Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Three)

Part three of the series of ten, using films to illustrate the feelings organisations should seek to evoke in employees in order to create a high performance culture. As before, I'd be interested in any comments.....

Number 3 - Commitment

I started with a feeling of 'passion' for day three. Organisations that are successful are full of people who are passionate about what they do and about the contribution they make to their business. But the more I thought about it the more I felt that actually passion is a staging post on the way to what you really want employees to feel - commitment. If passion is a compelling emotion towards something, commitment involves them pledging themselves to and in support of the it. Being committed to the organisation means really being involved in it and earnestly investing effort to ensure its success i.e. the delivery of its purpose and the outcomes which arise from its purpose. Employee engagement without commitment is well.......pointless!

I have avoided the temptation today of using two films to illustrate the feeling. But I am using a scene from my chosen film to illustrate both passion and commitment. In 'Any Given Sunday' the main character is the head coach of the Miami Sharks American Football team, a team who were very successful a few years previously. But the new team owner has little knowledge or enthusiasm for the game and is concerned only with results and the bottom line. When the established quarterback for the Sharks is injured the coach brings in a rookie quarterback and he immediately becomes a big star. But fame and money goes to his head and despite some good results the spirit of the team is destroyed.

Actually I don't think the film is very good, in parts it's hard to know whether it's actually a parody of the sport but I do really like the scene before the play-off final because of the impassioned speech by the coach (Al Pacino) and how it reunites the team and results in them collectively committing to fight their way back "one inch at a time". I like how he describes life, like football as a game of inches - because the margin for error is small, a matter of inches and that those who win fight for every inch.....

Just an ok film, but a great scene. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSDhhZtRwFU

Part 4 tomorrow!

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019

Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Two)

Following on from yesterdays blog, and using films to illustrate the key feeling organisations should seek to evoke in employees in order to create a high performance culture......here's number two of ten (the next will follow tomorrow). You might disagree with the ones I've chosen or know of other films that better illustrate it - let me know with a comment.

Number 2 - Hope / Belief
I planned today's entry to be 'Hope', a feeling that many employees in these troubled economic times are struggling to maintain when they're seeing declining profits, colleagues being made redundant and companies going out of business. The opposite of hope - hopelessness, is a debilitating feeling, it drains people of energy, prevents actions being taken and induces an acceptance of the current position. It disables progress and improvement. So hope is a good feeling to have, but is it strong enough?

Is hope perhaps too weak a word? Does it imply that there are two potential outcomes, a positive one and a negative one? And by giving attention to the negative one does it reduce the likelihood of the positive one occurring? That's the conclusion I've reached and so in a high performance culture a stronger feeling is more appropriate, a 'belief' in the future. A conviction that because of the efforts of everyone in the organisation, the future will be bright and successful. A faith in the future and trust that the positive outcome will occur. I think hope and belief are connected feelings, thery're on the same spectrum but belief is the stronger. So I've settled on belief as the second feeling to develop in your employees.

Incidentally, the importance of having belief in the organisation we work for has another important connotation. Employees won't believe in their employer if they see the organisation making decisions and taking actions which aren't ecological (in the widest sense of the word) and good for employees, good for customers, good for shareholders, good for society and for the world. It's going to become increasingly difficult for organisations to truly engage their employees if the things they do are clearly not ecological.

So what film have I chosen to illustrate belief? Well, I've been a little indecisive on this one, I want to use two films, hence leaving hope in the equation too. So for hope I'm using 'The Shawshank Redemption', a great film with a heart warming ending. Andy DuFresne, one of the two main characters is falsely imprisoned after being found guilty of murdering his wife and her lover and the majority of the film is set in Shawshank prison. There's a scene in it when Andy talks to his friend Red about hope and Red objects, saying that "hope is a dangerous thing." Ultimately hope triumphs, and Andy and Red meet again after Andy escapes and Red is released. The film trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco

Despite the focus on hope, I still question whether Andy really meant hope or belief. In my view it was more than hope, it was an inner belief that he would leave prison. A belief that caused him to spend long, long hours digging to create an escape route with simply a small stone hammer......

In the second film belief comes across even more strongly. In 'Jerry Maguire', a young,
successful agent with a major sports management firm, has a troubling encounter with the son of an injured athlete he represents, has a crisis of conscience and realises there's something wrong with what he's doing. So in the middle of a sleepless night, Jerry writes a mission statement calling on himself and his colleagues to think less about money and more about the long-term relationship they have with their clients. Everyone applauds the sentiment but his superiors think it's bad for business and Jerry is fired. In an impassioned speech as he leaves the building Jerry calls for others to join him in starting a new business with the different ethics he's described but only one - Dorothy - joins him. The film charts his trials and tribulations building the business and his relationship with Dorothy, but ultimately of course both succeed.

