A Personal View on Culture Change

You've got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium's

Liable to walk upon the scene

Johnny Mercer 1944

Recently I have frequently found myself discussing cultural change. While this is not totally surprising given a couple of callouts I have made for help with the subject, I think it also reflects a growing interest in people I interact with.

I will not claim to be "qualified" in any way other than experience and a continuing appetite for enquiry, but having talked this out a number of times I thought it useful to try and capture the essence of my current understanding.

As a quick summary here are my views. Successful culture change:-

• Can be inspired, not demanded or mandated.
• Is an emergent journey, not a transition between two fixed conditions
• Is fragile, at least at the start, and needs effective protection AND reinforcement
• The first steps need not be hard, but often require courage
• Is NOT mechanistic!
• Needs time to gestate and embed

I am sure we could add to that list, but it will do for now. I will explore the elements further, but first I want to give some tips about what to do.

• Lead from the top and front
• Tell the story and share the vision, again and again
• Identify your ambassadors and support them
• Be brave and don't be complacent
• Exaggerate for effect
• Take your timing from people you are leading

Interestingly the two lists are almost entirely as they came out of my head, yet they do seem to largely fit together so maybe they will make sense to the reader too.

Let me expand on some of these points. Looking at the first two about inspiring change and leading from the front, these reflect the fact that it is very hard to drive cultural change let alone try and do it from the middle levels. Talking to many who have tried the message has been to put your best change leaders on culture and not to leave it to last when yoou are setting your team. It is also clear and natural that when faced with change your teams will look to you to see how you are embracing it and they will take their lead from you. Because of this point alone it is imperative that you not only talk the change, but you live it and show the way.

Moving on, when I started looking at cultural change I found that there seem to be two schools of thought. The first, which I see as more traditional, is that you can analyse, document and detail both the culture you have now and the one you wish to create. Armed with this the thinking is that you can identify and plan a set of tasks that move you from one plateau or steady state to another plateau or steady state. The other view is that there are no steady states, but instead the change is a journey that sets of aiming at a recognisable vision and requires continual review and adpatation; indeed it may never reach a steady state. This latter thinking seems to look at by changeing discrete behaviours one can create an outcome that is a new culture.

One of the arguments I found in favour of the latter approach is the work that sets up just three rules that if adopted, will make a group of flying beings act like a flock of geese. More importantly to me is that the steady state to steady state approach seems to be way off the world I live in at work these days. It may be that 50 years ago culture persisted unchanged, but that is not the case now with the increased pace of change all around.

My last comment on this point comes both from advice and real personal experience and that is t he importance of story telling as opposed and creating real dialogue from top to bottom of the organisation. Boring staid emails, Powerpoints, deskdrops, town halls and general corporate communications just don't help the cultural agenda. I have created posters, heard of books being written, tea parties arranged and other ideas. Be creative in your attempts to portray and convey your vision.

Another recommendation is to spread the load and embrace help wherever it is found. The most obvious is to look for "ambassadors", people who while not officially part of the change team can and will take the message and support it throughtout the community you are trying to affect. They do so not because they are told to, but because they understand, believe and can communicate.

In a similar vein one needs to be prepared to exaggerate the reponse to both positive and negative signs of change if one is to accelerate and establish developments. Spotlighting and rewarding positives are essential, but ten time more important is picking up on negative behaviours and addressing them. Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State said the following when speaking on London on leadership. He said that no one spots poor performance (or behaviour) better than a person's peers, and when they do spot it they watch to see how the leader deals with it. From this response they assess the acceptability of the that performance (or behaviour) and adpat their own standards accordingly.

Cultural change is fragile and need special nurturing and extra effort. It is not a science, despite what some may wish. You will make mistakes and it takes a certain bravery at times, but one thing I can be sure and that is if you do nothing then any change will be by chance and unlikely to be in the direction you wish.

