure success?

Communication: The next step to achieve a high performing culture is communication; frequent, transparent, and authentic communication amongst leadership, employees, stakeholders, and customers is a necessity. To keep audiences engaged in your products and services, and committed to the organizations’ strategy, mission and vision, they need to know what is going on and why (within reason).  If you want to create a high performing culture, it is not enough simply to communicate; methods for receiving and acting on feedback received from target audiences must also be developed.  Develop communication plans and processes to ensure that all audiences (internal and external) are reached with the content vehicles and frequencies appropriate for them to remain interested and engaged.

Engagement: The third step in achieving a high performing culture - always focus on the people. We’ve said this before, and we think it so important we’ll say it again, organizations can’t exist without people. People make the difference in every business. To achieve a high performing culture, you must recruit, engage, and retain the right people for your culture.  Many things bring employees through the front door, but bad work environments drive them out. To not drive them out you need to build a highly engaged and committed workforce. Let employees know they and their ideas are valued and that they work in a culture where their voices can be heard. Creating this type of environment increases employee motivation and retention and reduces employee turnover. This type of positive environment helps people reach higher levels of productivity. Success depends on knowing and understanding your workforce and valuing each employee's satisfaction, motivation, well-being, and development. People are the company. High performing organizations recognize and embrace this fact.

"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."    

 -Niccolo Machiavelli

Here’s hoping that most of you desire to be part of a high performing culture –and strive to create and maintain an organization where people really want to work!  What triggers your “gut check?” What qualities or strategies do you think make the difference between a poor culture, and a high performing culture?

Stay tuned for more articles in our “Do I Really Want to Work Here…?” series!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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Culture is...

Part Three in a Summer Series on Creating a High Performing Organization: 

According to our marketing partner –Preactive Marketing – the phrase “culture is…” generates roughly 20 million global hits. This indicates it is quite a popular topic and that people are interested in what culture is - and why having a high performance one is important.

We’ll share our thoughts, though we also prefer to hear from you, so share your opinion!

Culture has different meanings to different people – so how would you finish the sentence – Culture is…

I would finish it something like this:

The shared assumptions, values and beliefs of a group of people. The way in which a group of people solves problems. - Geert Hofstede

Wise words from good ol Geert. The term culture has many meanings.  Whether written as a mission statement, spoken, or just understood, organizational culture describes and governs the ways a company’s leaders, employees, customers and stakeholders think, feel and act. Culture may be based on beliefs or spelled out in your mission statement.

Simply put - culture can be defined as, “the way work gets done around here. Organizations can’t excel for the long term if they don’t have a high performance culture – for more on the aspects of creating and maintaining a high performing culture - check out our whitepaper - What is a High Performance Culture? Creating a culture that supports long term growth and sustainability.

So…

Why is your organizational culture so important?

• Culture has a direct impact on employee performance, engagement and retention, and thus also a direct impact on innovation, customer satisfaction, and bottom line revenue.  For example, a culture of poor communication, lack of transparent and authentic leadership, abuse of power, and inflexible structures and processes is most likely a culture that would not be categorized as high performance or sustainable for the long term ; As this type of environment wouldn't make employees want to give their best and thus negatively impact the bottom line. 

• On the flip side, however, a positive culture can drive high performance and to create an environment of innovation and sustainability.  Organizations that have flexible processes and structures which help facilitate cross communication; encouraging people to share ideas and concerns with leadership usually excel. If people enjoy working for your organization then in most cases they give 100% engagement toward helping the company succeed.

• Culture is the identity of a company, and because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those who work there, as well. The people end up affecting the culture as much as the culture is affecting them. So while there are many definitions of organizational culture, all of them focus on the same points: collective experience, structures, beliefs, values, norms, and systems. These are learned and re-learned, passed on to new employees, and continues on as part of a company’s core identity.

A company’s culture says a lot about an organization and the direction they are headed - success or failure can hinge on culture. In the words of another organizational culture guru:

“The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening.”  - Edgar Schein

So – culture is how “work gets done around here.”  To get work done well a  positive culture is needed for organizational, employee, and customer satisfaction and success. And who doesn't want to be success!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

How to Create and Honor a Culture of Employee Development

Earlier this week I attended a not so typical awards ceremony - The Apollo Awards, hosted by Helios HR and Smart CEO. As I think the concept of the awards is of value, and the vibe of the event was energizing – particularly for being held before 8am – here is a little free positive PR from someone who also works to help organizations develop, engage and retain employees.

The Helios Apollo Awards recognize Washington-area organizations that promote employee growth and development as an integral part of their organizational culture. Participating organizations recognize these programs are not only necessary in providing them a competitive advantage, but that they contribute to employee retention by developing strong managers and providing meaningful projects, credibility through enhanced certifications, and succession planning through promotional opportunities. Their efforts not only benefit the end client, but the individual and the community as well.

As a small business owner, and Organizational Development practitioner, I value the importance of positive organizational cultures. Many organizations find employee growth and development a daunting task, and are not sure where to begin in designing processes and programs that contribute to employee growth and development, and thus increase engagement and performance. When Tolero Solutions works with clients, we often help them with retention and engagement issues and stress the huge difference employee development can make in creating a productive, profitable and high performing organization.

