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Research Report

Nurturing a Developmental Culture By Iris Wong and Goh Phek Suan March 2015

© 2015 Civil Service College

Nurturing a Developmental Culture | 2

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Iris Wong and Goh Phek Suan are, respectively, Researcher and Manager/Senior Consultant at the Institute of Leadership and Organisation Development, Civil Service College, Singapore.

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE The Institute of Leadership and Organisation Development (ILOD) promotes and supports the development of leadership and organisation development capabilities in the Singapore Public Service. Its research seeks to inform and sharpen practice of effective leadership and organisational intervention in public agencies.

ABSTRACT Developmental culture exists in many forms that are unique to each and every organisation. However, it is becoming apparent, especially in today's increasingly complex and volatile environment, that strong and positive workplace cultures raise organisational performance and productivity levels. This paper seeks to deepen understanding about culture development in organisations and reveals the supportive practices that help facilitate this.

KEYWORDS Developmental culture; organisational culture; organisation development; performance; productivity.

DISCLAIMER This case study is intended for class discussion only and not to illustrate effective or ineffective management.

© 2015, Civil Service College


Nurturing a Developmental Culture

Introduction

Organisations today are required to function in increasingly complex and volatile environments, brought about by rapid globalisation, swift technological improvement and escalating competition. The speed of change seems to be increasing at an exponential rate, and will continue to be as inevitable and unpredictable as ever (Cameron, 2003; Quinn, 2000). This has given rise to an emerging awareness of the need for organisations to innovate and adapt quickly in order to differentiate themselves from competitors and gain a competitive advantage, particularly in an age where stagnation of performance is detrimental to their survival.

One potential response to today's tumultuous environment is a progressive movement towards cultivating workplace cultures that contribute to the continuous development and transformation of the organisation. In this prevailing focus on organisational culture, cultural change is perceived to influence and be influenced by multiple factors including the external environment, the leadership, management practices, and the organisation's mission and strategy, and is one of the possible drivers towards improving organisational performance and productivity (Burke & Litwin, 1992; Parker & Bradley, 2000; Peters & Waterman, 1982). As tribute to this movement, much research has been dedicated towards studying workplace cultures.

Studies have shown that increases in employees' capabilities can contribute towards organisational transformation and progress (Jones, 2000). Learning enables individuals to acquire knowledge and skills to expand their repertoire of responses to deal with the various challenges that accompany today's constant state of organisational change (Allison, 2012). Where employees are constantly creating and seeking opportunities for self-improvement, the organisation will likely benefit from their ambitions, commitment, information-gathering and knowledge sharing.

Furthermore, people are an organisation's greatest asset, regardless of the industry or an organisation's output. They are behind every organisation's growth and success, and can also be its downfall. Many organisations recognise that their success is highly dependent on the quality and capabilities of their people and are willing to invest efforts in nurturing and supporting the ongoing development of their employees. In fact, there is an increasing recognition from research that voluntary and continuous learning in employees is critical towards organisational effectiveness (e.g., Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Noe & Wilk, 1993; Rosow & Zager, 1988; Senge, 1990). Commitment to learning is also seen as imperative to sustaining organisational improvement (Garvin, 1993).

Given the importance of a learning and developmental culture towards organisational performance, this paper offers several views surrounding developmental cultures within the



literature and in organisations worldwide. It is aimed at deepening our understanding and challenging the way we view and think about development in organisations, and to shed light on supportive practices that can help facilitate a more developmental culture.

What is Organisational Culture?

Organisational culture can be defined as "the way things get done around here" (Deal & Kennedy, 1982), and it is the most difficult aspect of an organisation to change because it withstands changes in aspects such as leadership, products, and services (Schein, 1992). According to Schein (2010), organisational culture manifests across three levels: Artifacts, Espoused beliefs and values, and Underlying assumptions.

Artifacts lie at the surface and are the easiest to detect and describe. They are the visible displays of culture such as the observable behaviours, rituals, symbols and processes. These include the facilities, language, emotional expressions, dress codes and customs that are clearly established, practised and demonstrated within an organisation.

Espoused beliefs and values lie beneath artifacts and guide the behaviours that are expressed. They are the beliefs, values, ideologies, goals and aspirations that are advocated within the organisation, and are commonly observed in the form of the mission, vision and standards held by the organisation. Although these are professed by the organisation and its people, they may sometimes be incongruent with the actual observed behaviours – the artifacts. In order to explain this, the underlying assumptions must be considered.

