Paddling Against the Current to Achieve True Culture Change

You’re on a raft in a swiftly moving river. Imagine that you’re not entirely happy with the direction this river is flowing – how do you change directions? Can you paddle the raft upstream against all the power of the rushing river by yourself?

If your community has been talking about “culture change” you may well be facing this same sort of challenge. Custom and habit are powerful forces, pushing against any effort you may be making to change direction.

Can you paddle that raft upstream by yourself? Not likely. But get your team involved, and you can push against even the swiftest moving currents.

How do you get your team involved? If you truly want to create a new culture of care in your community, you’ve got to get the entire team involved.

“Deep learning and cultural change are ALWAYS connected,” says Peter Senge, author of “The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization,” (Currency Publishing, 2006) and culture change consultant. According to Senge, culture change is “deep systemic change” – change that begins at the personal level of each employee in the community.

If you’re ready to make some changes, hand your team a paddle:

1) Start the discussion. To achieve culture change you’ve got to start talking about WHAT needs to change and WHY. It can’t be just your perspective – you’ve got to hear what everyone else has to say about this. Being clear about the WHY of change is every bit as important as the WHAT of change, too, so think it through carefully and make sure the WHY aligns with your mission and message.

2) Really listen. Sounds easy. It’s not. Really listening when you’ve begun the discussion means you may hear things that you think are working well may not be working at all out “on the floor.” Keep an open mind, while you’re keeping your ears open, too.

3) Create a culture of LEARNING. To change behaviors (culture), you’ve got to provide an atmosphere where learning is valued. “Learning is always about people knowing how to do something they couldn’t do before,” says Senge. Is your inservice training simply designed to meet compliance regulations? Are you repeating content month after month, year after year? Are you seeing employees learn to do something they couldn’t do before because of your inservices? If not, make a change in your approach to training to truly create a culture where learning and personal growth are valued. Furthermore, to make the transition from knowing to doing requires more than training; it requires leadership. You, as manager, must “buy in, role-model it and require it,” as Fred Lee (If Disney Ran Your Hospital) puts it, to see true culture change.

4) Keep it simple. Life is complex. Change is even more complex. To make change even more challenging, remember this rule: People always resist change. Especially if they don’t understand why they need to change.

5) Reward innovation. When your employees see that you’re serious about changing the way things have always been done, they may get excited about finding new ways to do things. Make sure you reward the excitement – give praise and public acknowledgment and watch other employees get on board. When staff sees innovation and change resulting in positive outcomes they will become advocates for even more change and innovation.

6) Have fun with it. Not surprisingly, the most effective change agents are ones that people enjoy. If you want to introduce a new approach or technology, you’ll be much more successful if it’s fun.

Changing your culture in any meaningful way is like paddling that raft against the current. It can be done, but only if everyone on the team is rowing together