What drives his business success, despite all the difficulties is his belief that the approach he articulated in the statement is the right thing to do, for the benefit of his clients. And finally his belief in his relationship with Dorothy makes that right too. Incidentally I love the title of his document: "The things we think but do not say", another powerful message in business. Employees have to feel able and passionate about speaking their mind - for the benefit of their business. Jerry tried, and whilst he failed to change minds he had the conviction, the belief to go and do it himself. I also love how he expresses how he feels having written the mission statement: "I was 35, I'd started my life!"

See a great scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSi4HHNOnd0

Number 3 tomorrow!

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019

Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part One)

Don't you just love how some movies make you think long after you've left the cinema? I know this is a very tenuous and gratuitous link to the Oscars but I've been exercising my mind thinking about which films I'd choose to illustrate the feelings you'd want employees to engage with in a high performance culture. So just for fun........ here's the first one of ten I think illustrate the key elements (I'll post another each day over the next ten days). You may disagree with my interpretation or think there are better examples - feel free to comment with your suggestions!

Number 1 - Purpose
Every organisation wants committed people. But without a clear purpose there's nothing to be committed to! Organisations whose people commit themselves wholeheartedly, generate it because people associate and connect with its purpose and with the outcomes which result from it. People do extraordinary things when they have a sense of purpose and they connect with their organisation when the organisation is the means to deliver the purpose.

So if you want to create a vibrant culture in which people commit fully to the organisation, make sure the purpose is clearly articulated and communicated in a way that people can connect with.

The film that illustrates it for me is 'The Magnificent Seven'. A remake of 'The Seven Samurai', it's a story about a small Mexican town that is terrorised by the bandit Calvera who steals their food periodically. When they are once again attacked by the bandit, three farmers seek help to defend their town. They ask one of the heroes, Chris Adams (played by Yul Brynner) to help them. He recruits five others and they are eventually joined by a sixth, forming the 'Magnificent Seven'. They all come for a different reason but combine together around a common purpose - to defend the people of the town and stop the injustice.

Great cast, great score, great film - one of my favourites!

Watch the film trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWIlGnJDRzw

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019

POST-SCRIPT - Integrity crisis? Employees moral compass and customer experience

I blogged yesterday about an experience my father in law had with a contractor of Homeserve and about the potential implications employees (or others representing your brand) can have on your customer experience if their behaviour is considered by customers to lack integrity.

I felt compelled to write a post-script to this following telephone calls received from Homeserve today.

Firstly, I'm really impressed that Homeserve picked up on this as quickly as it did (and it certainly illustrates the power of social media - would this have been spotted as quickly in your organisation?). They have also quickly taken action to resolve the matter for my father in law, paying the cost of the repair and leaving him feeling much happier.

Having used them as an example to illustrate my wider point about the integrity of employees generally I'm now happy to use the company specifically as a positive example of how to deal with an issue quickly and effectively. Good job Homeserve!

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019

Integrity crisis? Employees moral compass and the #customerexperience

I was talking to my father in law last night and he was telling me about an experience he's had over the last few days with Homeserve, a company who position themselves as Britain's home emergency and repair experts. He isn't very 'handy' around the house so decided years ago that it was worthwhile arranging some cover so that if ever he needed help he could get it quickly and easily. So ten years ago he arranged this service with Homeserve and has paid them an annual premium of £300 ever since.

He hasn't needed to use it before but for the first time earlier this week had a problem that he needed their help with. He told me that whilst loading the dishwasher he felt a drip of water on the back of his neck and looking up, saw water dripping out of a light fitting. His inspection upstairs quickly revealed that the toilet was leaking where the trap goes through the floorboards. Unsure about what to do he rang Homeserve and they very helpfully explained how he could stop the problem from becoming any worse by turning off the stop valve. They then, again very helpfully, said that they'd arrange for a plumber to call to find the cause of the leak and put it right. He told me that at this point he was impressed and was congratulating himself on how wise he'd been to arrange the cover.

