A Very warm greeting to everyone :) ,
I was recently interviewed in hdfc bank that how would you implement culture in a bank (or in any organization) :roll:
Apperently I could'nt answer this question :?: .
I request to all the senior member to please answer the above question as may come handy in another interview.
thank and regards,
vicky
From India, Mumbai
5I was recently interviewed in hdfc bank that how would you implement culture in a bank (or in any organization) :roll:
Apperently I could'nt answer this question :?: .
I request to all the senior member to please answer the above question as may come handy in another interview.
thank and regards,
vicky
From India, Mumbai
Hi Vicky
first try to understand what is the company into, what is the nature of business the company is doing. for example the culture in an IT company will be in stark contrast to that of one in the manufacturing or FMCG industry.
what is the skill set level you are handling with. it could be project managers in an IT company and union leaders in a factory.
what is the vision and mission of the company
what is the kind of commitment the top management has towards the work force.
what initiatives can be taken or rather what is the scope of implementing employee friendly strategies in an organisation.
is the company budget conscious when it comes to spending on employee welfare.
taking into account all these points you should be able to arrive at a fair idea as to how we create an org. culture customised to that company.
all said and done, one needs to get the buy in and support from the top management in order to put in place a wonderful culture across the organisation.
hope these views help. good day!
Cheers,
Sk
From India, Mumbai
first try to understand what is the company into, what is the nature of business the company is doing. for example the culture in an IT company will be in stark contrast to that of one in the manufacturing or FMCG industry.
what is the skill set level you are handling with. it could be project managers in an IT company and union leaders in a factory.
what is the vision and mission of the company
what is the kind of commitment the top management has towards the work force.
what initiatives can be taken or rather what is the scope of implementing employee friendly strategies in an organisation.
is the company budget conscious when it comes to spending on employee welfare.
taking into account all these points you should be able to arrive at a fair idea as to how we create an org. culture customised to that company.
all said and done, one needs to get the buy in and support from the top management in order to put in place a wonderful culture across the organisation.
hope these views help. good day!
Cheers,
Sk
From India, Mumbai
hi vicky i have a couple of presentations which i thought i could share with you. hope it helps in your understanding of org. culture. Cheers Sk
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Hi All,
Some time ago, (not remembering from where) when researching I read an extensive article on corporate culture. I wanted to share these tidbits with all of you. This info hit home so strongly with my beliefs that I kept the key points in my files. There may be some useful information for your organizations
The Culture Factor
A company's culture can be its best asset. When it's more than just hype it can inspire and empower staff to take the business to great heights.
Corporate culture is the hidden force that shapes behavior. It's like gravity, you can't see it, but you can feel its pull.
Every company has a culture that drives the way its employees behave. When a new person joins an organization they will adapt to the prevailing corporate culture in order to assimilate with their fellow workers.
If the culture is poor, rather than bringing a breath of fresh air to the business, they will merely adopt the bad practices.
But what is this intangible "corporate culture"?
It is the shared values, norms and expectations that guide an individual's behavior within a company in terms of how they relate together, how they get a job done and how they relate to customers.
"The key word here is 'shared'," "If you don't share the values, aims and expectations then that's where you get trouble and that's when it's difficult to change a culture."
"It's the way you do things."
More than the dollars
A corporate culture solely focused on the dollar will prove short lived, and there are many examples where this has been evident.
"Making money is just the hygiene factor, it is not the ultimate motivator," "Organizations are saying they need to motivate people at a deeper values level."
While making money is of course the first objective of any business, the second, and equally important, objective is how this will be achieved. Will it be through cost cutting, laying off staff, focusing on research and development or providing outstanding customer service? The answer will drive the culture within the organization.
A focus on money-making is invariably harmful to your company.
"If you are just there to make money, then it may work in the short term but in the longer term it will start to damage your business.
And what about Tyco and Enron?
"While Enron's core values were communication, respect, excellence and integrity, the corporate culture was to make money, and the culture overwhelmed the values."
But equally there are companies with healthy corporate cultures. The real challenge for companies is to create an inspirational type of culture.
Feeling the winds of change
So how do you recognize that your company needs to change its corporate culture in the first place?
The realization comes when an organization has restructured, cut costs and changed systems, and the employees are still dissatisfied and there are still silos.
While you can change a culture from within, rather than employ an external consultancy, this can be difficult if the leader of the initiative to change has been with the company for any length of time.
Cultural change has to come from the top. This is the most critical element for its success. Unless executives are walking the walk and talking the talk, then the staff will be reluctant to accept any mooted changes.
Research has shown that only one-third of managers and leaders understand the impact of their behavior on others.
"Two-thirds of managers and leaders don't have a good perception of how others see them and that plays out enormously," "Staff are extremely sensitive to an integrity gap between what leaders say and do."
The maverick factor
But having inspirational leaders is only half the equation. You also need to have key personnel to help implement the change.
People may hear the hype about cultural change at talkfests, but when they get back to their desks, nothing actually changes.
That's why it's important to make sure you have agents who act as catalysts for your new strategies. These are the mavericks.
"The mavericks will see the change as an opportunity to improve and do better business. They are the ones who will drive the culture change forward and build momentum."
A maverick can just as easily be somebody in their first job, who "doesn't know yet what he doesn't know". Or it could be somebody two years out from retirement who is "looking to give something back to the company and not just disappear into the sunset". In effect, the mavericks are the people you would keep if your CEO told you that you had to fire 80 per cent of your staff.