“The Five Commandments of Effective Employee Development:

1. THOU SHALT BE A VISIBLE LEARNER

2. THOU SHALT TREAT ALL INDIVIDUALS INDIVIDUALLY

3. THOU SHALT FIND YOUR OWN VOICE

4. THOU SHALT SEE THINGS AS THEY OUGHT TO BE

5. THOU SHALT MODEL THE MODEL”

- (unknown author)

According to a study by the Corporate Executive Board:

• Employees of managers who are very effective at development can outperform their peers by up to 25%


• Organizations that focus on employee development have employees who are 40% more likely to stay with the organization


• Managers who focus on employee development have employees that are 8% better at responding to change than those who don’t place the same focus

Focusing on employee development does have a direct impact on organizational performance. A few simple things you can do to help develop, engage and retain your employees:

• ASK your employees about their learning and development needs – and take action


• Reevaluate and ramp up organizational communications


• Implement peer learning options


• Diversify and customize employee training and learning opportunities


• Have realistic performance goals tied to growth and development


• Recognize, recognize, recognize!

Seeing so many businesses of various sizes and industries succeed as models in developing and engaging their employees was, well, quite inspirational. I look forward to the event next year. My congratulations goes out to all the finalists and award winners. I thank them for partly reminding me why I do the work I do by serving as a positive example of what can be achieved by focusing on an organizations number one asset – and I’ve said this before – people!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

J.C. Penney – During Times of Change – Funny Commercials Aren’t Good Enough!

After a full on rebranding, new strategic direction, and massive organizational changes designed to reinvent the retailer and improve profits - J.C. Penney suffered a dismal 1^st quarter. A lot exists for shareholders and stakeholders to be frustrated about – and much of it relates to organizational development and leadership (or poor leadership).

CEO Ron Johnson did have a vision - to get rid of the nonstop product promotions at the store and move to three kinds of prices (everyday, monthly specials, and clearance). He announced new designer partnerships and a new spokeswoman and advertising star, Ellen DeGeneres. He also introduced a new logo, and new color-saturated advertisements that barely mention price. Within four years, he said, the stores would be completely redone, each divided into about 100 small boutiques with a service center that he called “town square.” Ron has vision - but what he lacks is thoughtful and holistic understanding and execution.

*Update: As of June 18th, 2012 J. C. Penney Company, Inc. ousted its JCPenney brand president, Michael Francis, who oversaw the retailer's merchandising and marketing operations, with a terse statement that "We thank Michael for his hard work at jcpenney and wish him the best in his future endeavors."

Before leaders begin making organizational changes, no matter what successful past experience at other organizations may lead them to believe - it is necessary to collect current organizational data – data from stakeholders, data from employees, and most importantly, data from customers. Change can’t be rushed. It is said by some that a transformational change such as the one Penney’s is undertaking can take an average of 7 years – yup, you heard that correctly. Change isn’t easy folks, and doing it right takes time – just look at Pier 1.

So – just a few things (I have quite a list but I’ll spare all the details for now as I wouldn’t want to sound like a preachy CEO) Mr. Johnson should have done prior to jumping on the “turnaround CEO” bandwagon:

• Data: It’s extremely difficult to turn around an organization for the better if you don’t have a recent understanding of what “better” means. Now I’m not talking about just financial numbers, web traffic, etc. as I’m sure plenty of that was collected and analyzed. I’m talking about direct from the consumer’s mouth data. Before revising pricing methods and slashing merchandise promotions, ask customers how they would feel if prices were lowered all the time across the board. It doesn’t necessarily matter if customers “get” your pricing as long as they’re happy with the price, product, and service. Perhaps some customers prefer the feeling of getting a bargain, maybe they enjoy coupons (as evidenced recently in this case), perhaps they don’t like receiving a large number of promotional e-mails and ads but a few specifically targeted to their personal buying habits…point here is you don’t know what the customer wants unless you ask them – so take the time to collect data on your customers needs, wants and desires and don’t just assume you (cough: the leader) knows best!

• People: It’s imperative your employees have a solid understanding of why changes are taking place and how the changes impact them. Communicate with the workforce.  Not just so they have an understanding of how the change impacts them, but also so you can build their commitment to the process.  Employee commitment is imperative to maintain high performance and customer satisfaction during times of change. Penney’s employees, particularly the sales associates, were accustomed to a certain way of doing their jobs – selling and dealing with merchandise price cuts and promotions and customer service – in certain ways. They learned how to make a commission, when to push items, and when not to.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
- Dwight Eisenhower

Personal example – I bought a massage power recliner from J.C. Penney. When I first saw it listed online it was one price, when I went into the store to actually see it in person it was a different price. When I didn’t commit that day the sales associate gave me his card. I called him back a week or so later and the chair was miraculously over $150 cheaper with free shipping – if I came in to purchase that week. The sales associate knew the pricing system, he knew the price would be lowered, and he knew he could offer me free shipping as the price would probably be lowered yet again in a few more days. I felt like I got a good deal, I got my chair same day, and he made his commission of a higher amount. I was a happy customer and he was a satisfied sales associate.

