Culture has been defined by Schneider as ‘the way we do things around here’. I like this definition because it is simple and easily understood. I have a different definition which I think is more useful but harder to understand: ‘Organisational culture is a locally observed phenomenon projected subjectively onto a wider group of people.’.
Culture cannot be changed deliberately on mass from a centralised command structure with a predictable set of results. The larger the organisation the truer this statement is.
For culture change to be effective in product and service delivery, it has to be deliberately defined by those doing the work towards a well-defined vision and be able to co-exist with the wider organisation. Culture also has to be in alignment with organisational vision, customer values, and staff beliefs.
To enable culture to be defined at the grass roots level, there has to be staff at the team level who have coaching and facilitation experience.
Some teams will naturally work well together and create high performance easily. Many will not. The delivery output varies hugely by the mix of people that are on a team and how well that team can collaborate with other teams. Creating a culture that allows non-performing teams to become better can only happen with good facilitation and coaching.
This is especially true as these effects are amplified and at the same time hidden in the online world. It is harder to detect if someone is unhappy, unproductive, or not-getting along productively with other people when everyone is remote. A lot of time can be wasted before the real problem is uncovered.
To survive and thrive in the online world it is necessary to have coaches and facilitators on-hand to work with teams and to create a new high performing culture. Every team is different with a huge varying set of factors that help or hinder them to perform. These can be lack of equipment at home, childcare concerns, difficulty in sustaining a quiet work environment without stressing out other family members.
Coaches and facilitators have the skills needed to address these factors and to create the safety online to have effective and productive meetings and to tactfully uncover and help those to succeed regardless of their personal situations, personalities, and different agendas.
In order to shift from groups of individuals all working disparately with an undefined culture to a cohesive high-performing team with measurable outcomes and output, you need to use facilitation and coaching.
At AWA we have been providing these skills to help our clients define their culture locally and systemically to achieve their business goals and we have wrapped up our experience, skills, and tools, into our ICAgile certified online classes, so that attendees can facilitate and coach their teams.
To get these skills yourself, you can attend one of our online ICAgile Certified Coaching and Facilitation classes.
See forthcoming courses on our website or call on +44 (0) 203 369 1125