The next day the plumber called and looked at the toilet. His conclusion was ......that it would be easier to "accidentally crack the toilet bowl" and claim on his home insurance to get it replaced. Note: claim on his home insurance and not on his Homeserve cover. My father in law asked whether the colour and shape of any replacement would match perfectly with the bath and sink, and was then told that the insurance company would pay for everything to be replaced if an exact match couldn't be found.

Dubious, even with his limited knowledge of DIY, about whether this made sense my father in law thanked the man and said he'd think about it. He then called a friend, who had a friend etc who was a plumber and this new contractor visited later to take a look. His response was that it could be easily fixed and he'sactually done the work this morning for a total of £60. The outcome is that when the repair is done my father in law intends to call Homeserve to cancel the cover. I suspect that what happened was the result of a 'rogue' individual rather than a policy at Homeserve but they will obviously suffer the loss of a long term and profitable customer.

There seem to be more and more stories in the press and on TV at the moment about the dishonesty of workers and the impact of their actions on the customer relationship. It's not hard to find stories of cowboy builders, of dishonest garages, cheating plumbers and the like. And there have also been well publicised examples of bigger issues - mis-sold payment protection insurance being a prime example. I was also told of a problem at a bank in which insurance salesmen had been achieving more sales (and therefore more commission) when selling car insurance by quoting using a cheap postcode area and then changing the postcode on the live system when the policy was set up. As the quoting system didn't link to the live system it was a scam they ran to reduce premiums and thereby sell more policies. And Homeserve itself has recently been embroiled in a miss-selling scandal with suggestions that staff were selling cover without fully explaining what the customer was paying, or the package they were buying.

Set this alongside the research that Essex Univeristy did recently which concluded that Britain may be facing a future 'integrity crisis' and it's clear that the UK is experiencing a decline in moral standards. The research illustrated that lying, adultery, drug taking, breaking the speed limit, drink-driving, and handling stolen goods are all seen as more acceptable than they were at the turn of the century. The author of the report said "It appears Britons are growing more and more tolerant of low level dishonesty and less inclined to sanction activities which would have been heavily frowned on in the past.” As an aside, isn't this also the reason that there's such an issue currently with bogus claims for whiplash following non-existent car crashes? If no-one was responding to the unsolicted phone calls and text messages the companies operating the scams would stop. People must be willing to submit dishonest claims because the problem seems to be growing rather than going away?

This integrity crisis should be a consideration for organisations when thinking about their customer experience delivery. Businesses are going to need to create an organisational culture which compensates for the likelihood that the decline in integrity amongst the population as a whole will be reflected also in its employees. It's going to become more important for their culture to make any form of dishonesty unacceptable. Integrity must become a core part of it, reflected in policies and procedures, in recruitment and career progression, in reward and recognition, in product development and pricing, in sales practices, in decision making processes and in behaviours - it has to be woven through the fabric of the organisation. It's critical for delivery of a customer experience that will ultimately mean that customers trust and love the brand.

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield

Twitter: @accordengage

Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019

The power of emotional contracts #employee engagement

In my blog on 17th February I focused on the emotional element of employee engagement. And I'm going to continue the 'emotion' theme in this blog.

Someone asked me recently about the emotional connection between employer and employee. I expressed my view that it's stronger than a connection - a phrase I like more is the one that's been used by others before now, an 'emotional contract', the relationship that exists (usually at an unconscious level) between an employer and each of its employees.

It's a two-way relationship. In addition to the 'hard' objectives associated with each role, the organisation expects certain behaviours from its employees. Some of them may be reflected in organisational values, or written down in the 'how' part of role descriptions, but many won't be. They're the unwritten rules of working there. Adhere to the rules and everything is fine, but step outside them and you start to attract negative attention.

And on the other hand, each employee expects certain things from both the organisation as a whole and from their manager / leader specifically. These things are what's required to meet their personal rules for what being a good employer and boss means. For example at an organisational level: "in order to be a great place to work I need to feel I'm treated fairly, which means that people policies are applied in the same way across the business". Or "in order to be a great boss, he/she must say good morning to me every morning". Break one of more of the rules and the emotional contract starts to break down.

The problem is that each employee has rules which reflect their values and beliefs, their previous decisions and experiences and so on, and as a result they are unique to them. And these subtle differences make it hard to even understand them, let alone manage them effectively. It's even more difficult because often people can't articulate their rules. When they're broken they may only have an awareness that they are happy or cross about something that's occurred.

