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Here’s a recent Harvard Business Publishing blog post on its “How We Work” blog (Peter Bregsman) that’s attracted quite a few comments. It obviously struck a nerve.
The premise of the post underlines and reinforces one of the key points that KMWorld speaker and teacher emeritus Dave Snowden keeps ramming home for everybody here at KMWorld09. Real and honest stories (narratives) can make a big difference in how people see their work, the place they work, why they work, how to work, and so on.
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A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture
“I’d like to talk to you about a big project,” the woman told me on the phone. “We need to change our culture.”
She was a senior leader in a professional services firm, where people really are their most important asset. Only it turns out the people weren’t so happy. Theirs was a very successful firm with high revenues, great clients, and hard working employees. But employee satisfaction was abysmally low and turnover rates were staggeringly high. Employees were performing, they just weren’t staying.
This firm had developed a reputation for being a terrible place to work. When I met with the head of the firm, he illustrated the problem with a personal example. Just recently, he told me, a client meeting had been scheduled on the day one of his employees was getting married. “I told her she needed to be there. That the meeting was early enough and she could still get to her wedding on time.”
He paused and then continued, “I’m not proud of that story, but it’s how we’ve always operated the firm.” Then he looked at me, “So, Peter, how do you change the culture of a company?”
Such a simple question. I wanted to give him a simple answer.
But a culture is a complex system with a multitude of interrelated processes and mechanisms that keep it humming along.
Performance reviews and training programs define the firm’s expectations. Financial reward systems reinforce them. Memos and communications highlight what’s important. And senior leadership actions — promotions for people who toe the line and a dead end career for those who don’t — emphasize the firm’s priorities.
In most organizations these elements develop unconsciously and organically to create a system that, while not always ideal, works. To change the culture is awkward, self-conscious, and complex. It’s better to avoid it if possible.
“Why do you want to change the culture?” I asked him. “The firm seems successful. Highly profitable. The culture seems to be working to support those goals. Why not keep it?”
He had to think for a few moments. “It’s not sustainable. Eventually we’ll lose our best people. No one will want to work here.” And then he paused. “I won’t want to work here.”
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To find out how narrative and stories can make a difference, read the rest of this interesting and inspiring blog post here …
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