And shedding staff is all part and parcel of cultural change. You have to be willing to lose those people who don't want to embrace the new culture. Refers to as consequence management.
"You must be ready to get rid of people who are not living the values. It is the second most critical lever for the success of cultural change after leadership.
Consequence management should be part of leadership style. The worst thing in a high performance culture is to accept poor performance.
"Most attempts to change culture fail because there is not enough rationale behind the decision to change the culture, "You can't just change culture in isolation."
Working changes
Former CEO of IBM Lou Gerstner said in his book Who Says Elephants Can't Dance : "If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn't have. My bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is very very hard. (Yet) I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn't just one aspect of the game – it is the game."
Measure the culture and determine the gap between the actual culture and the desired culture. An Implementation program put into place can have many positive outcomes.
These include lower staff turnover, a 75 per cent drop in recruitment costs, a decrease in debtors and an improvement in customer satisfaction.
"You don't create a culture but you shape and morph it over time, "It's an active thing."
Indeed all cultures evolve over time; whether or not you are successful in a major transformation depends greatly on having sufficient numbers onside to drive through its implementation.
Three key themes – the need for better communication, recognition and rewarding achievements, and employment opportunities.
"Successful cultural change requires strong support from management and commitment from the whole team, It is not about setting new rules and expecting people to follow them – there needs to be a buy-in from all, strong commitment and passion.
"With executives it is about letting go [of their] control and allowing and trusting employees to make recommendations that are cost effective and would be practical enough to implement, but ultimately would lead the company becoming an employer of choice."
A cultural change program is a gradual, consultative process
Another important step is setting and communicating the vision ("challenge convention, create smart solutions and be wildly successful"), values and behaviors that allowed corporate goals and milestones to be set.
Change the performance management system, which typically is manager-oriented, change it to staff becoming responsible for creating their own goals. Rather than discussing your performance with your manager every six months, talks should take place every couple of months.
All goals support the company goals" and that the performance management system should also focuses on employee development and measures employee support for the company behaviors, which will help to sustain the culture.
Introduced an etiquette so that people do not waste time with meetings. The rules include such matters as arriving on time, giving people sufficient opportunity for pre-reading, and vacating the room as you found it. Simple rules, perhaps, but much appreciated by employees
Cheers,
JEV
From Canada, Ottawa
Some time ago, (not remembering from where) when researching I read an extensive article on corporate culture. I wanted to share these tidbits with all of you. This info hit home so strongly with my beliefs that I kept the key points in my files. There may be some useful information for your organizations
The Culture Factor
A company's culture can be its best asset. When it's more than just hype it can inspire and empower staff to take the business to great heights.
Corporate culture is the hidden force that shapes behavior. It's like gravity, you can't see it, but you can feel its pull.
Every company has a culture that drives the way its employees behave. When a new person joins an organization they will adapt to the prevailing corporate culture in order to assimilate with their fellow workers.
If the culture is poor, rather than bringing a breath of fresh air to the business, they will merely adopt the bad practices.
But what is this intangible "corporate culture"?
It is the shared values, norms and expectations that guide an individual's behavior within a company in terms of how they relate together, how they get a job done and how they relate to customers.
"The key word here is 'shared'," "If you don't share the values, aims and expectations then that's where you get trouble and that's when it's difficult to change a culture."
"It's the way you do things."
More than the dollars
A corporate culture solely focused on the dollar will prove short lived, and there are many examples where this has been evident.
"Making money is just the hygiene factor, it is not the ultimate motivator," "Organizations are saying they need to motivate people at a deeper values level."
While making money is of course the first objective of any business, the second, and equally important, objective is how this will be achieved. Will it be through cost cutting, laying off staff, focusing on research and development or providing outstanding customer service? The answer will drive the culture within the organization.
A focus on money-making is invariably harmful to your company.
"If you are just there to make money, then it may work in the short term but in the longer term it will start to damage your business.
And what about Tyco and Enron?
"While Enron's core values were communication, respect, excellence and integrity, the corporate culture was to make money, and the culture overwhelmed the values."
But equally there are companies with healthy corporate cultures. The real challenge for companies is to create an inspirational type of culture.
Feeling the winds of change
So how do you recognize that your company needs to change its corporate culture in the first place?
The realization comes when an organization has restructured, cut costs and changed systems, and the employees are still dissatisfied and there are still silos.
While you can change a culture from within, rather than employ an external consultancy, this can be difficult if the leader of the initiative to change has been with the company for any length of time.
Cultural change has to come from the top. This is the most critical element for its success. Unless executives are walking the walk and talking the talk, then the staff will be reluctant to accept any mooted changes.
Research has shown that only one-third of managers and leaders understand the impact of their behavior on others.
"Two-thirds of managers and leaders don't have a good perception of how others see them and that plays out enormously," "Staff are extremely sensitive to an integrity gap between what leaders say and do."
The maverick factor
But having inspirational leaders is only half the equation. You also need to have key personnel to help implement the change.
People may hear the hype about cultural change at talkfests, but when they get back to their desks, nothing actually changes.
That's why it's important to make sure you have agents who act as catalysts for your new strategies. These are the mavericks.
"The mavericks will see the change as an opportunity to improve and do better business. They are the ones who will drive the culture change forward and build momentum."
