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Cultural Assessment and Behavioural
Development
Many managers and leaders are acutely aware
of the need to be approaching their
organizations in a different way. They
understand that in order to successfully
move into the future that fundamental
changes need to happen in many of the core
processes of the organization. Often times,
however, the changes that get made are
extrinsic in nature and involve ‘facelift’
strategies that go along way to make things
look different on the outside, but in truth
the organization stays the same in how it
operates. The only way to create lasting
and sustainable organization change is to
work from the inside out. When fundamental
changes occur intrinsically, that is at the
awareness, understanding and behavioural
level, that is where true sustainable change
can occur. There is no shortcut to change;
it takes dedication, motivation to be aware
and to understand things differently and a
willingness and readiness to change
behaviours.
Following is a 3 phased process designed to
create the best foundation for a sustainable
organizational development process to occur.
It involves collecting information about the
organization and its members, and creating
awareness of and insight into the
organization’s current behavioural and
cultural state.
Phase
1
Behaviour Identification
An
important first step to organization
learning and development is to initially
make decisions about what the desired
behavioural goals are. What are the
specific behaviours that an organization
wants to recognize and reward? What are
those behaviours that an organization wants
to minimize or extinguish? The answers to
these questions are essential for any
organization wanting to be proactive and
deliberately create a culture in which their
activities are carried out.
Step 1 – Develop a questionnaire designed
to capture information about relevant
behavioural dimensions. This would then be
implemented within the organization. The
results from this as well as other
organizational documents (e.g. Vision/ value
statements, balanced scorecard etc…) would
provide the language and direction for the
focus group.
Step 2 – Develop selection criteria for the
focus group. It is important that the
individuals that take part in the focus
group sessions represent a solid cross
section of the organization.
Step 3 - Conduct focus groups consisting of
4-6 members each. A session designed to
obtain relevant feedback about what is
currently taking place within the
organization. It may be necessary to run
more than one session.
Step 4 – One on one interviews. To further
aid in a comprehensive understanding of the
true culture and behavioural need that
exists within the organization. A series of
one on one meetings with selected members
from the focus group or elsewhere in the
organization will be conducted.
Step 5 – Report generation – A thorough
report outlining all findings of this
Behavioural Assessment process will be
generated.
Phase
2
Cultural
Assessment
In
order to make an impact on the existing
organization it is important to be fully
aware of the current state, as it presently
exists. This step allows an organization to
check its assumptions about itself and its
activities. Having a very clear, realistic,
concise awareness and understanding of the
behaviours that are taking place within the
organization is essential in order to create
sustainable growth and change. The
information captured here are on behaviours
that are currently happening within the
organization. It is a hands –on, specific
account of the day-to-day activities that
are taking place, not what should be
happening but what actually is
happening. This is what defines the current
culture. The Culture Assessment
provides relevant feedback designed to
help the organization understand the style
and behaviours with which it is currently
operating. This assessment will be used as
the benchmark starting place for any
organization developmental process. In
essence, this step ‘tests’ for the
behaviours identified in Step 1.
Phase
3
Closing the Gap
Based on the finding of Step 1 and 2 a
Gap Analysis will be conducted. This
assesses the difference between the desired
and current state of the organization.
Recommendations will be generated to help
close this gap. If desired, a learning and
development plan can be generated.
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