I mention that rules exist for boss and organisation as a whole intentionally. I've never really understood the debate about whether employees leave businesses or bosses. It's too much of a generalisation. They sometimes leave businesses (because their rules for the organisation as a whole have been transgressed) and sometimes leave bosses (because their boss rules have been broken). It always depends on the individuals rules.

Ultimately this illustrates that the organisation should be absolutely clear about its expectations of employees and what it will do in return for them - and then it must always, without fail keep those commitments. And it illustrates the importance of managers being emotionally intelligent and developing a relationship with each person in their team - with the aim of being aware of how others are feeling, and through discussion with them understanding what caused it.

Tap into the rules people have, manage emotional contracts and you'll create people who are truly engaged...

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Twitter: @accordengage

Basics before extras #customer experience

In my last blog I mentioned that I had a couple of night away from home this week on business. One of those was spent in a Doubletree Hilton hotel in London. It was interesting and had elements towards each end of the customer experience spectrum.

Arriving early in the morning on route to another meeting I didn't expect to be able to check in to my room and instead just wanted to leave a bag so I didn't need to carry it around with me all day. I was pleasantly surprised that my room was available so I went through the check-in process. As a nice extra touch I was given a warm cookie and can vouch for the fact that it was delicious, albeit that I didn't eat it until later that afternoon and by that time it certainly wasn't warm any longer! As I left the hotel to go to my meeting I was left with a very positive initial impression of the process and the people who had delivered it.

On returning later that afternoon I needed to make two or three calls and as I'd just realised that my mobile phone wasn't working I tried to dial out from the landline in my room. I followed the instructions on how to access an outside line but couldn't complete the call. After several attempts I rang reception who explained that in order to make calls they needed credit card details - which they'd omitted to take when I checked in. I asked them to enable the line and that I'd call down later for them to register my card. They agreed and said I'd be able to make calls in just 5 minutes. Time passed, and I tried again - unsuccessfully. I had a shower and then tried again - still not working. After 25 minutes I rang reception again and reminded them. They apologised and said it would be done in 5 mninutes. I reminded them they'd said that previously and they assured me it would happen this time. And it did, but I was left feeling frustrated and a little annoyed that they hadn't delivered effectively first time.

Subsequently I realised that the television in my room wasn't working. The problem seemed to be with the remote control and it didn't seem possible to operate it manually so prior to going out to dinner a little later and when registering my card for the calls, I asked at reception for another remote to be delivered to my room. I returned 3 or 4 hours later only to find that this hadn't been done. To be honest I didn't pursue it - I read a little instead. BUT my sense of frustration had grown and I felt almost disrespected, certainly not valued.

I checked out the next morning following breakfast.

Two conclusions from the overall experience:

1. Get the basics right AND THEN build on the extras. This isn't new by any means but it's worth reiterating because many companies are still making the same mistakes. hs Getting the basics wrong outweighs all the benefits of the extras.
2. People are critical. I'm sure that a process was in place to enable the telephone and to sort out the television problem - but people failed to deliver it. Again, this isn't new but when we get busy, it fails.

Delivering a consistently great customer experience isn't complex, but it does require constant focus....

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Blog: http://everythingengagement.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @accordengage

Get emotional with your people

I've just been away from home on business for a couple of nights. On Tuesday night I was in a hotel in London - more about my customer experience there tomorrow, but one issue was that the television in my room didn't work, so I read a little and had lots of time to think. I was reflecting on Valentines day and the reasons why I love my wife (awwww). I concluded that it's both rational and emotional. It's because we have a rapport, we have similar interests and views and we often think in a similar way (although we do sometimes disagree and argue!) - reasons that are all rational and logical. AND there are other reasons that are nothing to do with logic, they're emotional and I find it difficult to explain them clearly, it's just how I feel, it's all about
my emotions.

There is a parallel there with the relationship employees have with their employer. It's partly driven by conscious and rational thoughts about what they see, hear and feel about their work environment and experience i.e. the more tangible stuff, and it's also emotional i.e intangible. An employee may not without help even be able to articulate why they feel how they do, but those feelings are real nevertheless.