A maverick can just as easily be somebody in their first job, who "doesn't know yet what he doesn't know". Or it could be somebody two years out from retirement who is "looking to give something back to the company and not just disappear into the sunset". In effect, the mavericks are the people you would keep if your CEO told you that you had to fire 80 per cent of your staff.
And shedding staff is all part and parcel of cultural change. You have to be willing to lose those people who don't want to embrace the new culture. Refers to as consequence management.
"You must be ready to get rid of people who are not living the values. It is the second most critical lever for the success of cultural change after leadership.
Consequence management should be part of leadership style. The worst thing in a high performance culture is to accept poor performance.
"Most attempts to change culture fail because there is not enough rationale behind the decision to change the culture, "You can't just change culture in isolation."
Working changes
Former CEO of IBM Lou Gerstner said in his book Who Says Elephants Can't Dance : "If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn't have. My bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is very very hard. (Yet) I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn't just one aspect of the game – it is the game."
Measure the culture and determine the gap between the actual culture and the desired culture. An Implementation program put into place can have many positive outcomes.
These include lower staff turnover, a 75 per cent drop in recruitment costs, a decrease in debtors and an improvement in customer satisfaction.
"You don't create a culture but you shape and morph it over time, "It's an active thing."
Indeed all cultures evolve over time; whether or not you are successful in a major transformation depends greatly on having sufficient numbers onside to drive through its implementation.
Three key themes – the need for better communication, recognition and rewarding achievements, and employment opportunities.
"Successful cultural change requires strong support from management and commitment from the whole team, It is not about setting new rules and expecting people to follow them – there needs to be a buy-in from all, strong commitment and passion.
"With executives it is about letting go [of their] control and allowing and trusting employees to make recommendations that are cost effective and would be practical enough to implement, but ultimately would lead the company becoming an employer of choice."
A cultural change program is a gradual, consultative process
Another important step is setting and communicating the vision ("challenge convention, create smart solutions and be wildly successful"), values and behaviors that allowed corporate goals and milestones to be set.
Change the performance management system, which typically is manager-oriented, change it to staff becoming responsible for creating their own goals. Rather than discussing your performance with your manager every six months, talks should take place every couple of months.
All goals support the company goals" and that the performance management system should also focuses on employee development and measures employee support for the company behaviors, which will help to sustain the culture.
Introduced an etiquette so that people do not waste time with meetings. The rules include such matters as arriving on time, giving people sufficient opportunity for pre-reading, and vacating the room as you found it. Simple rules, perhaps, but much appreciated by employees
Cheers,
JEV
From Canada, Ottawa
vicky,
READ YOUR POST.
I thought of making some contributions towards it.
What I have suggested is a blend of guidelines/ideas/concepts on the
process of managing the change of culture in an organization.
I must also emphasise that the culture change is always done with a purpose.
The purpose may be
-TO IMPLEMENT ''PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM''
OR
-TO IMPLEMENT '' PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM''
OR
-TO TURN THE ORGANIZATION TO A ''LEARNING ORGANIZATION''
OR
-TO IMPLEMENT THE ''KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM''
ETC ETC
NOW, for the purpose of your learning/ also using knowledge for the
interview purpose in future, you should develop a case study
of your own and use the concepts/ideas to tailor a presentation
which you should use at the interviews.
YOU SHOULD INTERNAIZE THE IDEAS/CONCEPTS AND
USE IT AS YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND CONSTRUCT
A PRESENTATION.
PICK A SUBJECT, YOU ARE VERY FAMILAR WITH.
IT COULD BE , SAY, PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
AND TELL THE INTERVIEWER
-HOW YOU WILL INTRODUCE THE SYSTEM BY CHANGING
THE ORGANIZATION CULTURE.
THIS IS JUST A THOUGHT.
WITH THIS ,
I WISH YOU A TERRIFIC SUCCESS IN YOUR INTERVIEWS
AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.
ORGANIZATION CULTURE/ CHANGE
Organizational culture ultimately determines whether or not any improvement initiatives/CHANGES will be successful. Culture defines the work environment. The organization can design the most efficient possible work processes, acquire the very best management information systems, and employ state-of-the-art high technology, but unless the culture is prepared for change, improvement efforts will fall short. Management teams that must reduce costs and improve performance are immediately confronted with a daunting challenge that they will ignore only at their peril: how does one go about changing the organization’s culture?
Understanding Change Management
It is axiomatic that constructive change cannot be imposed from the top. This change formula elegantly explains why this is true and points the way to successful change implementation.
The Change Formula:
C = V x D >R
Where:
C = Change
V = A positive vision for the future
D = Dissatisfaction with the status quo, and
R = Natural human resistance to change
If you have ever put forward a great idea only to have it rejected or ignored by the very people whom it would most benefit, you will appreciate the change formula. The formula says that constructive change will occur in an organization only when a positive vision for the future multiplied by dissatisfaction with the status quo (the relationship is not linear) is greater than the natural human resistance to change.
The organization ’s culture is defined by the beliefs of its CEO, executives, managers, staff and specialists; the assumptions upon which those beliefs are based; and the behaviors that rest upon those assumptions. Human beings are creatures of habit. Because established routines help us order our lives we naturally resist threats to those routines. By definition, cultural change requires large-scale modification of routine-based behavior. It may require re-evaluation of long held and deeply cherished beliefs. No matter how great an idea is, if the people who would be affected by it are reasonably satisfied with the current situation, they will not voluntarily change their routines. Conversely, no matter how dissatisfied people are with things as they are, unless and until they believe that change will materially improve their circumstances, they will not change either, preferring less than ideal conditions over the unknown.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Change Management Strategy
Below is the outline of a systematic change management strategy based on the factors described in the change formula. The outline has been necessarily simplified , but it does describe the main phases and component elements.
