Culture Forming Practices

Woody Allan once said "80% of success in life is just showing up."  Unfortunately, you can get by in the workplace with less.

I often ask groups of managers, "In your workplace, what percentage of full effort is needed to avoid getting fired?"  I suggest a scale.  A 100% rating represents absolute devotion every working minute.  At the other end of the scale, 0% represents spending the work day breathing, net-surfing for new YouTube videos, and collecting a pay cheque.  The answer I typically get is around 45% effort.  Public sector employees generally suggest around 30% effort, and essential services workers averaging around 70% effort (which in itself is scary).

This suggests that 55% per cent of the money that employers pay out in exchange for employee effort falls on the floor and isn't picked up!

So employment is not an exact pay-for-effort transaction.   Beyond the "I'll get fired me if I don't" line, how much effort employees give is a matter of personal choice.  Their choices are driven by how they feel about the place they work - or more correctly, how the place they work makes them feel about themselves.

And how the workplace engages employees is a function of organizational culture.

Changing belief through changing behaviour

In 1979 the Edmonton Oilers joined the NHL from the defunct WHA.  At that time, they had a talented but independent bunch of rookies, few with significant professional experience.  Their attitude and work ethic was not up to NHL standards.  
Oilers' coach Glen Sather transformed them.  But he didn't start by preaching about a new attitude.  Instead, he changed what they did.  Sather told his players, "You dress professionally, you look professional.  You look professional, you feel professional.  You feel professional, you play better."  He forced his sloppy kids to buy nice suits, and insisted on a strict dress code.  Smartness and unity was a requirement on and off the ice.  If the Oilers went to a bar [which they did often], they all left together.  On the ice, if they went into the corner, they all went together.  That disciplined culture was at the core of Sather's transformation of loosely assembled talent into the NHL's last great dynasty [four Stanley Cups].  

Sathers' approach illustrates a point that I believe is lost in most workplace change initiatives.  Change what people do, and the desired belief system will follow.  Sather didn't wait for Gretzky, Messier, Coffey, Fuhr and the others to adopt a professional attitude.  He knew that if he could get them act like a professional team, they'd start to think like one.  
Too often we get bogged down in the slow process of trying to change how people think before we change what they do.  We focus on getting "buy-in" and approach change tentatively, waiting for buy-in to occur before we go too far.   Employees quickly become cynical, observing that management is talking about a new way, but complaining that "nothing is really changing."

Waiting for buy-in ignores the psychological truth that behaviour dictates belief.

One of the most dramatic workplace examples of practice-based culture change I was ever involved with occurred in a manufacturing plant in Ontario nearly 20 years ago.  The old culture was extremely adversarial, with a powerful local union that virtually ran the plant.  To give an idea of the sad state of affairs, the average time lost from work due to washroom breaks was 68 minutes in an eight-hour shift [Yes, we measured - surreptitiously]!

A new management team was given a short time to turn the culture around or close the plant down.  Under an outstanding plant manager, we succeeded.  There were no town-halls, no Kumbaya sessions, and no buy-in events.  Instead, the plant manager insisted that every senior manager spend one to two hours a day on the floor, speaking directly with employees.  The problem was that the employees didn't speak back.  Afraid to be accused of "sucking up" to management, they would - at best - grunt acknowledgement and avoid eye contract.  

For nearly six months, the one-sided attempt continued.  The plant manager had to deal with a near-mutiny from the management team, who couldn't see the plan working.

Then one day, a female employee complained to the engineering manager about the layout of the assembly operation.  The suggestion was minor and the benefits uncertain, but that weekend we rearranged the line.  The employee who suggested the change was brought in as the advisor, and a number of her co-workers were also consulted.  Following the changes, we launch the first of many celebration events in which all departments were invited to celebrate the success of one department.
That was the start of a dramatic change.  Using an approach I call Principle Based Labour Relations, the worst few abusers of the washroom breaks were targeted.  Two were disciplined and subsequently changed their behaviour.  A third "hard case" employee took the position that we had no right to control their breaks and was terminated.  I presented the resulting arbitration and won.  Because only the worst few offenders were targeted, the silent majority didn't complain.  In fact, many admitted they felt better now that the company was cleaning the place up.

Many other activities followed, but within six months of the original assembly line redesign, the old union leaders were ousted by a new collaborative group, there was a fun new workplace atmosphere, and the plant was breaking production records.
The "talking to employees" campaign, the speed with which the employee suggestion was implemented, and the aggressive but transparently fair labour relations strategy, are examples of what we can culture-forming practices.  
Culture forming practices don't require major efforts.  Small things can make a huge difference, such as repainting lunch rooms and sprucing up washrooms, or relocating managers and supervisors to be closer to the plant floor.  Some practices, such as teaching managers to use the Turnaround Interview® instead of discipline to correct small but annoying employee problems, provide immediate financial payback and allow the employer to isolate the minority of real problem employees and their defenders.
Successful culture forming practices meet the following criteria:

•    They involve visible changes to plant conditions or management action;
•    They change how employees interact with each other, with management, or with their workplace environment;
•    They are persistent and frequent;
•    They symbolize a new and different mindset;
•    They represent a break with past culture;
•    They produce a noticeable effect; and
•    They have a positive effect on how employees feel about themselves.

I've seen many organizations that tried to inspire change by doing the buy-in thing.  They were great at fancy slogans, but not once did anyone remark, "Gee, I am going to give up what was comfortable yesterday because that slogan on the wall really inspires me."  To change what you believe in, we need to change what you have experienced.
It is what is done that counts.  

George Raine, is President of Montana Consulting Group and creator of Turnaround Interview® - Fixing bad habits in good employees, a management workshop nominated for the 2010 ACHRA award for Best Innovation in Human Resources.  A specialist in workplace transformation and labour relations, George was a central figure in the establishment of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations and the national standard for the CHRP designation.  His career has spanned four decades and included executive HR roles with Stelco, Frigidaire, and the Irving Group of Companies. He has consulted to more than 100 companies and organizations across Canada and the US.