Underlying assumptions refer to the essence of an organisation's culture and lie at the deepest level. They are the shared, unquestionable and unchallenged beliefs, mind-sets and values held by organisation members that are often subconscious, non- visible and taken for granted. For example, the unspoken rules around acceptable and non-acceptable work behaviours are often guided by the shared or common underlying assumptions held by organisation members, even though those behaviours may not have been reflected in the organisation's official code of conduct.

Considering that culture can manifest across multiple levels, it suggests that any intended culture shift needs to be examined and tackled at different levels to increase the chances of it being a sustainable and lasting change. Moreover, as all three levels of the system are vital aspects of the change cycle, interventions that address or affect them concurrently would be most effective in building up and keeping a momentum, and finally induce a more effective and resilient transformation1 (Schein, 1992). While it is common for organisations to focus efforts on changing the visible behaviours, it is even more important to address change efforts at the underlying levels of the culture to enable a more lasting impact on the

1 Refer to Edgar H. Schein's book, "Organisational Culture and Leadership", Chapter 14, for more information on how leaders can embed and transmit culture.



organisations (Schein, 1992, p. 257). To illustrate this point, organisations tend to invest a lot of energy and resources in communicating and fostering the desired behaviours in their people, but oftentimes this ends up being an externally driven force that compels individuals to act in a certain manner, without necessarily matching the individuals' internal motivation and conviction. Given that behaviours are the most quantifiable aspect of a culture, observed behavioural changes may initially seem to imply that culture change has occurred. However, without engendering the shared underlying assumptions that would support the desired culture, behaviours may revert over time, and the change is merely temporary. Hence, to effect the deepest and most long-lasting changes, it is imperative that the cultural essence and underlying assumptions are carefully examined, challenged and nurtured, followed by the tackling of all three levels of cultural manifestations in a way that is aligned with the underlying assumptions.

The subsequent sections will elucidate the three levels of a developmental culture.

In organisations, a developmental culture is one that emphasises learning and personal growth, invests heavily in people development, and builds the working environment to support this conviction. An organisation with a strong developmental culture drives an open, honest, accepting, and psychologically safe environment for learning and growth, where employees feel valued, and people thrive alongside their business (Kegan et al., 2014).

In association with building a developmental culture, Maurer (2002) offers a model that identifies various external work factors that indirectly influence employees' learning and development orientation by shaping their self-concepts and development behaviour. These factors include the:

Organisation’s philosophy and emphasis — this is the "degree to which employees are viewed as resources for the future, and continuous individual learning and development is emphasised",

Developmental resources provided — the "extent to which an organisation provides learning and development resources on and off the job",

Co-worker and supervisor support — refers to the "social context that is favourable and helpful towards learning and development, and that places importance on that process", and

Job characteristics — includes feedback and autonomy.

For a developmental culture to flourish, organisations need to go beyond efforts to effect changes in behaviours and practices, to target the fundamental philosophies and mind-sets that support and enable learning. This relates to the embedding of a shared and entrenched set of growth-focused guiding principles that are so pervasive throughout the organisation that they continuously shape, define, and guide every individual's views, the language used, their behaviours as well as decisions around daily operations and structures. This, in turn, drives the shared desired culture within the organisation.



True to the nature of a developmental culture, the guiding principles themselves may constantly evolve, and need to be clarified, debated, reviewed and refined over time through active discussion and dialogue within organisations. While the principles may apply across development-oriented organisations, individual organisations also need to be discerning and actively interpret and translate these principles into real practices that are meaningful and relevant to their businesses and contexts.

Guiding Principles of a Developmental Culture The following highlights a selection of growth-focused principles that we believe to be important and in service of fostering a developmental culture. They are drawn from and inspired by works on coaching, learning organisations (Senge, 1990) and the recent notion of Deliberately Developmental Organisations (Kegan et al., 2014). Where organisations can effectively embed and live out these principles, we think they are more likely to engender a truly developmental culture at the workplace.

1. People are intrinsically motivated to grow

Intrinsic motivation has been studied by various researchers over decades (e.g., Harlow, 1953; Deci, 1972; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Broadly defined as "the joy derived from doing the task itself" (Harlow, 1953), intrinsic motivation refers to doing something simply because it is inherently enjoyable, where satisfaction is derived merely by doing it, rather than due to external pressure or rewards (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

We believe that a developmental culture needs to be built on the fundamental conviction that people have an intrinsic motivation to learn and grow, and derive satisfaction by achieving this outcome. This relates to the innate disposition of human beings towards mastery, where "people with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode" (Senge, 1990, p.142). Daniel Pink (2011) also describes mastery as the fundamental motivation that all people have towards wanting to get better. Hence, research suggests that people can be naturally motivated towards gaining personal mastery, and when left to their own devices, will seek to become better at what they do.

