‘Oh great – another new initiative’ (said nobody, ever).

Just like the last one but with different buzz words and shiny new objects or the latest ‘guru speak’.

Sound familiar?

In a recent conversation I had with a leadership team, we were talking about culture change.

It’s a big, meaty topic.

We talked about recognising the culture ‘that is’ before trying to change anything. (The culture is there for a reason and we need to honour or at least understand its origins even if it’s not fit for purpose now).

People won’t buy into any change if they don’t think there is a problem or if they don’t see the need for it - however hard we push. The WIIFM question is always front of mind.

This team were brimming with ideas.

So, I asked them to imagine what some of their 'stakeholders' might say if they heard some of their ideas. 'Imagine your customers are in the room - what might they want to know about this idea'? Or imagine the sales team are in the room - what would they say?'

At one stage the team ide...

How easy it is to forget the basics!

Over the last month, I’ve sent you four articles on how to change your team culture – sharing the very practical steps that you need to focus on and in what order (no theoretical meanderings that don’t work in the real world!).

As luck would have it, I’ve been working with a team recently who helped me understand one of the much more fundamental ‘blocks’ to changing or building culture.

In this particular case, the team had been brought together following a restructure and dived head-long into a massive piece of work thus ‘cobbling things together’ (their words) as they went along. 

This team needed a massive PAUSE. A ‘stepping off the treadmill, let’s start at the beginning and create something that will work’ type of pause. 

A ‘let’s build our firm foundation’ type of pause.

Now you know, as well as I do, that when we’re busy it feels like a luxury to pause. It can feel like navel gazing or ‘not real work’ when the deadlines and emails are p...

Over the last three weeks I’ve been sharing with you a step by step process to help you change your team culture. (if you can’t find the articles contact [email protected])

In last week’s article, I talked about the importance of focusing on no more than three critical behaviours to change – if you try to change everything at once, you’ll end up changing nothing.

A while back, I worked with a senior Finance Team. One of the things the new leader wanted was a ‘more open’ culture. He’d been saying this for a while and everybody nodded their heads in agreement – but nothing changed.

Why?

He hadn’t been specific enough about what ‘more open’ actually means and how that translates into daily working life.

When I asked each of the team to define ‘more open’ they each had their own ideas about what this meant – but they’d never really articulated this as a group.

So forget meaningless platitudes and get granular, here.

Get REALLY specific

• If you want a ‘culture of open-nes
...

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve shared with you the three steps you need to follow if you want to change the culture in your team. Last week we looked at the importance of respecting and recognising your team’s history before you start changing things.

This week, I want to help you get clarity about what you want to change and why.

What do you want to change? And why?

• Can you clearly and succinctly explain the need for culture change – and the specific outcomes you are looking for?
• Can the team see for themselves what needs to change but maybe just don’t know where to start?
• Or are they cynical or worried about changing things? Can’t see the point? Tried before and nothing really changed?
• What are the pros and cons of change for everyone? The challenges and opportunities?
• Let people explore these questions and grapple with some of the answers.
• Tap into their aspirations.
• Then co-create the change together. This is NOT a ‘top down initiative’.

How to change your team cu...

Organisational – and team – culture is described as ‘the way things are done around here’. 

This month I’m writing about Team Culture and last week in my first article I outlined the three things you need clarity on if you want to change the culture in your team. Read this article first if you haven’t already done so.

The first thing you need clarity on before you start changing anything is your team’s current culture. Respect and recognise its history before trying to change the world.

Think about the things that are ‘accepted’ in your team. These are often what you might think of as ‘small’ things such as:

• Turning up late to meetings – because the last one over-ran;
• Sending emails or texting during meetings;
• ‘Not having time’ to complete the actions you agreed at your last meeting;
• Poor performance not dealt with – or dealt with immediately;
• Working from home on Fridays;
• Constant busyness;
• 1-1s frequently cancelled because we’re ‘too busy’;
• ‘Being available’ over the wee
...

Over the next four weeks I am going to help you understand how to change your own ‘team culture’ – if it’s not working for you as well as you would like.

I’m using the common definition of culture – ‘the way things are done around here’ – which encompasses how people in the team act, dress, carry out their work and behave.

Whilst organisations are often involved in large ‘culture change’ initiatives across the board (many of which are unsuccessful for a variety of reasons) I’ve sometimes been asked if it is possible to change the culture of one particular team within an organisation – when it’s not the top team.

The answer to that question is, I believe, ‘yes’ but with the following caveats:

• The culture change in your own team has to complement what the organisation overall is trying to achieve;
• The ‘level above’ your team has to be supportive of the initiative (so if you are a leader trying to change your team’s culture, your boss has to be explicitly and actively supportive);
• You n...