6. Culture In Action: The Leader's Tool-kit

Culture In Action is a tool-kit for leaders who are interested in using the behavioral approach to changing culture.

It has two components:

• a highly detailed, step-by-step guide to implementing the process; and

• a compilation of the "best practices" of many organizations that have successfully used this process in past years.

Process

The Culture In Action process has proven effective at rapidly changing culture in organizations of all industries (including not-for-profit and government) and of all sizes. It's designed to craft highly actionable principles, build staff's commitment, overcome any obstacles to change, and ensure widespread understanding and adoption.

The process is straightforward, consisting of two major steps: describe the desired future culture as a detailed set of behaviors; then, build and execute a plan for teaching and reinforcing the new culture.

Every step of the process -- every workshop and all the tasks between workshops -- is described in detail. All the materials people need to accomplish the various tasks are provided in the form of frameworks, examples, and instruments.

Best Practices

The second part of the tool-kit, the "best practices," comprises carefully worded behavioral principles within each of the thirteen themes.

This database has evolved over the last decade through the experience and wisdom of hundreds of leaders in dozens of organizations who have been through the Culture In Action process.

Best practices are not intended as "the answer," but rather as a guide. Leaders craft their own unique culture, using the best practices to help them word their ideas and to suggest behaviors they may not have thought of.

Reinforcement

Of course, widespread change in an organization doesn't come easily. Just publishing and teaching clear behavioral principles isn't enough.

Leaders who envision a new culture must pay careful attention to the process of organizational change. And perhaps most importantly, leaders must model the new behaviors themselves, setting a visible example for staff.

The tool-kit includes suggestions for reinforcement, and a survey instrument to be used afterward to assess where additional education or reinforcement is needed.

Success

Culture is a powerful leadership tool, and a "quick win" relative to many other organizational initiatives. Its high payoff and low cost make it an ideal starting point for organizational change programs.

Of course, the key is a behavioral (rather than values-based) approach, built on a comprehensive framework of themes and actionable principles, and implemented through a participative process founded on solid change management.

Incorporating these fundamental success factors, the Culture In Action process can bring about significant cultural change -- converting bureaucracies into empowered entrepreneurships that team with their peers to satisfy their customers -- all accomplished in months rather than years.