Furthermore, intrinsic motivation towards a task or towards self-improvement has been found to be associated with increased positive emotions, well-being and coping, in addition to improved work attitudes, effectiveness, career satisfaction, learning, adaptableness, performance (Graves et al., 2012) and organisational commitment (McEnrue, 1989). Within classrooms, individuals who set personal mastery goals for themselves have also been associated with a demonstration of positive attitudes, a preference for challenging tasks and more effective learning (Ames & Archer, 1988). These imply that working for the satisfaction of learning and improving may directly or indirectly enhance the well-being and performance of individuals within organisations. Hence, where the environment is able to trust and support this intrinsic motivation to learn and grow, it means that people are more likely to go to work each day and actively pursue self-improvement while experiencing the positive effects of deriving satisfaction and gaining well-being and performance effectiveness along the way.



On the contrary, an organisation that assumes that not everyone is capable, or has the potential to grow, or has the desire to get better at their work, will naturally manifest this through their behaviours and decisions related to capability development, even if the espoused organisation values are in support of people development in general. For example, this is sometimes more apparent when managers or leaders limit the type or range of development opportunities available to different levels of staff, or when they choose to micro-manage or adopt a highly instructive style of managing some employees, as opposed to empowering or coaching.

2. People development and business success are mutually inclusive

A common misperception about developmental cultures relates to the assumption that people development and business results are oftentimes mutually exclusive. This reflects a traditional view that employee development and performance orientations seem to be conflicting in nature (Quinn, 1988), where organisations understand and desire the benefits of both, yet believe that the pursuit of one would be at the expense of the other, hence a need to prioritise one over the other. In other words, most organisations want highly capable individuals but not all organisations are willing to invest and support them if it means having to sacrifice some aspects of business performance and success. For instance, most of us would be familiar with the manager's or leader's common dilemma between spending time and creating space to coach and educate their employees on the job versus choosing to take over the role personally or delegating work to those who will perform well, in order to ensure that work success and results are not compromised.

We believe that organisations with a developmental culture do not subscribe to this pervasive either-or misconception. Instead, they support the idea that business and people development are equally important to organisational success. From the works of management experts, the view is that "the fullest development of people is on an equal plane with financial success" (Senge, 1990, p. 144). Business and people development are consciously viewed at the same level, where one does not constantly take priority over the other, and neither are emphasised at the expense of the other. The development of people drives organisational performance, and the organisational motivation for success also drives the development of their people (Kegan et al., 2014). Considering that people are at the heart of an organisation, it stands to reason that their potential and ability to perform would drive organisational effectiveness. Conversely, once organisations are clear about what success looks like for themselves and are motivated towards it, they can then be better placed to define the capabilities needed in their people and to drive the growth of these capabilities in ways that are aligned towards organisational success.

Some organisations have bought into the idea of staff development yet behaviourally prioritise profit and performance, citing a lack of time or resources. Others are only concerned with the performance of their employees (Farr & Middlebrooks, 1990) and question whether the valuable time spent in growing people would be better spent in getting the work done quickly to achieve higher productivity. However, case studies of two organisations that boast highly developmental cultures, Bridgewater Associates, an investment firm, and Decurion Corporation, a parent to many subsidiaries, have shown that



they also manage very successful businesses2 while spending significant amounts of time on their "people processes", which includes paying attention to personal and group issues and their "root causes3" (Kegan et al., 2014). Moreover, these organisations understand that efficiency does not necessarily indicate effectiveness, and that they are, in fact, two separate domains of performance that are clearly distinguished (Ostroff & Schmitt, 1993).

Efficiency emphasises factors that minimise the time and resources needed to produce a merely satisfactory output (Goodman & Pennings, 1977; Mahoney, 1988). Effectiveness emphasises factors that increase the absolute overall quality of work regardless of time (Goodman & Pennings, 1977; Mahoney, 1988), such as the process and approach to decision making and the constructiveness of discussions. Although both may lead to decent outcomes individually, best performing organisations do not simply do efficient work, but additionally do efficient work that is of a high quality (Katz & Kahn, 1978), in other words, the pursuit of both efficiency and effectiveness are clearly very important for any organisation. To achieve this, investment in people development and capability building is imperative. While emphasising this may be less efficient in the short term, the time and resources invested into learning, problem-solving, and the growing of individuals and teams would allow reaping of more sustainable results and increased efficiency in the long run in the form of quality returns and staff capability (Kegan et al., 2014). Therefore the time taken to nurture people would be a better investment than solely focusing on driving short-term and unsustainable efficiency.

