Response: Culture Board paper

Culture Board paper, Ian Marchant blog post dt 09/06/2009
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Feedback in response to Ian's Blog

Post Title - Culture Board paper
Date Posted - 09/06/2009
Name: Joseph George
Department: Technical Solutions
Location: Havant
Comments:

Ian,

"This paper seeks to update the Board... and provide some answers"

Undoubtedly, this is a step in the right direction. You say, this is what we want to project to the Board or (perhaps, more importantly) to our customers. But, I feel that would be an end result of proper implementation of what our company projects to our own employees and how we seek to ingrain the right values and culture within our company. Your statement, "This represents if you like, a view from the top...", tells me that this is probably what you are being told. I appreciate you being frank, but I have come to the sad conclusion that this view is not completely true! I hear many conflicting and very opposing views.

How do we truly find out for ourselves what our key employees (ones that are our hands and feet) feel of our company walking this talk? If you, sitting at the very top, ask someone, how would you know that you are not being fed with spin? Being surrounded with "yes" men (almost inevitable) is the beginning of the end for most great leaders.

May I refer you to a blog (not mine) post below:

<snip>

Leadership as ‘Intentional Influence’
by George Ambler on Monday, June 15, 2009

The article “Leadership: Intentional Influence” from BusinessWeek provide an interesting discussion on the topic of leadership. Research by the company VitalSmarts uncovered the following key insights that help to understand why few leaders are able to exert influence.

1. Leaders act as if it’s not their job to address entrenched habits.
“Most leaders put a great deal of time into crafting strategy, selecting winning products, and engaging with analysts, shareholders, and major customers. But few realize the success or failure of their grand schemes lies in influencing the behavior of the hundreds or thousands of people who will have to execute the big ideas — their employees.

2. Leaders lack a theory of influence.
“Very few leaders can even answer the question, "How do you change the
behavior of a large group of people?" And yet, this is what they’re
ultimately paid to do. It isn’t just about making a decision; it’s about
getting people aligned to execute the decision. And this means
influence….”

3. Leaders confuse talking with influencing.
“Many leaders think influence consists of little more than talking people into doing things… Anyone who’s ever tried to talk a smoker into quitting knows there’s a lot more to behavior change than words…”

4. Leaders believe in silver bullets.
“When leaders actually attempt to influence new behavior, it’s common for them to look for quick fixes—to fall into the trap of thinking that deeply ingrained bad habits can be changed with a single technique. The failure mode is to rely on any single approach…”

</snip>

PS: I sincerely hope that I come across as sounding positively hopeful, rather than negatively critical. We have managers at all rungs across our corporate hierarchy, and my comments are not a reflection of my perception of you. Personally, I find you to be one of the most open and receptive CEOs that I have worked with, which encourages me to continue posting my challenging thoughts to you.

Kind regards,
Joseph