Ø The Unfreezing Phase: A positive vision for the future is systematically and consistently articulated from the top by governance and executive management. The organization establishes a well-defined statement of consensus-based values that will be managed to and hired for. Elements from a model statement are shown below.
o Managers will value the organization ’s interests over those of individual departments.
o Information sharing and interdepartmental cooperation will be valued over gate keeping and internal competition. Information silos will be eliminated.
o Critical outcome performance will be valued over convenience.
o Constructive innovation will be valued over bureaucratic maintenance.
Ø The Organizational Development Phase: The necessity for change is accepted organization-wide.
o Board education begins with a well-designed orientation and continues systematically through each member’s tenure.
o Continuing education and training in financial management, planning, staffing and scheduling, quantitative methods, and supervisory management is routinely provided to managers on a scheduled basis.
o Managers are routinely exposed to external information (benchmarking data, outside speakers, relevant management publications, etc.) to develop an understanding of new approaches.
Ø The Implementation Phase: The organization develops and implements systematic methods to identify, prioritize and resolve performance-inhibiting factors as part of the management process.
o Management and training responsibilities are established for all mission-critical systems and performance feedback reporting mechanisms are developed and implemented.
o Critical outcome area “management by exception” reporting systems are developed and implemented.
o An annual inventory of factors inhibiting optimum performance is established as a department-level responsibility. The inventory serves as a basis for immediate action and organizational management planning.
================================================== =======
HERE IS SOMETHING, YOU CAN AS AN OPTION, PREPARE
THE GROUND FOR CHANGE.
From experience and observation, there are seven essential steps to transform a culture through a changed organization:
Scanning the environment for the two or three trends that will have the greatest impact upon the organization in the future
Determining the implications of those trends for the organization
Revisiting the mission -- "What is our mission?" and examining our purpose and refining it until it is a short, powerful, compelling statement of why we do what we do
Banning the old hierarchy we all inherited and building flexible, fluid management structures and systems that unleash the energies and spirits of our people
Challenging the gospel of "the way we've always done it" questioning every policy, practice, procedure, and assumption, by abandoning those that have little use today or will in the future -- and keeping only those that reflect the desired future
Communicating with the few powerful, compelling messages that mobilize people around mission, goals, and values -- not with 50 messages that our people have trouble remembering
Dispersing the responsibilities of leadership across the organization, so that we have not one leader but many CHAMPIONS at every level of the enterprise
And along the way, by initiating each of these challenging steps, LEADER/CHAMPIONS of the organization, in their behavior and language, embody the mission, values and principles. By working with others toward change, we create the desired result -- the inclusive, cohesive, productive organization reaching new levels of excellence in performance and significance.
That is the marriage of culture and organization, of belief and practice, that marks our best institutions. And in a wonderfully circular way, as the organization and its people grow and flourish, the culture reflects and resounds and delivers a message -- changing as the environment and the needs of our customers change.
In the end, it is a good thing that culture is not easily changed. A culture defines the heart of the organization, and a change of heart is not to be taken lightly. But the introspective and inclusive process by which an organization formulates its values and
revisits its situation.
================================================== ===========
HERE IS A SIMPLE APPROACH/GUIDELINE FOR Creating Change
1. Establish a sense of urgency
Communicate the business situation or reason for implementing the culture change —why is it necessary?
--------------------------------------------------------
2. Create the guiding coalition
Establish a team with the knowledge to initiate change and the power to make the change happen.
------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Develop a vision and strategy
Develop the organization ’s vision for the change and the strategies for implementation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Communicate the change vision
Share the vision and how it will affect the participants
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Empower broad-based action
Give the CHANGE team the authority to initiate the changes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Generate short-term wins
Work with the practice groups that are mostly likely to
accept THE CHANGE and celebrate their achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Consolidate gains and produce more change
Use success to create more success.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Anchor new approaches in the culture
Make the CHANGE initiatives a part of the daily work process of the firm.
================================================== ==========
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT TO NOTE IN CHANGING ''CULTURE''
IS THE ''TRANSITION'' .
WHY? because transition occurs in the course of every attempt at change.
Transition is the state that change puts people into.
The change is external (the different policy, practice, or structure that the leader is trying to bring about),
while transition is internal (a psychological reorientation that people have to go through before the change can work).
The trouble is, most leaders imagine that transition is automatic -- that it occurs simply because the change is happening. But it doesn't. Just because the computers are on everyone's desk doesn't mean that the new individually accessed customer database is transforming operations the way the consultants promised it would. And just because two companies are now fully "merged" doesn't mean that they operate as one or that the envisioned cost savings will be realized.
Even when a change is showing signs that it may work, there is the issue of timing, for transition happens much more slowly than change. That is why the ambitious timetable that the leader laid out to the board turns out to have been wildly optimistic: it was based on getting the change accomplished, not on getting the people through the transition.
Transition takes longer because it requires that people undergo three separate processes, and all of them are upsetting.
