|
Creating a Climate
for Change
Cultural climate is a
background ingredient in cultures that helps people feel
connected and open to change. Climate is felt through
the sense of community, shared vision and positive
outlook. These cultural qualities are imbedded in social
interaction. When climate factors are noticeably absent,
their development must become a part of the culture
change plan.
Climate Factors
A sense of
community exists when people:
-
Know one
another in multi-dimensional ways (that is,
more than what job someone does)
-
Feel that
they belong and are welcomed
-
Care for
one another in times of need
-
Look
forward to a future together
-
Freely
express hopes and feelings
To foster a sense of
community, coworkers should be given opportunities to
meet informally, to share about their personal interests
and to help one another. Community-building activities
must often be structured so that people get to know one
another, to know more than just job responsibilities.
Community building sometimes involves retraining
managers so that they foster a climate of trust and
openness rather than fear and suspicion.
Some actions that
foster a strong sense of community include:
-
Bringing
people together in times of crisis and providing
ways they can help one another.
-
Post and
celebrate special milestones such as marriages,
births and educational achievements.
-
Giving people
the opportunity to discuss what their milestones
mean to them.
-
Encouraging
show and tell.
-
Keeping an
organizational database of hobbies, special
interests, and living places. Then, link people
with common experiences.
-
Holding special community-building events such as
outdoor adventure activities, films, lectures
and charity functions. Then, ask that
participants share their reactions to these
experiences.
-
Providing for a “catching up” on
personal news before meetings
A shared vision
exists when people:
-
Are
inspired by the purpose of the group or
organization
-
Feel that
their values and ideas are incorporated into
what the organization is trying to achieve
-
Can
easily communicate the mission and direction
of the organization
-
Recognize
that individual and organizational
needs are being addressed
-
See how
their day-to-day activities support the
overall goals of the organization
To foster a shared
vision, employees must be given opportunities to see how
their work supports larger goals. The goals must be
inspirational and worthy of employee interest at all
levels. The vision needs to be acknowledged and accepted
by most, if not all employees. The vision must include
the
organization's mission and values. The vision must also
be compatible with the
personal values of employees. The policies,
procedures and programs of the organization must be
aligned with the vision.
Some actions that
foster a strong shared vision include:
-
Having
coworkers share about personal values. Then
check the level of agreement that each
person’s values are worthwhile
-
Reviewing
values and ideas that had been important to
the organization’s founders
-
Identifying four or five core values or
themes that encompass current goals and
reflect values that are compatible with the
vision of the organization’s founders
-
Working
together to write a mission or vision
statement
-
Involving
organizational members in setting agreed-upon goals
-
Developing stories, symbols and rituals that
express agreed upon goals
-
Developing norm change goals that reflect
agreed upon goals
-
Examining
formal and informal policies, procedures and
programs for their consistency with agreed-upon goals
A positive
outlook exists when people:
-
•Regularly
recognize individual and collective
strengths
-
Acknowledge “problems” as important
opportunities for improvement and growth
-
Do not
discount achievements by calling attentions
to weakness (changes “buts” to “ands”)
-
Seek out
win-win or mutually beneficial solutions to
perceived tradeoffs
-
Use
opportunities to include fun
To foster a positive
outlook, strengths and opportunities must be emphasized.
Negative blame placing and finger pointing need to be
minimized and replaced by constructive ideas and
strategies for success. Creating a positive outlook does
not mean overlooking the challenges rather, it means
that people work together to address those challenges.
Employees must find time to celebrate individual and
positive success.
Some actions
that foster a strong positive outlook include:
-
Reviewing
strengths before new tasks are begun
-
Identifying positive qualities of situations
that had been called negative
-
Setting
achievable short- and long-term goals and
celebrate the accomplishment of each
-
Brainstorming and carrying out healthy ways
to celebrate the achievement of individual
and group goals
-
Making a
conscious effort to learn from mistakes
-
Tracking
the number of positive and negative
statements in conversation. If more than a
quarter of the statements are negative,
challenging the group to be more positive
-
Looking
for cultural explanations and solutions to
recurring individual problems. Then
addressing the cultural barriers as well as
individual motivation. For example,
cultural prohibitions against asking for
help may be causing people to be late in
completing work assignments
| Assignment: Discuss your
plans for creating a cultural climate that will
support change. In your statement, tell how you
will strengthen the sense of community, shared
vision and positive outlook.
Email your statement to
JuddA@healthyculture.com. |
|
|
