Journal Reflections for Modual 3.4 - Leading Change and Understanding Organizational Culture

[Editors note:  The following is a journal entry addressing specific questions provided by the CPM course instructor Wendy Holden and John Swannack for module 3.4.]
Given the readings, the three parts of the case Express Transit, and the class work for and discussion in the course "Organizational Culture and Leading Change:

What would you do next if you were Martin Jiles? Describe his next steps, particularly in light of the culture of Express transit and its experience/record in managing and leading important changes.

Key component #1. Say thank you. Acknowledge and appreciate the work that the committee did. I found the report was well written and diplomatic. It also did well at exposing a number of the underlying problem that were in the articles, but may not have been apparent to all the players at the time.



Key Component #2. Communication needs to be improved. Unfortunately, this needed to be done much earlier than after the report was published. The case study has very little indication that it had been ongoing to the extent needed.

Here are a list of the key conversations and the key information I would like to already have a handle on by the time the report was published.

• 2a. Key stakeholder conversations with Mendez (paper) and McMann (union). Work needed to be done to establish mutual purpose for all three entities in moving the ultimate purpose of the agency forward.


• 2b. No mention is given of any interaction with the Transit’s Board or Commissioners. Getting them to see the needs and benefits of investing in solutions and restoring customer trust is vital.


• 2c. With the senior managers Baker and Preston. Before telling myself a story about weather what they did was good or bad, I need to be asking “Why would reasonable, rational, and decent people be doing the things they are doing.” Then I need to be listening to them to understand their perspectives and actions.
  
  Here are a list of key questions:
  
  • Why were union requests for meetings met with a letter response.
  • What is the real story behind the MIRS system? Is it replacing something that was worse? Is it a custom system that was cobbled together and has little chance of working? Is it in the implementation that it is failing? How cumbersome is it to actually use?


• 2d. I would anticipate having a couple of conversations with the other base managers. Here is what I want to know: “For as many problems as have been identified at North Base, we see very little trouble at the other service bases. Even the report had limited findings at the other bases. What successes can we build upon from the other bases to take to North Base?


• 2e. Most importantly, I need extensive communication with the North Base’rs to be getting good, reliable, and trustworthy intelligence on the following:


• 2e1 Tom Rogers. What is his skill level in making management decisions? Is he capable of working with the computer system? Is he a capable manager? Does he want to be manager? What is he good at?


• 2e2 Inspector Hensley. He comes out as a hero in the report. This could be an opportunity to capitalize on that to make him a head of an inspection division, but we need to know more about him before getting too far. How is he viewed by peers? What skills does he have to capitalize on?


• 2f. Communicating with everybody to find out the extent and nature of the actual, physical problems we are facing.
  
  Is this using breakpads past the wear line? Is it sending out busses with no breaks? What kind of oil leaks are we talking about? Do we have 1200 busses with blown head gaskets or 50 buses with a small oil drip.

Step 3. Use the report for a rallying cry within the organization.

A couple obvious critical key steps:

• Inspectors should be independent of the base chiefs. Since we are introducing some form of re-organization, this total re-organization effort may end up being much larger, but it should realign the inspectors as a minimum.


• Implementing an environmental protection/ awareness program.


• Revising the Pay-For-Performance plan. The extent this can be changed needs to be investigated with HR. The exact new formula will need input from the team as we think about what we want to achieve, and what we can measure.


• North Base needs help. Do we change out the manager? Rotate in managers from other bases? Get additional staff? Get assistance to streamline the computer entry process?

A couple of other focus areas that may be 2nd causes to the current problems, but this may give us the opportunity to address:

• Reigning in the growing service area. Potentially focus on pushing the VanPool program. Retiring buses.


• Negotiating improvements with the union on the areas of employee discipline /motivation/ incentive program.


• Look for opportunities to make the case for capital expenditures on bus replacements.

Step 4. Get ahead of the story in the media. Be putting out real time updates, acknowledging the problems that have been found, and emphasizing the commitment to safety and the environment.

Positive media communication has a side benefit of communicating to and re-assuring the rank and file employees of our mission and commitment.

Sunshine and transparency tend to be the best disinfectants.