The last aspect I will address here is timing. In this I make not apologies for emphasising that cultural change is about people and their reactions are not precisely predictable. Also they do not change instantaneously, but take time to digest and adjust; indeed we each do handle it differently and at a different pace. The significance of this is that you cannot drive change to a military timetable. Instead it is more important to work with the rhythm and pace of the groups you are changing, pushing when then are ready, slowing when they are not ready, adapting when you need to adapt. This is more about instinct that courage than process and ticking boxes.

I hope some of this resonates and if you wish to contribute please feel free to comment. I added the song lyrics at the start as they seemed to capture the spirit and intent of this, though they were written over 50 years ago. Interesting eh?

It says it all!

Over the years my friends will know that I have often made reference to chivalry and how I feel my values align to it - this was without ever really defining what "it" is. Well the other day I was half watching TV when the script of an advert grabbed my attention and set up a strong resonance.

The product in question is Chivas Regal. This is quite apt given my enjoyment of whisky. The full advert can be watched here ( http://www.chivas.com/en/INT/Campaigns/?item=0&length=L ) where you will get the full experience. However I have transcribed the vocal element below:-

   Everyone out for themselves
   Can this really be the only way?
   No, here is to honour, and to gallantry, long may it live.
   Here's to doing the right thing, to giving a damn
   Here's to the straight talkers who give their word and keep it
   Here's to freedom, wherever you find it
   And to know the true meaning of wealth
   Here's to the brave among us
   Here's to a code of behaviour that sets certain men apart from all others
   Here's to us
   Live with Chivalry

I am not sure I could say it any better. Now I have this I will keep it close!

Unifying People Assessment Tools

I posted before about my desire for something that managed to bring (and hold) together the variety of assessment tools used by HR and trainers when looking at personal and team skills, strengths, weaknesses, types, etc.

Well, since then I have formulated an idea that I want to capture and share. In looking for a unifying framework to join up all these tools, my epiphany was when I was introduced to the StrengthsFinder tool and realised could be the missing piece to help join the likes of Myers-Briggs, DISC and indeed Kiersey, and the Judgement Index. See the end of this blog for and an expansion on these tools, if required.

I have attempted to illustrate my idea it as a three dimensional model, but this is purely symbolic given that each "axis" is itself multi-dimensional. The three dimensions reflect a link and relationship rather than competition.

The axes are Type, Strengths and Judgement/Values. I think there is a natural order to these.

Type is the sort of psychometric tool that identifies the DNA of personality. Based on Jungian idea, Myers-Briggs, DISC, etc .tend to come up with a categorisation of each of us. Of course there is no right or wrong, but the sense is that our DNA is set during our early formative years and is unlikely to change much after that. Some movement where we place close to a boundary can happen, but in general it is fixed. For example, in Myers-Briggs I have almost always tested as ENTJ across a number of years and a number of different assessors and tools. I did come out as ENTP once, but that was on inspect probably driven by some immediate circumstances and the preference was only marginal.

So in essence that is the first assessment to do as it sets a more constrained field for the next consideration which is strengths.

In respect of strengths, the tool I have come across is Strengthsfinder which looks to identify the individuals top five themes or strengths from a set of 34. These are the areas in which they perform best or could deliver well if they there was a development focus. Not only can the strengths be developed, but the tool acknowledges the set can change as we move through life. That said it is most likely they will be smaller movements eg a strength that was already high on the list now appearing as a top five.

Something like Belbin's work on team roles seems to me to work across the DNA and strengths dimensions.

The strengths add texture to the type. If an ENTJ is a "field marshall" as it is often described, there will be a similarity in strengths, but we only need to look at history to see that there are major differences in the strengths and behaviours of people who would fall into that group.

The last piece is that of values/judgements. The only tool I find here is the Judgement Index. This looks to see how an indvidual views themself, the world around them and how they fit in. This is far more contextual. The likely view will differ by circumstance. For example you may well have different views if you have recently witnessed the birth of your child from when you have just nursed a sick parent for a long time. Similarly if you feel your job is at threat you will have a altered perception of yourself from someone who has just been hired.

To me if stengths add texture to the initial type assessment then this value aspect adds flavour.

I think that is the natural order to consider these aspects and use the tools. Only by looking at the three can one have a full (?) picture of the individual. They do not compete, but complement each other.