Overall, organisations with a developmental culture would be more inclined to place importance on issues such as employees' well-being, engagement, satisfaction and personal growth, believing that employees are resources for current and future organisational needs, and that they are therefore as important as profit-maximisation, competitive position and overall performance.

3. Mistakes are opportunities to learn; Limitations are opportunities to grow

Organisational culture can be characterised by an emphasis on either performance goals or mastery goals (Ames & Archer, 1988). Cultures with a focus on performance goals are common, where individual success is measured based on performance achievements. A culture of performance goals tends to elicit anxiety (Ames & Archer, 1988), hence, people typically bring polished and inhibited versions of themselves into the workplace, presenting only their strengths and concealing their limitations in an attempt to manage others' impressions of them. Unfortunately, when people choose to avoid being vulnerable or do not confront their personal limitations, it usually means that there are fewer opportunities

2 Decurion Corporation comprises four primary businesses and a number of other operations, and entered the assisted living business in 2011. It employs about 1,100 persons in California. Bridgewater Associates manages $157 billion in global investments, and ranked as the largest and best-performing hedge fund manager in the world in 2010 and 2011, and was recognised in 2012 and 2013 for earning its clients more than any other hedge funds in the history of the industry. It employs about 1,400 people in Westport, Connecticut. 3 Refer to ILOD-CSC's article on "Getting to the Root Cause" at https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Odyssey/Practising%20OD/Pages/Getting%20to%20the%20Root%20Cause.aspx for more information on how to diagnose root causes of issues.


https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Odyssey/Practising%20OD/Pages/Getting%20to%20the%20Root%20Cause.aspx

https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Odyssey/Practising%20OD/Pages/Getting%20to%20the%20Root%20Cause.aspx


to engage in a discomfort zone in pursuit of potential growth that could be beneficial to both the individual and the organisation.

On the other hand, organisations with developmental cultures are more likely to place a higher degree of emphasis on mastery goals, where mistakes are not only deemed to be an important part of the learning process, but also recognised for the valuable learning that can be gleaned from it. In other words, personal limitations are viewed as opportunities for growth, rather than as weaknesses that are usually instinctively hidden and down-played (Kegan et al., 2014).

In some ways, this principle relates to an organisation's level of tolerance towards mistakes, and their degree of openness towards discussing and learning from negative outcomes at work. In the spirit of embracing and enabling authentic learning at the workplace, developmental cultures therefore not only encourage learning from mistakes and setbacks but also provide a psychologically safe and non-judgemental space for people within the organisation to openly share and learn from one another's negative experiences. In fact, the quality of learning in an organisation is often facilitated by the presence of such psychological safety (Edmondson, 1999; Lipshitz et al., 2002; and Schein, 1993).

Multitudes of old adages capture the significance and inevitability of making mistakes as a pre-requisite for growth and progress. Unfortunately, in today's failure-phobic society, organisations typically reward successes more than recognising the efforts spent, favour the end state rather than the process, and even punish failures in both explicit and implicit ways. This makes it less appealing for people to learn from taking risks and making mistakes, and more appealing to simply seek easy successes, as opposed to experimentation and innovation. Such a trend is evident from the observation that people typically feel hard-pressed to quote examples of organisations which will openly discuss their mistakes and failures, or even go to the extent of creating case studies from those setbacks so as to impart those lessons to future generations. Organisations rarely do this, especially when reputations (both individual and organisational) and careers are perceived to be at stake. These practices perpetuate the sort of culture that discourages or downplays mistakes, thus sacrificing the potential growth and improvement that can come about from learning through those experiences.

A developmental culture that places emphasis on mastery goals understands the importance of this, and accepts that certain mistakes are permissible, but only if the errors are acknowledged, responsibility is accepted, critical analysis and active reflection occurs, and everyone learns from them personally or vicariously with the aim of avoiding such mistakes in future. Employees who adopt this learning-orientation will tend not to be weighed down by the fear of failures and mistakes, but instead perceive them as opportunities for learning, thus nurturing greater resilience and a willingness to learn from their experience (Khoo & Tham, 2011). Essentially, learning is very much dependent on the discussion of mistakes and failures (Sitkin, 1992; Leonard-Barton, 1995) and organisations who believe in this will encourage a whole new set of beneficial behaviours that facilitate the progression of a developmental culture.