If changes in process and procedures are going to occur that impact the day to day of how employees perform their jobs, then not only do you want to communicate those changes and ask for feedback – you also want to make sure you provide any needed training so they can succeed. Otherwise performance suffers, retention suffers, customer service declines, and shareholders don’t end up happy.

• Accountability: Mr. Johnson seems to be coming off like a stereotypical ivory tower CEO. Not an in touch and transparent leader. From what I’ve seen, his attitude regarding the current earnings announcement was a bit disingenuous. In typical financial fashion, the numbers were manipulated to try and sound somewhat positive. Oh Ron, just own it! Be a grown up, be an honest, transparent, accountable, and authentic leader. Acknowledge that things aren’t going exactly as planned – and don’t whine and make excuses - but let us know you see it too, and tell us the steps you plan to take to reevaluate and improve. That’s what builds trust in a leader - and in my experience trust in leadership can usually be correlated to high performing organization with committed employees, loyal customers, and increased performance (I really should do a study on that, if anyone knows of one please share!)

I do enjoy the new J.C. Penney commercials, but I’d enjoy shopping there a lot more if I knew the retailer had honest, transparent, committed, accountable leadership who elicited and acted on customer, stakeholder and employee feedback – but hey, that’s just me.

"Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be led."
- Ross Perot

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

Attention: Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) & SVP HR: 5 Ways Organizational Development Can Help To Achieve Your Goals

The chief human resources officer (CHRO), also commonly referred to as the SVP HR, is a coveted role for many HR professionals and whose primary work involves strategic management and departmental decision-making that affects the organization’s people and viability as a profitable enterprise. If you’re serving in this function – congratulations on all your hard work!

The role of the CHRO has shifted over the years from responding to employee needs, compliance and setting policies - to the more strategic objectives of helping organizations build capabilities and capacity, via a focus on people. In this capacity, you may be responsible for a strategic human capital plan; professional development, talent management and recruitment, retention and engagement, and culture – not to mention making sure all initiatives are aligned with the company's strategic objectives and goals.  Not easy tasks – and not tasks that can always be tackled alone. Good news Organization Development (OD) can help.

5 tips on how working collaboratively with OD colleagues can help you achieve your goals…

1) Strategic Planning: Sometimes strategic planning can be a daunting task and can make one feel quite overwhelmed. What goes into a human capital strategic plan? How does the human capital strategic plan sync up to the overarching company strategic plan? What HR and people focused goals, objectives and targets should be included? Who is accountable for achieving these and how is accountability determined? What is the structured process for strategic planning? How should the plan be communicated and implemented? By training and practice most OD professionals have a holistic or whole systems view.

• An OD professional experienced with strategic planning can help you with the process; they can assist with the design, development, integration, and deployment of a human capital strategy and associated processes and procedures – with a keen focus on any impacts to the people.

2) Recruitment: Recruiting today seems to be a rush job or a one size fits all approach. This HR function is often one of the first to be outsourced. Recruiters get a position description and scour the internet for a match. Recruiters find a CV that matches the position description and send an often canned, cold and generic email. Recruiting has become less and less personalized. Many companies do not embrace a diverse recruiting strategy that mirrors the current diverse pool of applicants. Not always the best approach.

• An OD professional can assist you in defining your organizational employee value proposition. What is it you can offer to employees, what’s in it for them to work for your organization?  Being on the same page up front will help to reduce retention issues later. Yes, this is a two way street. Once your employee value proposition is defined you need to determine what types of candidates have, not just the skills needed to fill a role, but also have the values and beliefs that align with your organizational culture and value proposition. OD professionals can assist you with candidate prescreening, assessment and selection. Many OD professionals also practice in the areas of diversity and inclusion, and thus can assist you with designing and developing targeted diversity recruitment strategies.

3)  Professional Development: Professional development is a key component of successful talent management. For employees to remain engaged and committed, they need to feel that they have opportunities to learn and grow and know that new challenges and opportunities are available to them within the organization. Professional development and training needs to focus on various areas. The most successful professional development programs are those that consist of a combination of technical, functional and people skills training. Organizations also tend to have lower turnover when they have coaching and mentoring programs in place. How do you know what your employees want in professional development? How do you determine your skill gaps and areas of improvement? What are the best methods and technologies for implementing professional development in your organization? How do you deliver coaching and mentoring? How do you measure success?

• An OD professional can assist you in up-front data collection and analysis. OD professionals can help you determine your skill gaps, further define the challenges your employees face and define and deliver learning opportunities to help meet those challenges – inclusive or measures of success. Many OD professionals are also skilled coaches and can help coach your employees (and leadership) to improve in specific areas to which other training may not address.

4) Retention and Engagement: Consistent employee engagement is an imperative human resources goal. Creating a work environment where employees are enthusiastic and engaged is a top priority.  Many human resources leaders describe their greatest challenge, as “keeping employees happy and retaining top talent.” HR can measure this quantitatively with respect to turnover and retention. Human resources goals concerning turnover and retention are marked, respectively, by the words “reduce” and “increase.” Attracting qualified applicants, motivating and engaging the existing workforce and inspiring long-term commitment are often goals regarding turnover and retention.