2. Please reflect and apply your learning and insights from the course to an organization of which you have been a part.

Two insights that I have already had reason to implement at my current position.

First, was a reminder to be more hands on and get out of the office rather than simply relying on field reports. In the past couple of weeks I have gotten back to the field for some direct site observation.

Second, is that cultural change only occurs when “Things as they are, are unacceptable.” This helps focus on what changes are worth investing in. More importantly, it also helps identify what cultural changes, although ideal, would not generate the impetus for change since the present state is not unacceptable. That is not to say they won’t happen, but they might be better saved to champion when the “unacceptability” catalyst is also present.


Key insights gained that I wanted to include in my reflection.

Using the term “Change Master” could be preferable to “Change Agent”. Since lots of people are components of change efforts and each could be the “Agent” of change. Aiming to be the “Change Master” tends towards the disposition of heading up or being a primary instigator of change.


Culture is the community’s formwork upon which interior and exterior forces act.

Culture: “How we do things around here.” Marvin Bower.

All cultures contain:

Values: Heart of culture
Heroes:
Rites & Rituals:
A cultural network: (spies, broadcasters, wise priests, cliques)

Cultural rituals are sources of power. Particularly for those not given formal power.


Organization Chart vs Informal Networks. In Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence, he cites two interesting Harvard Business Review article about how informal networks are key for star performers. The findings are that the best performers invest energy in building the informal networks before one needs them. Informal Networks: The Company Behind the Chart, July ‘93, and how Bell labs Creates Star Perfomers, also July ’93.


On-boarding Tips:

Wendy’s advice for onboarding was finding a wise leader that knows rites of passage for that culture.

John's tips:

• Conduct staff meetings weekly.
• Circulate information, hear information,
• 1 to 1 meeting with each direct report.
• All staff meetings (monthly, quarterly)

Do not start with “I don’t care about…” as a leader. This can bumps up against others values and boundaries. Perhaps start with, “I will be glad to defer that decision to others…”


The example from class of the UW Vice President’s paper on college economics was interesting. The paper, although accurate, depicted an opinion that was not popular and therefore in the court of public opinion, tainted his candidacy for a promotion.

Upon reflection, that seems troubling. That we should vet all our statements against anticipated whims of popular opinion before airing them, is a sad realization. Secondly, that a culture can define truth by what they want to be true independent of reality.

Interestingly, I think the content of his argument (that since research institutions are chiefly interested in cultivating future researchers, they should invest their resources in that endeavor) was very prescient and would be a fascinating subject for discussion. But that is a subject for another day.


Trust but Verify. “Low touch” management’s quintessential problem is a lack of verification.


Wendy’s discussed in her past providing an “Open Communication Forum” where all levels of the organization were free to ask questions. This is an interesting idea. Creating the opportunity for information to come up, gives the chance to avoid the communication gaps. We do that at my current workplace to with marginal results.


Refelctions on the “Cultural Hero” discussion. I can see that cultures have heroes, but in the context of the case study the discussion seemed counter productiveand somewhat troubling.

Making heroes and villains in the present seems like it could quickly become counterproductive in sorting through problems. It stereotypes people and stops us from asking the question “why would a reasonable, rational, and decent person do what they have done”.

Acknowledging that someone may have gained the status within their cultural setting as exemplifying a cause or set of values or acknowledging that someone is perceived as being the representation of what is being battled against, may be good information to have. But classifying an individual as the villain or hero and therefore imputing value classifications to their actions seems counterproductive.


Critical success factors to cultural change:

• Pre-requisite condition: “Things as they are, are unacceptable.”
• The cause needs a Champion.
• Clear expectations
• Training
• Reinforcement
• Inspection

Communication plans are needed to align the broad appearance of communication with the formal communication plan.

Bring up the desired culture change in as many settings as you can.


Tips for Implementing Change:

• Ask all participants: Q1 “If we make this change, what opportunities do you see? What opportunities will it provide?” Q2 “What problems do you see? What problems will it create?”
• Subsequent Questions: “When we make this change….”
• Address every observation that has been made.
• Be honest and transparent in your communications. Listen!

Why culture change and improvements in government typically fail: No true sense of urgency.


Key assumption in the failure to implement necessary cultural change is “The future will be like the past”.