Culture, Culture, Culture

Someone asked me recently why I place so much emphasis on organizational culture.  The simple answer is that it is the most potent and yet most overlooked variable in organizational performance.  If you have a connective culture, you have organizational alignment of your programs, processes, and structures with your purpose.  Most organizational leaders cannot look in a mirror and see where their organizations are misaligned.  In order to be as productive as possible, you need alignment, but this is impossible without a constructive culture in which people can communicate openly with trust; where they all know their roles, and believe they have the tools, authority, and skills to excel; and where they respect their leaders for fairness and dedication.  

I don’t make a practice of sharing negative examples on my blog, but this past week I experienced such a powerful example of a non-constructive culture that I feel compelled to share it.  A dear friend moved to DC last year to work for a highly respected federal agency.  Having spent his career in the private sector, where his work won many awards, he was eager to bring his talents and experience to serve our country.  

Hired at a very low grade level, he was promised that he would be boosted up two grades as quickly as possible.  When this didn’t happen, and it was obvious to all that he was working at a much higher level than his pay grade, he was told to, “Work at grade, and not any better.”  

Devastated, he is now wondering how long he can remain in this agency, in spite of the accomplishments he’s achieved for them.  He was born and probably hard wired to “work above grade.”  He’s now recognizing that, in spite of his achievements and the guidance he’s provided many colleagues during the last year, he may decide to leave if his only choice is to fit into a passive defensive culture where people are punished for doing more than they are paid for—and where his salary doesn’t cover his monthly rent for a studio apartment.

Please look at the signals you may be sending to your family or work group about what you expect of them.  As a leader, you are creating a culture by what and how you communicate as well as what you do or don’t do.  Look at yourself through the eyes of others and discover ways you can promote a more connective culture—one that will benefit the group as well as every member.

ANNA's Strategic Planning Journey

I recently had the great fortune to guide the amazingly courageous board of the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) through a strategic planning initiative.  Their previous plan, although many pages long, was unclear, unspecific, and uninspiring.  From the beginning, they were willing to challenge old assumptions and engage members in the conversation about where they want to go.  They examined trends in health care, association membership, and other areas that could impact their future.  And they rigorously asked themselves the same question that evidence-based nursing care is based on: how will we measure success?  Although they knew they would need a detailed road map to guide them to their desired future, ANNA’s board wanted a one page summary that members could understand and appreciate.  The highlights of our work (yes, in one page!) can be seen on their website at: http://www.annanurse.org/download/reference/association/strategicPlan.pdf

ANNA has found that their strategic plan has changed how they conduct board meetings, now focusing on their strategic priorities up front and as the bulk of the content of their meetings.  They continue to listen to members and adjust their path based on what members are telling them.  For instance, members have expressed how work and life pressures have constrained their ability to offer volunteer leadership, so the board is shortening meeting times as well as finding ways for members to engage through social media and in smaller chunks of time.  They are better able to spot and seize strategic opportunities that might have been missed without their focus on advancing their priorities.  And because they are working with agreed-upon ground rules on shared goals, they are being more efficient (and having more fun) than in the past.

I founded the Schiller Center for Connective Change more than 25 years ago so I could work with people like the members of the ANNA board who are doing meaningful work and want help being more effective and efficient in doing so.  The members of the ANNA board had some tough issues to face, yet their commitment to serving their members motivated them to address these issues head on, with stellar results.  The iterative process I use goes through four stages, which, like the seasons, are cyclical:  Define (spring), Design (summer), Align (autumn), and Refine (winter).  ANNA has been in the alignment/ implementation phase for several months now, so its leaders can tangibly measure the fruits of their strategic planning labors and celebrate the benefits being accrued.  From my point of view, they have become beloved family members with whom I have shared an intense, intimate, and rewarding journey.