• An OD professional can assist with retention and engagement. Beyond data collection and analysis, as trained behavioral scientists, OD professionals have an understanding of fundamental human needs. Having an understanding of what makes employees feel valued, heard, appreciated, and significant is imperative to designing and developing retention and engagement strategies. OD professionals also have experience in understanding motivational factors, and many are certified in tools and technologies to help further identify areas of improvement.  OD professionals understand and practice in the areas of diversity and inclusion which is also of great benefit in designing and developing targeted diversity retention and engagement strategies.

5) Culture: HR is becoming more and more responsible for employer branding – defining the image and culture. Creating an employer of choice is a goal that often falls within HR. An employer of choice is the company employees are happy to be a part of, a company for which others want to work, and a company customers want to do business with. These things are all part of culture - the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group. Simply put, “the way work gets done around here.” A company’s culture says a lot about an organization and the direction they are headed.

• One thing OD professionals know a lot about – creating a high performing culture. OD professionals can help you define the type of culture you want, often beginning with spelling it out in your mission statement – which should be created as part of the strategy. OD professionals can then assist you in creating and maintaining a culture of high performance. Culture is the identity of a company, and because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those who work there. The people end up affecting the culture as much as the culture is affecting them. OD professionals can help HR maintain a positive and high performing culture via assisting with recruitment strategies, retention and engagement, and professional development.

Strategic planning…recruitment…culture…professional development…retention and engagement – that’s a lot responsibilities; which are your priorities? Which areas do you find to be the most challenging? Could you and your organization benefit from consulting external OD support?  If so feel free to contact us with specific questions - we’re happy to discuss how we can help you and your organization to achieve your goal.

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

Strategy vs. Culture – Can We Call A Truce?

Much discussion has transpired lately regarding strategy and culture – though, more so the battle between which is more important and why. Although I find the various points of view to both be of value and interest, I find the entire discussion to be quit absurd. Can we call a truce?

I imagine that if “Sally Strategy” and “Calvin Culture” were having a debate it would go something like this…

Sally Strategy: Calvin, I find that you sometimes make it very difficult for me to do my job! It’s hard to keep us on track when I feel you and I aren’t on the same page.

Calvin Culture: Well Sally, I sometimes feel the same way. Your job doesn’t always fit in with my work, sometimes you can be an impediment to what I’m trying to achieve.

Sally Strategy: Oh really, how’s that Calvin? What exactly is it you’re trying to achieve?

Calvin Culture: Well Sally, I’m trying to achieve building a positive environment for our people, an environment with a clear set of values and norms that engages and aligns our people, unifying them in delivering high performance and value to our customers. I just feel that the direction you’ve set can be a bit ridged and can be prohibitive to my work.

Sally Strategy: Interesting point, Calvin. You realize when I first started my work my intent was not just to help us formulate a clear direction and define who we wanted to be - but also to help us get there. It’s my job to execute, to get things done. Though we have come a long way since I first started my work and it may be time to revisit a few things. After all, I can’t get things done if I’m in the way.

Calvin Culture: Don’t get me wrong, Sally, I couldn’t do my job without you, and I value the direction and execution you bring to our work, as we both play a huge part in the happiness of employees and customers and in overall success, perhaps we could collaborate together more closely moving forward?

(*Aside - See the way that was phrased?  Calvin acknowledged what Sally brings to the table and made her feel valuable and important to the process.  Speaking to and providing feedback to your employees in this style can be beneficial to engagement and performance…but more on that in another article.)

Sally Strategy: That sounds like a fantastic idea. I’m glad we got a chance to connect. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today, Calvin. Let's stay in communication.

In reality, culture and strategy are often viewed independently – they are both parts of the system and need to be viewed together.

 

Strategy can be defined in various ways…

• According to Henry Mintzberg’s book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning:




• Strategy is a plan, a "how," a means of getting from here to there.


• Strategy is a pattern in actions over time; for example, a company that regularly markets very expensive products is using a "high end" strategy.


• Strategy is position; that is, it reflects decisions to offer particular products or services in particular markets.


• Strategy is perspective, that is, vision and direction.

• According to Kenneth Andrews’s book, The Concept of Corporate Strategy:
  
  
  
  • "Corporate strategy is the pattern of decisions in a company that determines and reveals its objectives, purposes, or goals, produces the principal policies and plans for achieving those goals, and defines the range of business the company is to pursue..."
  
  
  
  

• According to Michael Porter in his Harvard Business Review article and books:
  
  
  
  •  Strategy is "…about being different…It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value." "…It is a combination of the ends (goals) for which the firm is striving and the means (policies) by which it is seeking to get there."
  
  
  
  

A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.- Michael Porter

Based on how most define strategy, the main reason for the existence of strategy is to achieve end goals. Culture is the environment in which strategy achieves those end goals. It is a general framework that provides guidance for actions to be taken, and, at the same time, is shaped by the actions taken…this shaping in part occurs due to the culture.

No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive - Mahatma Gandhi

Culture can be defined in various ways…

• According to Edgar Schein:
  
  
  
  • Organizational culture is “A pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.”
  
