Myth-Busting Culture Change LOOK AT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S CULTURE ike the proverbial many ways to skin a cat, there are a number of ways to change the culture of an organization. There are also some principles that have proven their worth – along with more than a few myths that have crept into the popular literature on the topic. Here are a few of those myths that you should ignore in the vast sea of change mantras. Myth 1: The only way to change culture is to hire for it. assuming you know what you are looking for and how to hire for it to get the culture you want – two big ifs – consider this: How practical is it to clean out a large percentage of your workforce and hire people with the right culture fit? For most of us, not very. Of course, you do not have to clear out the so-called dead wood all at once: you could try to change the culture through attrition. unfortunately, unless you use a revolving door approach to hiring and firing, it could take years to have enough employees with the proper culture and orientation to make a noticeable difference. By the time you get enough of the right people hired, most of them will be damaged goods by virtue of having been steeped in the old culture you hired them into. That is not to say that targeting applicants with the best desired culture fit for your company is a bad idea. It just means that, unless you are opening a new business or facility where you can hire all new people, using hiring as your primary strategy for getting the right culture is neither practical nor realistic. Myth 2: Real change only occurs when leaders demand it. Forced change is a lost cause, whether through edict, threats, restructuring, or top-down programs. In fact, the culture change landscape is littered with failures that occurred when leaders tried to install a program that employees – the targets of change – rejected. We have all seen it happen with nearly every management fad that has come and gone, from quality circles to re-engineering, lean manufacturing, and other attempted workplace transformations. When leaders push new ways of working – like lean processes – and the workforce is not committed to them, new tools do not get used and new processes are ignored, resulting in one more failed change effort. Remember this simple lesson from history: coercion elicits resistance, while collaboration elicits commitment. Myth 3: Culture change is always a slow, multi-year process and not worth the effort. While it is true that pioneering interventions in workforce change took many years, we have come a long way since then. many research-based models and techniques have been developed over the years to help you more quickly shift your organization to higher performance and engagement levels. When your leadership team and workforce are committed and prepared, you can THe jOuRnal OF THe HealTHCaRe BIllIng anD managemenT assOCIaTIOn 27 By Kevin Herring L Before committing to a culture change initiative, ask yourself the following: 1. are your senior team members and leaders open to making difficult, personal changes? 2. are your leaders prepared to engage the workforce in discussions about choice instead of proscribing change? 3. Has the director of your change effort (your change agent) demonstrated sufficient business-unit-wide culture change experience to avoid being misled by the many myths circulating about the topic? 4. Is your organization committed to involving all reporting levels in the change process? If your answer is “yes” to all of these questions, you should seriously consider pursuing culture change in your organization. FEATURE sTORY TRYING IT ON FORFIT
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