Saying Goodbye. The first requirement is that people have to let go of the way that things -- and, worse, the way that they themselves -- used to be. As the folk-wisdom puts it, "You can't steal second base with your foot on first." You have to leave where you are, and many people have spent their whole lives standing on first base. It isn't just a personal preference you are asking them to give up. You are asking them to let go of the way of engaging or accomplishing tasks that made them successful in the past. You are asking them to let go of what feels to them like their whole world of experience, their sense of identity, even "reality" itself.
On paper it may have been a logical shift to self-managed teams, but it turned out to require that people no longer rely on a supervisor to make all decisions (and to be blamed when things go wrong). Or it looked like a simple effort to merge two work-groups, but in practice it meant that people no longer worked with their friends or reported to people whose priorities they understood.
Shifting into Neutral. Even after people have let go of their old ways, they find themselves unable to start anew. They are entering the second difficult phase of transition. We call it the neutral zone, and that in-between state is so full of uncertainty and confusion that simply coping with it takes most of people's energy. The neutral zone is particularly difficult during mergers or acquisitions, when careers and policy decisions and the very "rules of the game" are left in limbo while the two leadership groups work out questions of power and decision making.
The neutral zone is uncomfortable, so people are driven to get out of it. Some people try to rush ahead into some (often any) new situation, while others try to back-pedal and retreat into the past. Successful transition, however, requires that an organization and its people spend some time in the neutral zone. This time in the neutral zone is not wasted, for that is where the creativity and energy of transition are found and the real transformation takes place.
Today, it won't take 40 years, but a shift to self-managed teams, for instance, is likely to leave people in the neutral zone for six months, and a major merger may take two years to emerge from the neutral zone. The change can continue forward on something close to its own schedule while the transition is being attended to, but if the transition is not dealt with, the change may collapse. People cannot do the new things that the new situation requires until they come to grips with what is being asked.
Moving Forward. Some people fail to get through transition because they do not let go of the old ways and make an ending; others fail because they become frightened and confused by the neutral zone and don't stay in it long enough for it to do its work on them. Some, however, do get through these first two phases of transition, but then freeze when they face the third phase, the new beginning. For that third phase requires people to begin behaving in a new way, and that can be disconcerting -- it puts one's sense of competence and value at risk. Especially in organizations that have a history of punishing mistakes, people hang back during the final phase of transition, waiting to see how others are going to handle the new beginning.
Most leaders come from backgrounds where technical, financial, or operational skills were paramount, and those skills provide little help when it comes to leading people through transition. Such leaders may be pushing the limits of their understanding of the future, and they need perspective and advice. That is where a trusted colleague, confidant, coach, or consultant can offer valuable counsel to the leader. This person's background or professional affiliation can vary widely; what matters is that she or he understands how to help people through transition. It is a role that is far more interpersonal and collaborative than is played by most consultants or trainers accustomed to teaching a skill or prescribing a solution.
No training program can prepare a leader for managing a transition. Yet no leader can effectively lead change -- which is what leadership is all about -- without understanding and, ultimately, experiencing -- the transition process. What leaders need, instead, is individualized assistance whereby they learn to
Create plans to bring their followers through the particular transition that they face -- not through generic "change." A trainer can teach leaders a generalized approach ("The Ten Steps..."), but a good coach can help the leaders to discover their own best approaches.
Work with their own goals, limitations, and concerns to create a development plan that prepares them for the future.
Times of transition are becoming the rule rather than the exception. Yet few leaders know how to prepare for the changes that lie ahead. Transition leadership skills must be congruent with, must capitalize and build on, the leader's own strengths and talents. They cannot be found in a set of theoretical leadership skills.
The transition adviser works collaboratively with each leader to assess the leader's place in the three-part transition process, the strengths the leader brings and how to leverage them, and what the current situation demands. It is a personal and completely customized process.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Method to Managing Transition
Although the details of a transition management plan are unique to each situation, the adviser must help a leader with the following essential steps:
Learn to describe the change and why it must happen, and do so succinctly -- in one minute or less. It is amazing how many leaders cannot do that.
Be sure that the details of the change are planned carefully and that someone is responsible for each detail; that timelines for all the changes are established; and that a communications plan explaining the change is in place.
Understand (with the assistance of others closer to the change) just who is going to have to let go of what -- what is ending (and what is not) in people's work lives and careers -- and what people (including the leader) should let go of.
Make sure that steps are taken to help people respectfully let go of the past. These may include "boundary" actions (events that demonstrate that change has come), a constant stream of information, and understanding and acceptance of the symptoms of grieving, as well as efforts to protect people's interests while they are giving up the status quo.
Help people through the neutral zone with communication (rather than simple information) that emphasizes connections with and concern for the followers,. To keep reiterating the "4 P's" of transition communications:
The purpose: Why we have to do this
The picture: What it will look and feel like when we reach our goal
The plan: Step-by-step, how we will get there
The part: What you can (and need to) do to help us move forward.
Create temporary solutions to the temporary problems and the high levels of uncertainty found in the neutral zone. For example, one high-tech manufacturer, when announcing the closing of a plant, made interim changes in its usual reassignment procedures, bonus compensation plans, and employee communications processes to make sure that displaced employees suffered as little as possible, both financially and psychologically. Such efforts should include transition monitoring teams that can alert the leader to unforeseen problems -- and disband when the process is done.
Help people launch the new beginning by articulating the new attitudes and behaviors needed to make the change work -- and then modeling, providing practice in, and rewarding those behaviors and attitudes. For example, rather than announcing the grandiose goal of building a "world-class workforce," leaders of transition must define the skills and attitudes that such a workforce must have, and provide the necessary training and resources to develop them.