This presents two problems in organisations or more specifically, for its leaders and managers:

1. The balance between logical thinking and emotion is out of kilter in some
   organisations. It's important to have both but when one dominates, it's usually
   logic. In extreme cases emotion and intuition can even be seen as a sign of
   weakness. Consequently whilst employee engagement might be considered important
   the approach to it is flawed because it fails to engage people emotionally. This
   can be seen in some organisations where there is no understanding or reference
   to the emotions the organisation wants to evoke as part of the employee
   experience. It just doesn't appear on the radar of the organisational culture.
2. It requires leaders to be emotionally intelligent. Because our emotions are
   individual and because the way in which they form is driven by our values and
   beliefs and our previous experiences they are unique to each one of us. When a
   leader believes that anothers emotions are 'wrong', because they're different
   from their own, there's a problem. Engaging people is about acknowledging
   different emotions and recognising them by adopting different approaches to
   stimulate the right employee experience emotions. My view is that Diversity is
   actually more about acknowledging different thoughts and emotions as valid than
   it is meeting legal requirements. And it isn't a moral imperative, it's about
   efficient and effective business performance - but that's perhaps for a future
   blog.
   

Employee engagement programmes must connect rationally and emotionally. Does
yours?

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Blog: http://everythingengagement.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @accordengage

The Model T Ford Approach to Engagement

When my soon to be son in law bought a new car, I wasn't surprised to see that it was the base model. He specifically sought out a high specification model in a colour and with bodywork that's a bit unusual. And he's had more work done on it since to individualise it even more. If I see it when I'm out I know it's him and I haven't seen another like it in the area. That's the appeal I think - it's a bit different, and reflects his personality. The days of the Model T Ford and the "any customer can have any colour they want so long as it's black" approach have obviously long gone and we all now select a car based on what's most important to us, whether it's performance, economy, number of seats or whatever. We're all different, with different requirements.

I thought about this recently when coaching a manager to engage his people more effectively. He felt levels of engagement were patchy and was clearly frustrated about it, because he felt he put a lot of effort into it. And to be fair his engagement plan was thorough, he was committed to creating a great place for people to work and he devoted lots of time to it. The problem was that he was adopting a 'one size fits all' approach to delivery of his plan. For example, he held a weekly meeting to give them information he thought was important for them and also asked for their feedback at the same time. "But some people never contribute" he said, "I just can't get them to get involved and express an opinion".

Because it worked for some people he'd assumed it would with all of them. A trap we can all fall into when we're thinking from our perspective rather than through the eyes of those we're seeking to engage. The solution wasn't difficult. He talked to those people he felt weren't engaged and asked them what might work better. He's had a variety of answers apparently, one person said they'd like to know in advance what the topic of conversation will be so that they can prepare, another that they'd like to reflect on the conversation in the meeting and then have an individual conversation afterwards, and another would like to break into smaller groups to talk before returning to the main meeting. Approaches reflecting our individuality.

Engagement is like that. Plans that aim to engage a group of people with a common perspective tend to be less well developed and less successful than those which recognise and reflect we're all unique and individual.

Engagement happens one person at a time...

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906650019

Don't be so bloody presumptious! #customer experience

I bought a new car a few months ago and received this postcard in the post yesterday from the company I bought it from. I wasn't very impressed.

It's perhaps relevant that when I bought the car I wasn't very pleased with the service I received. The garage had promised to put petrol in for me and they didn't. Also, I had a business meeting that afternoon so arranged to collect it with time to spare to drive to the meeting. When I arrived it wasn't ready and it was a further 90 minutes before I was able to drive away. I arrived 20 minutes late for the meeting! It made it even worse when they showed little remorse for inconveniencing me.

And as a result, when the car needed servicing in December of last year I'd no intention of asking them to do it. I took it somewhere else instead.

Now clearly the previous experience has coloured my judgement of Arnold Clark. I wondered yesterday whether my concern about the postcard would have been as great had the initial experience been more positive. My conclusion is that I would still have been annoyed, for two reasons:

1. They assumed that they have my business
2. Because I had to take action if I didn't want to proceed

The customer experience lessons to be learned? Firstly, NEVER PRESUME YOU HAVE MY BUSINESS! You have to earn the right to my business, again and again and again. And secondly, THINK FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS PERSPECTIVE NOT YOURS. In this case what this means is ringing the customer (they have my number) to ask if I'd like to have the car serviced, not making me ring to tell them I don't want to. Their assumptive sell does nothing to develop their customer experience.

I did ring them. I don't think they understood my perspective, it's too difficult for them to see beyond what they assume to be the most effective sales technique.

For more information on the things to do to truly engage customers see my blog posted on 9th January entitled 'A Customer Engagement Manifesto for 2012'

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906650019

Don't create a nice place to work! #corporateculture

The conventional wisdom is that having engaged employees is a good thing. And I agree - it is. And in recent years many companies have been pursuing an employee engagement strategy as a result - which is good. But ....some of them have been making a huge mistake by not defining what they want employees to be engaged with!

