Managing Values has a strong commitment to co-design at each stage of a cultural change assignment.  Rather than prescribe the solution from the beginning, we prefer to work alongside clients to design a program that has authenticity and integrity with organisational members so that change is sustained over time.  We believe that organisational culture is, at its simplest, a set of social arrangements and processes that need to be consciously managed rather than left to chance.

Typically our work plays out in the field in these phases:

Phase 1.  Co-Design the “Road Map” of Cultural Change

Working initially with the project sponsor and then key members of teams, we develop a change strategy that identifies:

• significant obstacles to change
• milestones on the road to change and
• A plan and strategy to get to the cultural end state desired.

This is presented in the form of a “road map” with appropriate benchmarks and time frames.  We find this step achieves the following:

• identification of potential change champions who can be co-opted into the design and delivery stages
• clarifies compositions of sub-teams and their working process, with suggestions for re-organisation to leverage off learning/working styles
• identifies opportunities for “quick wins” to create a climate of change readiness
• establishes the management/leadership model and process and skills champions as process facilitators
• develops personal/managerial pipelines to demonstrate management commitment to personal and professional development
• matches changing expectations to competences, including emotional competence

Phase 2 Team-Building Workshops

Once the direction and strategy for the group is agreed, we find it is important to also agree a set of shared values for how success will be achieved as well as articulating the direction and key accountability’s for team members.  There is now wide evidence to suggest that shared values in the workplace can energise an organisation and meld a disparate group into a self-organising community and our goal is to facilitate such a commitment to shared values. We also find that there is a need to clarify roles and design a structure for changing and this is facilitated via facilitated workshops designed to:

-  Clarifies expectations, values, roles, processes and accountability’s– Very often organisations provide good resources without paying much attention to clarifying expectations and goals.  This can often lead to confusion and negative emotions including frustration and resentment.  We use group processes to clarify expectations and so promote collective understanding around expectations and accountability’s.

-  Builds shared values and a shared vision of success – This is facilitated by the clarification of personal and organizational values, when one takes priority over the other and the development of personal and collective action plans to bring the desired change into being.

Since individuals learn and organizations do not, any organizational change initiative must be designed to help employees learn about their own values and how these shape their experience of workplace dynamics and their vision for future.

According to Martin Seligman, the “life satisfaction” formula consists of Pleasure + Engagement + Meaning and this is as relevant to the work situation as it is to every other area of our lives. Given this definition, in order to build high performance workplace cultures, one of the key questions employees need to be reminded of is why they have chosen to work within their organisations, what makes meaning for each team member and how their needs can be met within an ever changing workplace environment.  Our workshop processes enables such reflection.

- Promotes intrinsic job satisfaction – Providing teams with regular meetings and a formal platform to discuss work procedures greatly enhances job satisfaction and reduces work stress by encouraging positive emotions towards team members.  Workshops are designed to encourage employees to discuss and interact with their colleagues on their work processes and how they can institute change to improve interpersonal relationships. This is followed up with a Review workshop after several months with all team members to check progress against personal and collection action plans

Phase 3.  Executive Coaching

In our experience, leading a corporate change program requires a skill set that not only articulates a long term strategy but also requires an ongoing executive support program to assist with the management of change and ensure appropriate role modelling from the top.

To support the implementation of any change program we therefore recommend a coaching/mentoring program is put in place for senior managers.  This involves:

• an intensive management development module
• regular strategic coaching/de-briefing sessions as the team or unit moves along the “road map”, to assess progress, review obstacles and revise strategies and deadlines, as well as review progress against the overall plan and change objectives
• periodic executive development training sessions for key managers/change champions

Outcomes from Program

1. Clarification of the benefits of a new leadership model/paradigm
2. Strategic management skill development for key team members and group consensus on the strategic direction for each section as well as values, roles and accountability’s
3. Refocus and realignment of team goals with specified processes
4. Personal and team action plans
5. Newly developed interpersonal competencies

FIELD EXPERIENCE

STATUTORY BODY:

We have facilitated the development of a strategic plan and design of change management program for this Australian national authority.

AREA HEALTH SERVICE:

Managing Values Principles’ have facilitated the development of strategic plans for several nursing authorities.

INFRASTRUCTURE COMPANY:

We facilitated the consultation and codification of a new set of organisational values to complement this organisation’s cultural change strategy.