How Do You Transform a Culture George Lee Bowman Linked

So you’ve gotten a big client or Senior Leadership position. The company that

is hiring you has seen the results of your previous projects, and they want you to

start a very large global project (Enterprise Level) on numerous sites. You of

course say, “We can do anything you want”. This is a typical response from most

consulting companies and executives. The instant promise of being able to deliver

amazing results without even understanding the business model, or most

importantly its current state. You tell senior executives that it is just as simple as

putting some visuals in place and running some events, tightening up on the

management team, and you will have the company trimmed out in no time. The

true fact of the matter is that results that are promised can’t be delivered because

the time frame is too short for the complexity of the real issue. The culture isn’t

ready for the change. It’s easy for someone to say it’s all about the culture to know

how to transform one is the hard part.

You can look at a company’s Lean journey like a fraction. Twenty percent will be

teaching and applying a Lean Six Sigma tool set and theory, the other eighty

percent will be the transformation of the culture. Cultural transformation is

changing habits, the way of working, and the belief system. To change a belief

system you need to create a system. This will definitely be the most time

consuming and challenging. It is difficult enough to get an already mature culture

to transform let alone a damaged one. What could create a damaged culture? Some

examples are low pay, poor working conditions, no opportunity for advancement

or development, no succession planning, poor recognition, etc. So it is imperative

How do you transform a culture? | George Lee Bowman | LinkedIn 23-08-2015

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-you-transform-culture-george-bowman?trk=hp-feed-article-title-like 1 / 25

https://www.linkedin.com/?trk=nav_logo

https://www.linkedin.com/today/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebowmanvds?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebowmanvds?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr

https://www.linkedin.com/ngroups/ajax/follow_member?followee=62428244&csrfToken=ajax%3A6603148583123791507

h

Stamp

that you know the cultures climate.

A good way to evaluate the workforce’s willingness to change, favorability and

engagement is through a survey. The survey should have specific categories built

around, development, job satisfaction, compensation, perception of management,

etc. This is what you could call pre-work. Now normally when companies do this

they just look at the data and say, “Wow look how poor we did”. What needs to be

done is employee focus groups need to be created so that the employees can solve

their own issues with all levels of management by using the data collected from the

different categories. This does several things it allows employees at all levels to

have open conversation about real issues the workforce is facing. It also gives an

opportunity for development to assist in solving real management issues.

Sometimes hourly employees come up with great projects and fixes to systemic

issues or they realize everything isn’t that easy to fix (walking in someone else’s

shoes). Either way it is a positive experience to increase employee engagement,

favorability, and communication or just flat out mentor individuals.

These surveys should normally be done every year or eighteen months. To show

improvement create a measurement for employee favorability or engagement.

Handle this like any other METRIC for revenue, inventory turn, operating income,

etc. Monitor the score and strive to have a workforce where at least 76% of

employees would recommend working there (this is considered world class). Allow

employees to share the success of their focus group projects with all.

How do we design a system as leaders to build the culture and meet

business objectives?

The first step which is the simplest yet usually always missed is communication

(when it comes to consistency, frequency and depth). Have you ever worked for a

company where management has three or four hour long meetings a day, but only

meets with hourly employees on a quarterly basis if that? This type of atmosphere

will create a bull whip effect of rumors, resentment, misalignment of strategies and

objectives. Targets and milestones will be missed for projects as well as daily

customer requirements. Employees create their own systems to deal with issues

and it becomes almost impossible to identify the source or process that failed. So

what’s the answer from a Lean perspective? The answer is Leadership Standard

Work. This is sometimes confused as scheduled staff meetings, tool box meetings

or general management communication.

What is Leadership Standard Work?



Operators have standard work for their value added activities and so should

leadership at all levels. The core of Leadership standard work which everyone

knows is the Gemba (which refers to observations made where the process occurs).

Some of the other components of Leadership Standard Work are usually

overlooked and not managed properly. They are reflection meetings, Andon

response, accountability process, and mentoring. I will briefly cover them all

below.

Gemba

Visuals need to be in place to identify normal vs abnormal (ex: on-schedule,

off-schedule)

A Gemba is not just a social visit where we discuss our weekend or football

games (not saying you don't have to be personable and pleasant just goal and

data oriented).

Establish METRICS to be discussed and standard questions to be asked every

time you Gemba.

Ensure your route covers all areas of the business

Design your Gemba for all levels Executive, Managers, Supervisor, etc. All with

different frequency, scope and questions.

Reflection Meetings

These meetings are to solve problems observed and recorded through the

Gemba

Process owners from each functional area should attend, operations, finance,

sales, HR, etc.

Tools used to discuss issues, A3, PDCA, Root Cause Analysis, DMAIC (what

ever fits your needs just has to be hypothesis tested, data driven problem

solving)

Create a theme (for the problem statement) for every meeting to keep

everyone engaged.