Since the ability to manage transition is tied to the realities of an actual leader in an actual situation, mutual trust between adviser and leader is essential. Only that way can leaders be honest enough to bring their fears and concerns to the surface quickly, hear what the situation is really "saying" rather than focusing on a program that a consultant is trying to sell, and gain the personal insight and awareness of the transition process that can be carried into the future.
Because this transition management relationship is a close and ongoing one, the adviser gets to know the leader's situation well and follows it as it changes. Understanding the dynamics of transition is far removed from the kind of leadership training most organizations provide. Traditional trainers and consultants seldom possess such intimate knowledge of their client. Whatever personal coaching they provide is usually subsumed to the teaching of a generic skill or body of knowledge. And because the relationship is time-limited, there is a natural pressure to produce quick, clear results.
However, because transition advisers work within the context of the situation at hand, their focus is not on how to "be a leader" or even how to "change an organization" but on how to provide the particular kind of leadership that an organization in transition demands. For that reason, the results of the relationship are very specific: the development of new skills and behaviors geared to the needs of the unique time and circumstances in which the person leads.
================================================
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
READ YOUR POST.
I thought of making some contributions towards it.
What I have suggested is a blend of guidelines/ideas/concepts on the
process of managing the change of culture in an organization.
I must also emphasise that the culture change is always done with a purpose.
The purpose may be
-TO IMPLEMENT ''PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM''
OR
-TO IMPLEMENT '' PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM''
OR
-TO TURN THE ORGANIZATION TO A ''LEARNING ORGANIZATION''
OR
-TO IMPLEMENT THE ''KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM''
ETC ETC
NOW, for the purpose of your learning/ also using knowledge for the
interview purpose in future, you should develop a case study
of your own and use the concepts/ideas to tailor a presentation
which you should use at the interviews.
YOU SHOULD INTERNAIZE THE IDEAS/CONCEPTS AND
USE IT AS YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND CONSTRUCT
A PRESENTATION.
PICK A SUBJECT, YOU ARE VERY FAMILAR WITH.
IT COULD BE , SAY, PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
AND TELL THE INTERVIEWER
-HOW YOU WILL INTRODUCE THE SYSTEM BY CHANGING
THE ORGANIZATION CULTURE.
THIS IS JUST A THOUGHT.
WITH THIS ,
I WISH YOU A TERRIFIC SUCCESS IN YOUR INTERVIEWS
AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.
ORGANIZATION CULTURE/ CHANGE
Organizational culture ultimately determines whether or not any improvement initiatives/CHANGES will be successful. Culture defines the work environment. The organization can design the most efficient possible work processes, acquire the very best management information systems, and employ state-of-the-art high technology, but unless the culture is prepared for change, improvement efforts will fall short. Management teams that must reduce costs and improve performance are immediately confronted with a daunting challenge that they will ignore only at their peril: how does one go about changing the organization’s culture?
Understanding Change Management
It is axiomatic that constructive change cannot be imposed from the top. This change formula elegantly explains why this is true and points the way to successful change implementation.
The Change Formula:
C = V x D >R
Where:
C = Change
V = A positive vision for the future
D = Dissatisfaction with the status quo, and
R = Natural human resistance to change
If you have ever put forward a great idea only to have it rejected or ignored by the very people whom it would most benefit, you will appreciate the change formula. The formula says that constructive change will occur in an organization only when a positive vision for the future multiplied by dissatisfaction with the status quo (the relationship is not linear) is greater than the natural human resistance to change.
The organization ’s culture is defined by the beliefs of its CEO, executives, managers, staff and specialists; the assumptions upon which those beliefs are based; and the behaviors that rest upon those assumptions. Human beings are creatures of habit. Because established routines help us order our lives we naturally resist threats to those routines. By definition, cultural change requires large-scale modification of routine-based behavior. It may require re-evaluation of long held and deeply cherished beliefs. No matter how great an idea is, if the people who would be affected by it are reasonably satisfied with the current situation, they will not voluntarily change their routines. Conversely, no matter how dissatisfied people are with things as they are, unless and until they believe that change will materially improve their circumstances, they will not change either, preferring less than ideal conditions over the unknown.
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A Change Management Strategy
Below is the outline of a systematic change management strategy based on the factors described in the change formula. The outline has been necessarily simplified , but it does describe the main phases and component elements.
Ø The Unfreezing Phase: A positive vision for the future is systematically and consistently articulated from the top by governance and executive management. The organization establishes a well-defined statement of consensus-based values that will be managed to and hired for. Elements from a model statement are shown below.
o Managers will value the organization ’s interests over those of individual departments.
o Information sharing and interdepartmental cooperation will be valued over gate keeping and internal competition. Information silos will be eliminated.
o Critical outcome performance will be valued over convenience.
o Constructive innovation will be valued over bureaucratic maintenance.
Ø The Organizational Development Phase: The necessity for change is accepted organization-wide.
o Board education begins with a well-designed orientation and continues systematically through each member’s tenure.
o Continuing education and training in financial management, planning, staffing and scheduling, quantitative methods, and supervisory management is routinely provided to managers on a scheduled basis.
o Managers are routinely exposed to external information (benchmarking data, outside speakers, relevant management publications, etc.) to develop an understanding of new approaches.