Of course I may have this all wrong, so I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has considered this question. For now this will be my working model.

If you are interested in looking at these tools I will provide a few links:-

Myers-Briggs
Wiki entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator
Free online test - http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp


DISC
Wiki entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment


Kiersey
Own site with test - http://www.keirsey.com/

Belbin
Own site - http://www.belbin.com/

Strengthsfinder
Own site - http://www.strengthsfinder.com/113647/Homepage.aspx

Judgement Index
Own site - http://www.judgementindex.co.uk/

Intelligent Passion - the new IP?

Since a post last week about Oxford Dons looking for passion and intelligent enquiry in prospective undergraduates my mind has been thinking around the subject. I have come to the conclusion that passion, or rather "intelligent passion" is the missing ingredient from many business interactions I either partake in or observe.

The initials "IP" more commonly refer to intellectual property or even Internet protocol, but I suggest that intelligent passion should be top of mind for the 201x decade. On reflection it is the element whose presence (and absence) is most easily spotted. Passion shows in heightened energy, focus, pace and excitement. It is evident in the dynamics of life, in the bounce in a step.


All of these qualities are infectious creating a multiplier effect when you consider the impact on teams.

If one googles the phrase "intelligent passion" one finds less that 8,000 hits. In the modern, search-engined world that means it is almost unmentioned/unspoken. This is further confirmed when inspecting the links that are returned. There is little or no mention of intelligent passion in relation to business so I will endeavour to expand on my vision of it.

Passion is a well recognized term meaning a strong feeling or emotion. As mentioned above it often manifests in heightened energy, focus, pace and excitement. I believe the problem in business is the emotional aspect. For years management training has been to remove emotion, making assessments and reports impartial and avoiding conflict that cannot be rationally addressed. Displaying emotion has been labelled and treated as a negative trait to the extent that when we do witness a display of emotion, most people pull back and suck their teeth. Many managers have only two ways to respond to passion, to back away and try and ignore it or to confront it. Unfortunately few feel able to or are interested in harnessing it.

Of course there is a danger in excessive passion. An individual can become obsessive, unmanageable ( read this as uncontrollable ) and isolated. This is where the "intelligent" part comes in. One needs to the intelligence to know how and indeed when to express the inner passion. This includes knowing when to back off and tone it down, but not to lose the passion; not to lose one's self.

There is some talk online about a "passion quotient", but it seems that are no credible objective measure, so for now we will have to live with subjective assessments, but our instincts are probably pretty good.

The erosion of passion can be insidious. It creeps up gradually and invades all aspects of life. Once lost, recovering passion can be difficult, but not impossible. As with many thing recognising the need to change is the essential start. The next step is reflecting and remembering times when you felt passionate about something, about anything. It could be watching or participating in a sport, or maybe wine tasting, in fact anything as long as you can do it again (and again).

So do it it and rediscover the feeling. Make sure you take note of how you feel and then practice recalling it. Do so before a business activity and see how that goes better. Then reflect on how you feel and remember that.

At the same time keep doing whatever it was you used as your prompt. If your work environment is one of low passion, then it can be hard to buck the trend, so look to reinforce your recovery as much as possible.

Soon you fill find your levels of passion and ability to feel passionate improve no end. Lastly find a way to share this new energy, this drive with someone else and spread the benefit.

Nurture your passion and Just watch life get better!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What a world we live in! Well done Chile.

I find myself in awe, watching the live rescue of the trapped Chilean miners; but my impression are both good and a touch of not so good. Let me explain.

I have been lucky to witness some momentous things in my life, some in person and some through the wonders of technology. Watching the live coverage of the World Trade Centre disaster has to be up amongst the biggest. Then again a surprise encounter with the Pope while on holiday in St Lucia is another. And in it's own way this wondrous rescue will count amongst them.

OK I am just one of millions of witnesses in this case, but the intimacy that this man by man extraction with minute by minute coverage over what will be something around 24 hours is quite unique and moving. The bit that feels special is the TV coverage from over 2,000 feet below the surface showing the appearance of the rescue pod and the start of each man's journey home.