Gemba is to see, Reflection is to solve.

Once again create standard for all levels.

Andon Response

Andon doesn’t have to be a light or flag, it can be as simple as an email.



There just has to be an established system to elevate or escalate a problem

when a process stops or breaks down. This is valuable in the business process

as well as operations.

Ensure there are checks and balances to adjust the process and document

Andon and share lessons learned about why the process broke down.

Accountability Process

Focus on the process not the people

Create visuals to display process improvements through projects

Create standard work on how to handle missed milestones and action items

Mentorship

This one is always an issue at most organizations, this has nothing to do with

merit increases or performance reviews

This has to do with career growth and development

There should be regularly scheduled mentorship meetings for different levels,

Executive, Supervisor, Manager, etc.

Create a standard to track progress of goals and record communication

One thing that I have learned while working with new clients is that be mindful

that everyone is an expert in their own right. Most employees have held certain

jobs because of their ability to execute at least to an extent. Even if a business is in

a poor state it doesn’t always speak to the talent within the organization. Usually

it’s an indication of its leadership. Obviously it may just also be an uncontrollable

such as market conditions, economic downturns, Mother Nature, etc. It is our

responsibility as change agents to constantly transform the culture.

So we know how important the culture is, because leadership is trained to say it on

a daily basis (whether they believe it or not) as do consultants, “focus on the

culture”. I promise you if you approach building the culture in a structured

nurturing manor using Leadership Standard Work and believe in it you will share

great success!

Please provide comments on your experience about transforming a culture.

For more information contact [email protected]

Please come join us at our next event at the Miami Convention Center July 14th-

16th Lean Transformation MRO - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lean-



https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lean-transformation-mro-tickets-16905155776

transformation-mro-tickets-16905155776

Add your comment



https://www.linkedin.com/today/social/flag-article-form?contentUrn=urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A6007241881346469888&articleType=author

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/continuous-improvement?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/lean-management?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/organizational-culture?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebowmanvds?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_ftr

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebowmanvds?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_ftr


https://www.linkedin.com/today/article?articleId=7776211997762859919&redirectArticleId=7776211997762859919&trk=today-cmnt2-like-no-js

https://www.linkedin.com/today/article?articleId=7776211997762859919&trk=tod2-sac

https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpulse%2Fhow-do-you-transform-culture-george-bowman&t=How do you transform a culture%3F

https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpulse%2Fhow-do-you-transform-culture-george-bowman&text=%22How do you transform a culture%3F%22 on %40LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/today/social/likes?articleId=7776211997762859919&trk=today-cmnt2-see-all

https://www.linkedin.com/today/article?articleId=7776211997762859919&trk=tod2-sac

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=185626756&authType=name&authToken=jNTk&trk=tod2-cmts

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=185626756&authType=name&authToken=jNTk&trk=tod2-cmts

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashapuri?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashapuri?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr


When you’re working as a marketer with a travel company, you are expected to

know one thing – who is your ideal traveler. We spend a lot of time defining and

refining the target persona and it should dictate it all: the marketing strategy, the

content strategy, the design and segmentation. As a content marketer, being able

to clearly understand my target reader is of utmost importance to me.

We conduct surveys, listen actively on social media, seek out opinions from

experts in the field but the truth is, sometimes we begin with assumptions of who

our consumer is.

I’ve been trying to find an answer to the question: What do travelers look like?

Is he the millennial? The family man? The single girl? The bachelor?

You think you have the answer, but you're always surprised!

A colleague, a silent, unassuming member of the team decided to go on leave for 21

days. Great! A good break in Goa, or his hometown, maybe, I thought. But this

individual, nothing like my concluded persona of a traveler, was going on a road

trip all-over India. Alone. Adventurous, much?

He is currently on this amazing journey and I’m still wondering … what do

travelers look like? We may love numbers and we may think we’ve got it right, but

the reality is Anyone Can Travel. And Everyone Loves to Travel. Makes my

job very easy – or very tough!

The right answer then is that there are no right answers. As marketers, we need to

keep an open-mind and let the numbers only guide us - not limit our creativity.

Falling into old thought patterns and assuming that we know what our consumers

and who they are will lead us to a dead end and are a sure shot way to zero growth.

Be open to new ideas and people and let the world surprise you - in a good way - or

learn important lessons.

Be like the seasoned traveler who studies his map but throws it away, just so he

can discover a place.

Have you ever been surprised as a marketer? Share your story with me.



https://www.linkedin.com/today/social/flag-article-form?contentUrn=urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A6040420589599023104&articleType=author

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/marketing-communications?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/content-marketing?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

https://www.linkedin.com/topic/travel?trk=puls-tgging-dxter-rdirect

http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/channel/leisure_travel

http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/channel/india



https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashapuri?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_ftr

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashapuri?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_ftr






































Documents

How Do You Transform a Culture George Lee Bowman Linked