  
  
  

• According to Charles W. L. Hill, and Gareth R. Jones book Strategic Management:
  
  
  
  • Culture is "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization."
  
  
  
  

• According to Geert Hofstede:
  
  
  
  • “Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values.”
  
  
  
  

"We tend to think we can separate strategy from culture, but we fail to notice that in most organizations strategic thinking is deeply colored by tacit assumptions about who they are and what their mission is." – Edgar Schein

Whether written as a mission statement, spoken or just understood, organizational culture describes and governs the ways a company's leaders, employees, customers and stakeholders think, feel and act. Culture may be based on beliefs or spelled out in your mission statement – which should be created as part of the strategy. Beliefs and values are words that will pop up frequently when defining culture. Culture is the identity of a company, and because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those who work there, as well. The people end up affecting the culture as much as the culture is affecting them. So while there are many definitions of organizational culture, all of them focus on the same points: collective experience, structures, beliefs, values, norms, and systems. These are learned and re-learned, passed on to new employees, and continues on as part of a company's core identity.

So – culture is how “work gets done around here” and strategy determines “what work gets done around here.”  A positive culture and a clear strategy are both needed for organizational, employee and customer satisfaction and success. After all...

A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all. - Michael LeBoeuf

We need to call a truce and work more collaboratively, both between and with culture and strategy, to truly create high performing organizations. Based on the definitions, and based on my experiences, the relationship between culture and strategy is – or at least should be- a symbiotic relationship.

What do you think…Is a battle between culture and strategy occurring in your organization? Do you think one is more important than another? If so why or why not?

*In this article, culture refers specifically to corporate and organizational culture and strategy to organization and business strategy

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

________________________________________________________________________________

*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients be responsive, focused and effective to facilitate sustainable growth.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

 

In Goldman Sachs We Trust…Or Do We?

By now you probably have heard the news about the latest Goldman Sachs incident. Former London-based employee Greg Smith made some serious accusations in a New York Times op-ed piece….and as of late he’s not the only one. His accusations focused around leadership and management practices and the “toxic” culture at Goldman Sachs Group.

This very public vent session by an employee assailing CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein’s management and leadership, and the firm’s treatment of clients, went viral and led to Goldman Sachs losing $2.15 billion of its market value with the stock price dropping 3.4% as of late last week.

A pretty huge public backlash!

Though Goldman Sachs issued a public response (seriously, how could they not) it was too little to late – the damage has been done. Much has been in the media regarding the incident, the supposed reasons for Greg Smith’s article, and the type of environment and culture at Goldman Sachs. Though I’ve experienced my fair share of “toxic” cultures – and I am a firm believer that culture plays a huge part in business success – I attribute the negative perceptions, outcomes and public relations damage at Goldman Sachs to one thing more than others– TRUST!

"Me, I'm dishonest, and you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for." - Captain Jack Sparrow

Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship both personal and professional, and when it is broken, it is extremely hard to repair.  Even though all specifics weren’t shared with the general public, for the most part, the general public has now lost trust in Goldman Sachs leadership and thus the firm overall.

I am repeatedly asked to make the business case for trust. Other than the usual statements about trust reducing transaction costs, increasing employee and customer loyalty, and shortening the sales cycle, hard evidence seems difficult to find. Well, Goldman Sachs is a real life example.

I would  like to offer a cause and affect view on this breach of trust at Goldman Sachs: without trust within your company and between your company and your customers, employee engagement and morale will suffer. If engagement and morale suffer, customer satisfaction declines. If customer satisfaction declines, revenue declines. If revenue declines too much, business stops.

Trust is one of those in-tangibles, which means that showing a value add and making the business case for trust can sometimes prove difficult – until trust is lost and broken.  At Goldman Sachs, due to the alleged unethical business practices of the leaders, managers and employees, a “…decline in the firm’s moral fiber” permeated contributing to a “toxic” culture that became an acceptable way to do business.

"When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property." - Thomas Jefferson

Once this information was made public, by someone with an insider view, Goldman Sachs clients, vendors, and the general public were forced to reevaluate if they wanted to continue to be associated with a company that operated in such a way. A company that they feel betrayed them (and in many cases the actions went against their own values), with actions that have fundamentally breached their trust. Based on the ongoing negative financial impacts Goldman Sachs is experiencing, the overwhelming response seems to be – many don’t want to continue to be associated with a company that fundamentally breached their trust.

Now of course many of Goldman Sachs clients and vendors aren’t bothered by this or choose to ignore it, and the firm will most likely recover. However, it will be a slow process to regain public trust, and we may continue to see the negative impacts for some time. This example serves as a simple and tangible business case for trust, one that highlights the importance of increasing trust in the workplace. Noticing the negative impacts that lack of trust and transparency have had on Goldman Sachs, and using this as a real example to facilitate positive culture change and environments of increased trust, seems like a good lesson to me!

Do you feel Goldman Sachs violated the trust of clients? Is trust in a company you do business with important to you? Do you think "toxic" cultures are detrimental?

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

What Is Change Management & Why Is It Important to Your Organization?

As an Organizational Development (OD) and Change Management practitioner I often get asked by leaders – so what does that mean? Why are these things important to my business?  And how can they help me create a high performing organization?