I cannot think of another comparable instance. It is suitably enhanced by the expectation that it will be 100% successful, even though I just hear that one miner has pneumonia - I wish him well.

While technology has enabled the drilling of a rescue shaft and the TV coverage, it has also given a moment to me that left a funny taste. This was when wife of a miner found that her first priority as her husband appeared was to use her personal digital camera to take pictures. While I couldn't hear it I strongly suspect that she told him to smile so she could take a picture before they opened the mesh door. This seemed so wrong to me. Would I be happy if my wife did this as we were reunited after I had been trapped underground for over 60 days? I don't think so!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Passion and the squaring of circles.

Long, long ago in some distant galaxy.....I won a place to study at Oxford. This surprised many people, not least myself, but not my mother. I had long ceased wondering how it happened. Instead I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and retain fond memories and some good friends.

That is until a thread started on Linkedin - the professionals' facebook. This was in the Oxford Alumini Group which I joined sometime ago and was from a general contemporary of mine, but not someone I knew, asking for advice about how to maximise his daughter's entrance chances, in particular her choice of A-Levels.

I and a number of others responded, giving further evidence of the value of Linkedin and the strength of the Oxford community. There were many similar, but different pieces of advice however a single theme resonated deeply with me, in ways that surprised me.

That theme was that no matter what the subject sought, the interviewers would place a heavy value on passion for the subject, intelligent inquiry and interesting thinking. Now I know I have always been curious and happy to think outside the box, as they say, but passion has been an interesting subject between my wife and I - she did not know me until I had left Oxford.

Frequently I have been chastised for not being passionate or showing passion, well not for anything except rugby when sitting beside me during an England match is something of a personal physical risk. I have always resented the accusation of a lack of passion as I know it is in me, it just takes a level of engagement with the subject for it to manifest.

Looking back I was passionate about my subject which was Physics and maybe that is what shone through and earned me an Exhibition, a minor academic award for an undergraduate.

This may seem trivial to many and strange to others but it feels like a piece of knowledge has "come home" and I will remember it as I face the challenges that life, work and home, throws at me. I guess I am richer for compeleting that particular circle.


In the spirit of completing pictures or squaring circles, I was also recently able to close an open element of my past in a way and at a time I least expected. To cut a long story short and not give too much away, while I have been very happy with almost all of my work experiences there was one that ended too abruptly to give me any satisfactory closure.

This was a period when I led a particularly difficult team in an organisation that was not used to facing up to constraints. Leaving was the right thing to do, we both agreed to that, but I was left with little subsequent contact and thus was unable to monitor a) if what I put in place was effective and b) if my predictions (and related recommendations) had been correct.

Well the other day in the lft at work my name was called out by a vaguely familiar face. We agreed to have lunch as soon as it could be ararnged, but it took a few hours for me to recall that this was a contractor I had interviewed just before I left that particular role. He remembered me better that I did him.

Well we had lunch and it turned out that had stuck it out (his term) for another 2 1/2 years before he was released. He is still not sure how or indeed why he stayed that length of time, but by doing so he was able to fill in the jigsaw for me.

I won't divulge the details, but suffice it to say that his recounting of events has given me closure (and a little personal satisfaction) on that particular chapter of my life. I am not sure I realised I needed that closure, but in retrospect I can see that is indeed what I have looked for on and off for the last few years.

It reminded me that no matter how much you think you take change in your stride there are common and simple themes that flow through for us all such that, unless you are a sociopath, we all need appropriate closure at certain points.

Passion and closure are now two things I will endeavour to keep close to top of mind. Both have taken years to be so apparent, at least to me, but it just goes to show the value of giving things "time".

My Kingdom for a Mattock

I was reminded this weekend about the value of having the right tool for the right job. The trigger was another day of physical exercise trying to remove a 17 metre rose hedge. My wife has decided that after 13 years it is time for a change so the "twigs" we planted so long ago that have long become a two metre high barrier have had to be excised.

