On Thursday night after I'd read the book, I decided to send a thoughtful response to my boss who had asked me my opinion on changing the culture in our company. See, the three of us executive managers all agree that the culture must change. I'm just not sure the three of us are on the same page, or planet for that matter, with regard to how we should change or how we're going to get there. I believe he thinks that if he commands it, it will be so. I like to think that you have to lead people to change and you have to do it in a systematic, adaptive approach so the change will be real and long-living. Kind of like quitting smoking, right? So I wanted to feel him out a bit. So I sent him and my colleague the following email:
After having read through this numerous times and giving it thoughtful consideration, I would like us, as a management team to consider/ask ourselves the following questions as we embark down a path of redefining and shaping our culture.
1. Is our current culture proactive or reactive?
2. Do we reward/advance people based on achievement or time?
3. Are we open to risk or afraid to change?
4. How do we feel about paying people for a chunk of work, not a chunk of time?
5. Do we believe that Time + Physical Presence = Results?
6. T or F – Few individuals in this company are giving their best
7. Do we send the message that Presenteeism is how we base performance?
8. Do we believe that if people can get their work done in less time, they should get more work?
9. Are we championing a system that distracts from results by making negative comments or judging how people use their time?
10. Do we set clear goals and expectations for every employee – on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis?
11. Are we, as managers prepared to do it what it takes to set those goals on a crystal clear level?
12. Do we plan?
13. Do we talk about expected outcomes with the staff?
14. Do we intentionally or unintentionally enforce how work looks vs actually getting the work done?
15. Are the meetings we each hold well defined by purpose and expected outcome or are they just taking up time that could be spent working toward results?
16. How many of our employees have witnessed or been a target of incivility in our organization? – how do we think that affects our overall culture and ability to succeed?
17. Do we, as managers, believe we are entitled to certain privileges that others have not earned?
18. Do we give privileges to certain employees that we feel they deserve and have earned but don’t offer those same privileges to everyone equally across the board?
19. Are we leading our people, or just managing them?
20. Do we believe that people will behave like responsible adults if treated as such?
21. Are we allowing low performers or bad attitudes to slip by because of presenteeism or other perceived value to the company?
22. Do we believe that knowledge work requires fluidity, concentration and creativity?
Obviously I’m not looking for you guys to respond item by item – instead I’m trying to engage some thought into what might be at the root of this problem – and trying to fix it. Any type of change we make here really needs to be an adaptive change – not just a technical change - or else it will not be long-lasting. The three of us have to be committed, united and clear on what the new culture will be. Unfortunately, I think that also means that we need to take a deep look inside ourselves and consider we could be causing the problem because we’re sending mixed messages to this staff – telling them we are one type of culture – and managing by something completely different. Are we unknowingly and without intention dividing this staff and not driving this company to the next level? If so, are we each prepared to take on the job of correcting that through disciplined change? Food for thought
And then I waited in anticipation for his response. He's one that likes to come up with ideas on his own so it's fairly important that any change we make be his idea. I knew this coming into it - and didn't expect a miracle or an immediate, "I don't know what you're talking about - but I love it - so let's just go for it - whatever it is!"
But what I got was a tad more disturbing than what I expected.
Some of these are worthy of more discussion and some I can answer readily.
I will say however, the change we have been talking about will require change among the 3 of us as well in how we manage to drive performance results. I don't think our present situation can be neatly boxed into one thing, but is the combination of several things from our past history that for the most part has had its share of dysfunction management and workers. We never had the luxury of selective and careful thoughtful hiring in order to not just bring the right skill set, but the right personality type. With that said, I don't want everyone to feel as though I don't feel good about our employees we have. I think for the most part we have a good set of steady Eddie's in the company. What I am trying to stoke the fires on is to see who can move beyond that or what we can do to support and drive greater achievement from this group. Right or wrong, and I may be wrong on this, but we allowed as managers a culture of acceptance as we felt we had no options and that we were merely grateful that anyone would work for us given the dysfunction or financial history of uncertainty. I would like to think we can slowly move away from this. I don't think we can enforce massive change, but starting the shift of attitudes as part of 3.0 around getting everyone to thinking about what each person can do individually to improve and get better, is the first focus I am advocating we try to promote all in the higher objective of growing the company to a double in revenues in 3 years.
Now if you had to hone in on the Company 3.0 document, coming back to that, and incorporating or isolating the thoughts listed below, what are we missing? Are we conveying the right message? Can it be better? I guess that is what I am after in the objective of growing the company with driven employees that want to excel.
And that's where I hit the first, of what I will suspect will be many, roadblocks. A crystal clear dismissal of the details and a seeking of approval of a document that basically demands change occur immediately within our staff.
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