Well…let me explain the executive summary (OK well the sort of executive summary)…

What is change management? 

"If you want to truly understand something, try to change it." – Kurt Lewin

• The definition of change management varies. Many exist, some simple, some complex.  I’ll refrain from getting overly scholarly (you’re welcome).  To synopsize for the busy executive, change management can be defined as a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.  It can be applied to situations such as downsizing, growing organizations, or even adding new technology. It is an organizational process aimed at helping employees to understand, commit to, and accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. A part of change management is also managing transition – and though related, change and transition is not the same thing.  Some definitions go even further to define differences between change management and change leadership (in my experience I see them very interrelated – one referring to the tools and technologies and the other referring to those individuals utilizing such tools, technologies and frameworks to lead change efforts.)

Why is change management important – how can it help?

• If changes are occurring in your organization – strategic changes, tactical changes, leadership changes, technology changes – then those changes are going to have impacts and effects on your people and processes (among other areas). To help minimize those impacts and effects, from having unintended negative outcomes, it is necessary to have “change management” methodologies in place with skilled resources delivering and executing on those methodologies, principles and processes. This helps to minimize possible negative outcomes and increase positive results. Change itself is a process – managing it, leading it, achieving it is also a process and one that should not be viewed and managed with a one size fits all approach. Approaches and actions should be customized to fit your organizational circumstances.

My take - as an organizational development practitioner, I view change management methods as just one of many tools in your toolkit used to help achieve positive organizational improvements.

Feel free to learn more on the Tolero Think Tank.

 

What is organizational development (OD)?

• The definition of Organizational Development (OD) varies even more than that of Change Management. Again, many exist, some simple, some complex.  And again, I’ll refrain from getting overly scholarly (you’re welcome).  To the busy executive, OD is basically the application of tools, methods, frameworks and technologies and processes to make your entire organization (yes, that includes people) more productive, profitable, and innovative. OD is an ongoing, systematic process of implementing positive and effective organizational change. Organizational development is known as both a field of applied behavioral science and as a field of scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on many other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, communication, cultural anthropology organizational behavior, economics, political science, neuroleadership and theories of motivation, learning, and personality.

Why should you consider OD initiatives to support your organization in achieving desired outcomes?

“…Think of an organization as all the clothes hanging on a clothes line. All parts are connected. If you pull on the socks the towels move…”

- Arthur Friedman

• One of the distinguishing characteristics of OD is that it is based on collaboration and a “helping relationship.”  OD takes a total system view — the organization as a whole, including its relevant subsystems in the context of the total system. Thus, OD interventions and improvement strategies can focus on the whole system or on multiple levels of the system such as groups, teams, and individuals. OD interventions should be clearly tied to strategic goals and objectives. Parts of systems are not considered in isolation; the principle of interdependency, that is, that changes in one part of a system affects the other parts, is fully recognized. These interventions and improvement strategies can focus on various initiatives within the organization such as change, communications, strategy, culture and process.

So, why should you care about these things?

• Well you want to be successful, don’t you? Isn’t that why you took on organizational improvement efforts to begin with – to innovate, to reinvigorate, to become ever better. To prevent your organization from potentially failing before you even start – understanding and skillfully executing various principles of change management and OD are a necessity to success!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients be responsive, focused and effective to facilitate sustainable growth.

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

An Improving Economy Could Mean Loss of Employees. Will They Stay or Will They Go? That’s Up To You.

When accounting for the costs (both real costs, such as time taken to select and recruit a replacement, and also opportunity costs, such as lost productivity), the cost of employee turnover to for-profit organizations has been estimated to be up to 150% of the employees' remuneration package. Can you afford that?

The US economy is improving. This is a good thing for companies and job seekers alike, though it’s also positive news for employees – employees who may have felt over worked and under-appreciated during the downturn.

Should you be concerned about retention and loss of employees?

Though employee engagement and retention should always be a focus for any high performing organization, additional focus should be placed on retention strategies during an economic uptick. When employees see external environmental factors such as the economy improving, and more opportunities available to them, organizations have to work harder than ever before to retain good talent. Many employees are willing to put up with job dissatisfaction during hard economic times for fear of losing their job and or not being able to find an alternative. Though an economic uptick is not a guaranteed sign that employees will jump ship, it is a contributory factor many consider when making a job change.

Though average employee tenure varies by work type and demographic; however, the days of long term tenure with an organization are not what they used to be.  Under stable economic conditions, it’s not uncommon for people to move jobs every few years. Factor in opportunities for new jobs presenting themselves, after years of stagnant wages and often increased workload and minimal recognition, and suddenly employee retention can become a serious issue.

“We are responsible for our own lives–no other person is or even can be.”
~Oprah Winfrey

It’s not just a poor economy that can lead to dissatisfied employees counting the days until their next opportunity. Many attributes of organizational culture, as well as leadership and management behaviors, contribute to employee dissatisfaction. Many of these attributes often tend to become enhanced and accepted in times of distress.  However, as the economy  improves, employee tolerance for many of these behaviors declines. As opportunities arise for employees to change jobs; these other non economic attributes that play a part in retention need to be reevaluated or addressed.