Cutting off the parts above ground was fraught with its own dangers, but was child's play compared with trying to lift the roots. If you have never attempted this then please be aware that they are the twisted iceberg of the plant world. A small shoot above ground is no indication of what you will find below ground. The roots are often surprising bulbous; they twist and turn entangling with adjacent plants; and they seem uncommonly strong.

Did I say they go deep as well?

I have ruined a good garden fork trying to prise them from the ground, The steel shaft is now bent like a crescent moon.

So the answer is........

......a mattock. Five pounds of steel head with cutting edges both ends. Put this on a pickaxe handle and you have my new weapon of choice.

It was still hard work, but so much easier and all for the princely sum of £10 (US$16).

Thinking while I worked, my mind returned to the iPad. Another tool that works, at least for me in my nomadic existence. In the weeks I have had it I have largely become paper-free, at least while travelling. The light weight, instant on and long battery life, just work! That and the plethora of apps.

I use a micro sim from 3 costing £15 pm for 10 gig of data - more than enough. It does all my emails and browsing. With one of the file handling apps ( I use the free ones for now ) I can take virtual papers into meetings. The size and orientation allow for the sensible reading and review of documents on screen.

I have said at times that it was not great at creating content, but rather at consuming it. This is changing and I am sure will get better. As well as apps to access Twitter, Blogger etc, I have just bought Pages as a word processor and it seems very capable as a drafting tool.

I think I will still prefer a desk top for heavy duty content production, but see little place now for a laptop. Where would I go that I could not a) use the iPad and/or b) get access to a desktop?


Marmite Update

I did promise an update on Marmite Gold, the premium version I found a few weeks back. Well, in my opinion it is not worth it. Marmite is not a subtle product, so I feel that trying to sell some premium feel is at best hopeful. For me I could not taste the difference and certainly not enough to justify paying more.

I will stick with the original in this case.

Recognising a good (or great?) team

So much is spoken about team building and high performance teams, yet they seem to be increasingly difficult to build, at least in business. A few recent comments and observations have resonated strongly with me and deserve capture.

The most recent was watching the Ryder Cup. For those unfamiliar with the competition it is played every two years between teams from the USA and Europe. The story goes back almost 80 years and what sets it apart is that the players, some of the most highly paid sports personalities in the world who almost always play for their own success and no one else’s, play for nothing, but pride and being there. This is very refreshing in the modern super professional world. (see http://www.rydercup.com/2010/europe/history/index.cfm ).

Most team places come through qualification on their own tours during the playing season, but three or four on each side are picked by the respective captain. Competition is fierce throughout and the disappointment of not getting on a team is palpable. However, this is nothing compared with the passion and “pumped up behaviour” seen on the course. Occasionally, but rarely, this behaviour has over-stepped enthusiastic into aggressive. The celebrations from Jeff Overton, a rookie, when he pitched in was something to be seen and Graham McDowell’s almost gladiatorial stance having sunk a key putt on the 16^th on the last day, stick in my mind, but these were two of many. All this is without the motivation of money! They played for each other and for pride.

If you look around your organisations check and see how many teams have “waiting lists”? No matter how you might try and assess a team more scientifically I would have thought a healthy waiting list is a pretty good indicator that you have a well performing team.

When Colin Powell addressed a leadership conference in London a few years ago he said that no-one recognises bad performance as well as a peer, and when the spot it they wait to see what the leader does about it. The action taken tells you a lot about what that leader values and will be taken on board by that wider community.

In a similar vein I think that high performance, individual or team, is also spotted best by peers. While they may wait and see how it is rewarded they are much more likely just to act and get associated with or involved in what they see as good.

There is much debate about money as a motivator. If it is a motivator it is a selfish one. One may aspire to the salary of another person, but rarely will the reward given to a peer or fellow team member do a lot to inspire one’s own performance. Instead it is the more intangible rewards of inclusion, recognition, sharing, etc. that make the difference.

If you want to find high performing teams I suggest you look for the waiting lists, formal or informal. See if you cannot use them as a role model or indeed scale them up to include and inspire greater numbers.

Roll on the next Ryder Cup!