Ø The Implementation Phase: The organization develops and implements systematic methods to identify, prioritize and resolve performance-inhibiting factors as part of the management process.
o Management and training responsibilities are established for all mission-critical systems and performance feedback reporting mechanisms are developed and implemented.
o Critical outcome area “management by exception” reporting systems are developed and implemented.
o An annual inventory of factors inhibiting optimum performance is established as a department-level responsibility. The inventory serves as a basis for immediate action and organizational management planning.
================================================== =======
HERE IS SOMETHING, YOU CAN AS AN OPTION, PREPARE
THE GROUND FOR CHANGE.
From experience and observation, there are seven essential steps to transform a culture through a changed organization:
Scanning the environment for the two or three trends that will have the greatest impact upon the organization in the future
Determining the implications of those trends for the organization
Revisiting the mission -- "What is our mission?" and examining our purpose and refining it until it is a short, powerful, compelling statement of why we do what we do
Banning the old hierarchy we all inherited and building flexible, fluid management structures and systems that unleash the energies and spirits of our people
Challenging the gospel of "the way we've always done it" questioning every policy, practice, procedure, and assumption, by abandoning those that have little use today or will in the future -- and keeping only those that reflect the desired future
Communicating with the few powerful, compelling messages that mobilize people around mission, goals, and values -- not with 50 messages that our people have trouble remembering
Dispersing the responsibilities of leadership across the organization, so that we have not one leader but many CHAMPIONS at every level of the enterprise
And along the way, by initiating each of these challenging steps, LEADER/CHAMPIONS of the organization, in their behavior and language, embody the mission, values and principles. By working with others toward change, we create the desired result -- the inclusive, cohesive, productive organization reaching new levels of excellence in performance and significance.
That is the marriage of culture and organization, of belief and practice, that marks our best institutions. And in a wonderfully circular way, as the organization and its people grow and flourish, the culture reflects and resounds and delivers a message -- changing as the environment and the needs of our customers change.
In the end, it is a good thing that culture is not easily changed. A culture defines the heart of the organization, and a change of heart is not to be taken lightly. But the introspective and inclusive process by which an organization formulates its values and
revisits its situation.
================================================== ===========
HERE IS A SIMPLE APPROACH/GUIDELINE FOR Creating Change
1. Establish a sense of urgency
Communicate the business situation or reason for implementing the culture change —why is it necessary?
--------------------------------------------------------
2. Create the guiding coalition
Establish a team with the knowledge to initiate change and the power to make the change happen.
------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Develop a vision and strategy
Develop the organization ’s vision for the change and the strategies for implementation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Communicate the change vision
Share the vision and how it will affect the participants
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Empower broad-based action
Give the CHANGE team the authority to initiate the changes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Generate short-term wins
Work with the practice groups that are mostly likely to
accept THE CHANGE and celebrate their achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Consolidate gains and produce more change
Use success to create more success.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Anchor new approaches in the culture
Make the CHANGE initiatives a part of the daily work process of the firm.
================================================== ==========
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT TO NOTE IN CHANGING ''CULTURE''
IS THE ''TRANSITION'' .
WHY? because transition occurs in the course of every attempt at change.
Transition is the state that change puts people into.
The change is external (the different policy, practice, or structure that the leader is trying to bring about),
while transition is internal (a psychological reorientation that people have to go through before the change can work).
The trouble is, most leaders imagine that transition is automatic -- that it occurs simply because the change is happening. But it doesn't. Just because the computers are on everyone's desk doesn't mean that the new individually accessed customer database is transforming operations the way the consultants promised it would. And just because two companies are now fully "merged" doesn't mean that they operate as one or that the envisioned cost savings will be realized.
Even when a change is showing signs that it may work, there is the issue of timing, for transition happens much more slowly than change. That is why the ambitious timetable that the leader laid out to the board turns out to have been wildly optimistic: it was based on getting the change accomplished, not on getting the people through the transition.
Transition takes longer because it requires that people undergo three separate processes, and all of them are upsetting.
Saying Goodbye. The first requirement is that people have to let go of the way that things -- and, worse, the way that they themselves -- used to be. As the folk-wisdom puts it, "You can't steal second base with your foot on first." You have to leave where you are, and many people have spent their whole lives standing on first base. It isn't just a personal preference you are asking them to give up. You are asking them to let go of the way of engaging or accomplishing tasks that made them successful in the past. You are asking them to let go of what feels to them like their whole world of experience, their sense of identity, even "reality" itself.
On paper it may have been a logical shift to self-managed teams, but it turned out to require that people no longer rely on a supervisor to make all decisions (and to be blamed when things go wrong). Or it looked like a simple effort to merge two work-groups, but in practice it meant that people no longer worked with their friends or reported to people whose priorities they understood.
Shifting into Neutral. Even after people have let go of their old ways, they find themselves unable to start anew. They are entering the second difficult phase of transition. We call it the neutral zone, and that in-between state is so full of uncertainty and confusion that simply coping with it takes most of people's energy. The neutral zone is particularly difficult during mergers or acquisitions, when careers and policy decisions and the very "rules of the game" are left in limbo while the two leadership groups work out questions of power and decision making.
The neutral zone is uncomfortable, so people are driven to get out of it. Some people try to rush ahead into some (often any) new situation, while others try to back-pedal and retreat into the past. Successful transition, however, requires that an organization and its people spend some time in the neutral zone. This time in the neutral zone is not wasted, for that is where the creativity and energy of transition are found and the real transformation takes place.