 Organizational Behaviors Negatively Impacting Employee Retention:

• Lack of honest and transparent leadership


• Poor communication top down, bottom up, and lateral


• Inflexible and un adaptable strategy


• Reduction in employee growth opportunities


• Unachievable performance goals


• Lack of recognition


• Reduced or non timely and relevant job training


• Minimal appreciation for diversity


• Non merit based pay


• Culture of distrust

I often get told “we can’t afford to keep our employees by offering higher pay and benefits.”  Sometimes an increase in salary and benefits is not a feasible solution to employee retention, particularly after several years of tough economic times. Now sure, will you lose some employees strictly due to salary and monetary benefits, of course. That said, you’d be surprised how understanding employees are willing to be if you show them you value them in other ways. That’s not to say money isn't a driver for many people, though it certainly isn't the only one.

So when options present themselves for employees to leave, what should you do to ensure you retain them, and the costly institutional knowledge they possess?

Organizational Behaviors Positively Impacting Employee Retention:

• Increase leadership honesty and transparency


• Reevaluate and ramp up organizational communications


• Revisit your strategy and targets


• Don’t reduce employee growth opportunities


• Have realistic performance goals


• Recognize, recognize, recognize!


• Provide training and learning opportunities


• Value and respect diversity


• Have merit based pay systems


• Create a culture of trust
  

  *For further details and actions regarding these behaviors see our

  
  

  Employee Retention Checklist: Organizational Behaviors That Positively Impact Retention

  
  

With the economy making a turn for the better, it’s largely up to you whether you make your employees want to stay or go. Do you have employee retention strategies in place? If so, have you revisited your engagement and retention strategies recently? Tolero Solutions can help you increase retention and engagement and design strategies best suited for your organization. With an estimated cost to replace an employee of up to 150% of the employees' remuneration package – can you afford not to focus on retention?

 

“The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.” ~Walter Gilbey

 

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

________________________________________________________________________________

*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

Blog Series: Part 2 - So You Hired a Gen Y – Now Get The Most Out of Them!

Blog Series: So You Hired a Gen Y – Now Get The Most Out of Them!
A Tolero Solutions blog series on how to utilize Gen Y using the Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle™  

By: Scott Span, MSOD


Phase 2 – Assess

In a previous post So You Hired a Gen Y – Now Get The Most Out of Them Through My Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle™! I provided a high level overview of my Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle ™ model, designed to help recruit, engage, and retain Gen Y. The article and associated webinar / workshop have generated positive feedback, and much discussion; due to the high demand, I’m writing a 6 part series that details possible strategies to get the most of your Gen Y employees.

Phase 2 of the Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle ™ 
Assess:

In phase 1 of the Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle ™ I discussed the importance of communication; however, how do you know if what was communicated was understood? That is where phase 2 comes in, assessing the new Gen Y employees understanding of what they heard, and how they are going to apply that information.

Let’s face it; we all hear things in different ways. Remember that game from when you were a child (though a Gen Y was probably busy playing Nintendo), 'whisper down the lane?' By the time the original message traveled through several people to the last person, it was never the same as originally stated by the first person.

It shouldn’t simply be assumed that the new employee has a solid understanding of what was communicated or that they feel comfortable with what they heard. Gen Y appreciates being asked for their opinions, and values the opportunity to share perspectives. It is important to check in and ask them to vocalize their understanding of what was communicated.

How did they interpret what was communicated?

What is their understanding of their new role and responsibilities as it was presented to them?

How do they view where they fit into the organization?
 
Then give thought to how these responses align with the organizations messaging and expectations.

What often happens is you may find two somewhat different interpretations exist of what was communicated. If the employee begins work and they and the organization are not on the same page from day one, it can lead to an immediate mismatch of a cultural fit and skill utilization, leading to decreased engagement and lost productivity. Listen to how the new hire tells you what they heard and how it was communicated, and be prepared to have further discussion. You should be open to make potential changes to their role and responsibilities as a result.

It is important to fully assess the new hires skills, and areas of interest. Often employees are squeezed into a specific role without the organization ever really exploring what they have to offer in other areas. Therefore, it should not be assumed that the new hire does not have skills of value outside the role they have been hired to fill. Various tools and methods can be used to thoroughly assess the employees understanding of their role and responsibilities, as well as their skills, competencies and interests. Gen Y enjoys being challenged, and they enjoy diversity of tasks. It is important to assess these things as it relates to not only the role they will be performing, but also the organizational culture and structure. You may find that they are best suited for a completely different role than they are performing currently; one which may be a better fit and increase engagement and productivity.

Following the Gen Y Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle ™ can help you to get the most out of your new Gen Y employees. Additional steps and action items are developed at each stage, customized to your specific type of business and organizational culture. Customized workshops have also been developed around this approach. If you are Interested in additional strategies and learning more about how to implement positive Gen Y recruitment, engagement, and retention strategies please contact us or at scott.span@tolerosolutions.com

The People Side of Change in Technology Implementations

The Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) market is now worth upwards of $21 billion. Going into 2008, Cambridge, Mass.-based market researcher Forrester predicted a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 percent for ERP solution packages, and that number has continued to climb. The use of technology in the workplace is expanding at an astounding rate. While there are no exact 2010 year to date numbers for ERP market share or growth, industry executives say it's clearly a burgeoning market. In an effort to make operations more streamlined and effective, more organizations are implementing ERPs to assist them do business. Despite this increased growth many organizations aren't achieving their desired return on investment with their new ERP because they don't account for the people side of this change.