My guess is that every organisation would say they want a culture which results in people performing at their best, ultimately so that it can deliver its business plan. I stopped to read that sentence a few times to check it's true - would every organisation want that? Well on the basis that I can't think of a single example of a company, industry sector or geographical location where it wouldn't be true, I believe it is (please tell me if you can think of one!). And yet some organisations pursue an engagement strategy which isn't aligned.

What they do is create a really 'nice' place to work. It's extremely comfortable for employees to work in and gthey receive lots of support from the organisation. Employee surveys probably show that people are satisfied and highly engaged. And yet the business is struggling to deliver the business plan.

The approach is flawed because it's pursued in isolation from business objectives and the culture required to enable delivery of those objectives.

Better instead to engage employees with the business strategy and with their role in delivering it. Better to have a degreee of 'edginess' in the culture. Better to have a balance between the level of challenge for people and the amount of support for them. And better for people to understand that consistently poor performance does actually have consequences.

Create a great place to work, not a 'nice' one....


LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906650019

We shoot birds - that's the way it's always been done around here #culturechange

I have some very good friends who own a holiday home on Gozo, an island close to Malta in the Mediterranean. They were telling me about how birds are shot and trapped there and also on Malta. It's apparently caused an outcry and a petition calling for it to stop and containing 115,000 signatures was delivered to the Maltese Prime Minister back in 2007. Despite it being illegal it's still happening today.

As a result of holidaying on the island for a number of years they have developed friendships with some local people and asked them why it happens. Most didn't know the answer but they eventually found an old lady who was able to explain. She told them that it started back in the 2nd World War when food was in such short supply that people shot birds to eat. It wasn't
necessary when the food shortages stopped after the war but by then it had become something they just did - and it's continued ever since. It has become part of the Maltese culture. A bit like Fox Hunting did in parts of the UK I suppose.

As an aside, Malta (including Gozo) is, because of its position between Europe and Africa, a key staging post for birds migrating between the two continents each Spring and Autumn and according to the RSPB falls in the numbers of some species is partly attributed to the hunting in Malta. As a result Malta has attracted lots of critisism for not stopping it completely.

I think the story has some parallels with organisational culture. Firstly, every organisation has it's own examples of practices and behaviours that are "just the way things are done around here". Few people can tell you why it happens - it just does. Secondly, it may not serve any purpose any longer, in fact the outcome of it might be very negative but it remains nevertheless. And thirdly, changing it, without understanding the root cause and being able to unpick the emotions associated with it can be really, really difficult.

Are you still shooting birds in your organisation?

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Phone: (0044) 07906650019

Taking ownership of the Culture you want to have

Today’s blog is aimed at leaders – those people in positions of power and influence in organisations. It’s entitled ‘Taking Ownership of the culture you want to have’. If you are a leader you might think that sounds strange, you may take it for granted that you ‘own’ the culture of your organisation. If that’s true – fantastic! But actually, is it really true?

When you think about it more deeply you might find that you experience ownership of some of it, the bits that you like, the parts that resonate with your personal values, the elements that enable you to achieve what you want to achieve. And you may realise that it’s more challenging to experience ownership of the bits that irritate, annoy and frustrate you – that’s certainly often been true for me during my career.

It’s only natural that we like to think of ourselves positively and focus on the helpful, constructive contributions we make. One of the reasons ‘leaders’ get to the position they’re in is because they see the good things about themselves and draw confidence from it. And that’s a good thing – people who are positive and focus on their strengths tend to perform better than those who don’t. But, it can also mean leaders sometimes have a ‘blind-spot’ for the way in which they influence culture negatively.

Consider your answers to a few simple questions:

• What do you tolerate at work (perhaps because “changing it is just too difficult”)?
• How do you react when something goes wrong?
• What do you do when something goes well?
• What do you talk about most?
• Who do you prioritise?
• What are you a role model for?
• What do you unconsciously communicate to people?

Whether you like it or not, you are a role model – from the moment you open your car door on the company car park in the morning to the time you shut it before your drive home. Every moment of the day your behaviour is communicating things to those around you. As the saying goes “We cannot not communicate. We do it by our presence and by our absence, by our silences as well as our words, by our choices, gestures and attitudes. We may not always do it well, but we always do it.”

So, as a leader, are you taking ownership of the culture you want to have?

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906650019