Today, it won't take 40 years, but a shift to self-managed teams, for instance, is likely to leave people in the neutral zone for six months, and a major merger may take two years to emerge from the neutral zone. The change can continue forward on something close to its own schedule while the transition is being attended to, but if the transition is not dealt with, the change may collapse. People cannot do the new things that the new situation requires until they come to grips with what is being asked.
Moving Forward. Some people fail to get through transition because they do not let go of the old ways and make an ending; others fail because they become frightened and confused by the neutral zone and don't stay in it long enough for it to do its work on them. Some, however, do get through these first two phases of transition, but then freeze when they face the third phase, the new beginning. For that third phase requires people to begin behaving in a new way, and that can be disconcerting -- it puts one's sense of competence and value at risk. Especially in organizations that have a history of punishing mistakes, people hang back during the final phase of transition, waiting to see how others are going to handle the new beginning.
Most leaders come from backgrounds where technical, financial, or operational skills were paramount, and those skills provide little help when it comes to leading people through transition. Such leaders may be pushing the limits of their understanding of the future, and they need perspective and advice. That is where a trusted colleague, confidant, coach, or consultant can offer valuable counsel to the leader. This person's background or professional affiliation can vary widely; what matters is that she or he understands how to help people through transition. It is a role that is far more interpersonal and collaborative than is played by most consultants or trainers accustomed to teaching a skill or prescribing a solution.
No training program can prepare a leader for managing a transition. Yet no leader can effectively lead change -- which is what leadership is all about -- without understanding and, ultimately, experiencing -- the transition process. What leaders need, instead, is individualized assistance whereby they learn to
Create plans to bring their followers through the particular transition that they face -- not through generic "change." A trainer can teach leaders a generalized approach ("The Ten Steps..."), but a good coach can help the leaders to discover their own best approaches.
Work with their own goals, limitations, and concerns to create a development plan that prepares them for the future.
Times of transition are becoming the rule rather than the exception. Yet few leaders know how to prepare for the changes that lie ahead. Transition leadership skills must be congruent with, must capitalize and build on, the leader's own strengths and talents. They cannot be found in a set of theoretical leadership skills.
The transition adviser works collaboratively with each leader to assess the leader's place in the three-part transition process, the strengths the leader brings and how to leverage them, and what the current situation demands. It is a personal and completely customized process.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Method to Managing Transition
Although the details of a transition management plan are unique to each situation, the adviser must help a leader with the following essential steps:
Learn to describe the change and why it must happen, and do so succinctly -- in one minute or less. It is amazing how many leaders cannot do that.
Be sure that the details of the change are planned carefully and that someone is responsible for each detail; that timelines for all the changes are established; and that a communications plan explaining the change is in place.
Understand (with the assistance of others closer to the change) just who is going to have to let go of what -- what is ending (and what is not) in people's work lives and careers -- and what people (including the leader) should let go of.
Make sure that steps are taken to help people respectfully let go of the past. These may include "boundary" actions (events that demonstrate that change has come), a constant stream of information, and understanding and acceptance of the symptoms of grieving, as well as efforts to protect people's interests while they are giving up the status quo.
Help people through the neutral zone with communication (rather than simple information) that emphasizes connections with and concern for the followers,. To keep reiterating the "4 P's" of transition communications:
The purpose: Why we have to do this
The picture: What it will look and feel like when we reach our goal
The plan: Step-by-step, how we will get there
The part: What you can (and need to) do to help us move forward.
Create temporary solutions to the temporary problems and the high levels of uncertainty found in the neutral zone. For example, one high-tech manufacturer, when announcing the closing of a plant, made interim changes in its usual reassignment procedures, bonus compensation plans, and employee communications processes to make sure that displaced employees suffered as little as possible, both financially and psychologically. Such efforts should include transition monitoring teams that can alert the leader to unforeseen problems -- and disband when the process is done.
Help people launch the new beginning by articulating the new attitudes and behaviors needed to make the change work -- and then modeling, providing practice in, and rewarding those behaviors and attitudes. For example, rather than announcing the grandiose goal of building a "world-class workforce," leaders of transition must define the skills and attitudes that such a workforce must have, and provide the necessary training and resources to develop them.
Since the ability to manage transition is tied to the realities of an actual leader in an actual situation, mutual trust between adviser and leader is essential. Only that way can leaders be honest enough to bring their fears and concerns to the surface quickly, hear what the situation is really "saying" rather than focusing on a program that a consultant is trying to sell, and gain the personal insight and awareness of the transition process that can be carried into the future.
Because this transition management relationship is a close and ongoing one, the adviser gets to know the leader's situation well and follows it as it changes. Understanding the dynamics of transition is far removed from the kind of leadership training most organizations provide. Traditional trainers and consultants seldom possess such intimate knowledge of their client. Whatever personal coaching they provide is usually subsumed to the teaching of a generic skill or body of knowledge. And because the relationship is time-limited, there is a natural pressure to produce quick, clear results.
However, because transition advisers work within the context of the situation at hand, their focus is not on how to "be a leader" or even how to "change an organization" but on how to provide the particular kind of leadership that an organization in transition demands. For that reason, the results of the relationship are very specific: the development of new skills and behaviors geared to the needs of the unique time and circumstances in which the person leads.
================================================
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
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Values and culture.ppt