According to Wikipedia, an ERP is an integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. Built on a centralized database and normally utilizing a common computing platform, ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment.

As noted in a study conducted by Deloitte and Gallup Leadership Institute, streamlining and consolidating is great from a technology operations point of view; however, what is the impact to the people side of the business? The end users and current employees, who will have to use the ERP in their daily work, are often overlooked in the implementation process and this can lead to a bumpy and sometimes unsuccessful implementation. To ensure productivity remains high (although a slight dip is normal) and to facilitate a smooth transition with minimal resistance, change management is a critical component to success.

Most of the way work gets done will change once the ERP is implemented. Employees who are accustomed to completing tasks in a certain way will have to learn new skills and new ways of doing things. Roles and responsibilities may change, functions may be consolidated or eliminated, and interactions with customers and stakeholders may be redefined. For successful implementations, sponsorship and governance are imperative. Organizational impacts such as structural and cultural changes often occur, and policies and procedures are sometimes rewritten. Change management around technology can sometimes be a daunting task. A skilled ERP change management resource should have experience designing and implementing solutions in all these areas as well as a fundamental understanding of the technology.

A qualified ERP organizational change resource should be a people focused change management professional. They should also have the following skills to best assist your organization during an ERP implementation:

• Experience: They should have experience working in change management, organizational culture, strategy and strategic communications. They should also have a comfort level with technology and experience with process and requirements definition, defining roles and responsibilities, and designing organizational culture and structure.

• Basic understanding of ERP systems: Most ERPs are designed in modules, and can be implemented in pieces or all at one time. A trained resource not only knows what an ERP is designed to do, but also understands the basic functionality of each module and how the various modules integrate with one another. They should also have experience with project planning inclusive of planning and managing the implementation and impacts of multiple modules simultaneously.

• Understanding of ERP terminology and technical language: Often the ERP change management resource serves as a liaison between the functional (eg. HR, finance, policy) and technical people on the project. Therefore, they must have the ability to facilitate discussions and clearly communicate across teams of various skill sets. This involves being able to understand and speak in both technical and functional terms and have the ability the ‘translate’ needs and requirements in simple language. They should also have an understanding of specific ERP related terms and acronyms (Eg. SIT, CIT, User Interface etc.)

• Collaborative approach: ERPs cross multiple parts of the organization, and even reach outside the organization to customers and stakeholders. The ERP change management resource should be responsible for establishing a sponsorship and governance structure inclusive of individuals at various levels and across all affected areas. It is imperative that the change management resource have a collaborative style, one that helps to engage key people from all impacted areas. Assertiveness is also important, as often information and details are required on very specific and tight deadlines and obtaining this information may require a high degree of persistence.

• Skilled in strategic communications: Many ERP efforts run into roadblocks because communication planning is either not executed in parallel with change management or is not executed early enough. Experience with communications planning and execution with multiple audience groups, cross functional communications, and the ability to communicate with the various audiences simultaneously is a necessary skill for an ERP change management resource. Most change management professionals do have some level of experience in communications; however, for an ERP implementation, a higher degree of experience in this area is recommended.

To ensure the money spent on an ERP offers the streamlined operations and return on investment expected, people and change issues can not go unaddressed. It is critical to have an experienced ERP change management professional guide this process from day one. After all, a piece of technology is only as effective as the people who choose to use it.

What is The Business Case for Trust?

I am repeatedly asked to make the business case for trust. Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship, both personal and professional, yet it sometimes seems to lack in the workplace. Why?

One reason is trust is one of those in-tangibles, which means that showing a value add and making the business case for trust can sometimes prove difficult. Other than the usual statements about trust reducing transaction costs, increasing employee and customer loyalty and shortening the sales cycles, hard evidence seems difficult to find. One thing I've used as an example lately with clients is the financial crises in the U.S. Due to the unethical business practices of the leaders of some of the financial institutions, the markets went on a downward spiral. The U.S. Government tried to help bail out the banks and restore consumer confidence.

Although positive progress is being made, it's being made very, very slowly. This is partly because the American people (and many others across the globe) have lost trust in the U.S financial system and those affiliated with running those types of firms. It will be a slow process to regain this trust, and we may continue to see the negative impacts for some time. Noticing the negative impacts that lack of trust and transparency have had on the U.S economy, and using this as a real example for clients, seems to provide a tangible basis for the necessity of addressing trust in the workplace.

I like to offer a cause and effect view on trust to my clients: without trust within your company, your engagement and morale will suffer. If engagement and morale suffer, then retention declines. If retention declines, then costs increase and performance slips. If performance slips, customer satisfaction declines. If customer satisfaction declines, revenue declines. If revenue declines too much, business stops. This example serves as simplistic and tangible business case for trust, one that highlights the importance of increasing trust in the workplace.