4. Everyone and everything around can be your teacher

"Everyone that you will ever meet knows something that you don't." Famously quipped by scientist, educator and TV personality, Bill Nye, this quote is a humbling reminder of the inexhaustible learning that one can glean from what the world has to offer. Individuals who embrace this principle will likely adopt a positive and open attitude towards others, because they believe that every person is valuable, that everyone can bring something new to the table and contribute to others' growth. In a way, the greater the difference across individuals (e.g., background, knowledge, experiences, age, roles, at different parts of a system), there will be greater opportunities for new perspectives, insights, ideas and information to be learnt from one another. In practice, we often find that one of the key distinctions between good and great managers/leaders lie in the person’s mind-set, attitude and ability to encourage, empower and create a safe space for mutual learning and meaningful interactions. This usually involves the recognition that both parties have some knowledge, their own perspectives, a bit of wisdom, or a skill that they can impart to others. In addition, both parties must be forthcoming with their inputs and willing to contribute to the other persons' understanding and growth of knowledge. On the contrary, individuals who do not hold this belief will consciously or unconsciously exclude others and in turn limit their own access to alternative insights, feedback and perspectives.

At its most extreme, everyone, including people of rank, can appreciate that their ideas and information are fair game for evaluation and critique by any level in the organisation, unlike the usual practice whereby people do not always perceive the right to speak their mind and offer information (Kegan et al., 2014). In reality, it is common for people who occupy higher ranks to suffer from a lack of authentic feedback from subordinates (Fleenor, Taylor & Chappelow, 2008), and this may inadvertently affect the quality of decisions made by them or limit opportunities for growth in their leadership and impact on the organisation. Conversely, senior managers/leaders can benefit greatly from the fresh perspectives offered by their subordinates who have their ears closer to the ground. Essentially, offering feedback and support should not be related to rank or hierarchy, but should be an ideal "meritocracy of ideas" (Kegan et al., 2014).

Where organisations are able to nurture and embed this principle, learners will be encouraged to stay open-minded towards opinions, feedback, advice, and the help rendered, and accept the view that they can stand to gain something meaningful from everyone if they are willing to listen and acknowledge without judgment. They do not have the mentality of being more superior to the giver of information, even if they may be more knowledgeable. This also implies that, when it comes to sharing information, one's rank and status are put aside and all views are given due consideration, regardless of the apparent authority or expertise of the giver.

Similarly, individuals who choose to offer their views or impart some knowledge must feel assured that they have worthy contributions to share. They are not paralysed by the notion that rank confers certain authority or protection (Kegan et al., 2014), and have faith that everyone, including their superiors, are open and willing to listen to their ideas and opinions. They are positive that what they possess is of value, that people will appreciate their efforts to contribute, and thus are generously willing to share what they know without fear of judgement.



This practice of reciprocal sharing and learning, however, is a challenging habit that does not come naturally to most. Within organisations, people are unsurprisingly sensitive to the existence of authority and hierarchy, and instinctively defer to or seek out others who are presumably superior in terms of seniority, knowledge or expertise. This leads to situations where people are hesitant to share information, and are less open to seeking out opportunities for ideas and opinions, thus limiting opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and learning.

Research has shown that most learning happens in the workplace and much of it occurs through interaction with others4 (McCall, Lombardo & Morrison, 1988). Therefore, in order to facilitate the journey towards a developmental culture, a potential starting point could be to cultivate and leverage on peer networks and teams, where individuals collaborate and tap on each other for information, and where the group can harness the collective experience and expertise. This is ideally done by being intentional in building a safe, cooperative and open environment, as well as deliberately creating space and structure within teams for feedback and discussions of such a nature (Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch, 2009) to nurture a positive mind-set towards practising cross-sharing and collaborative learning.

In a developmental culture, hierarchies do not exist around learning and sharing, and conditions that foster a mind-set and practice of open conversations and mutual feedback are strongly encouraged and reinforced at every opportunity, as well as role-modelled by managers or leaders. This helps to cultivate the belief that everyone has something to offer and are valued for what they can bring to work.

5. People development is a shared responsibility

In a developmental culture, the responsibility for individuals' growth is shared between the individual and the organisation (inclusive of its collective members) as a whole. Employee development is not merely the responsibility of supervisors or the human resource function within an organisation. While organisations facilitate access to training opportunities for staff, and supervisors are expected to aid and catalyse their subordinates' growth and progress, a critical factor in the success of employee development is the active interest and participation of employees who take ownership of their own learning by engaging in self-reflection, seeking ongoing feedback, setting personal goals, as well as pursuing their own self-improvement (Goh, 2010). Research has shown time and again that, when people are intentional about and voluntarily take charge of their own growth, they reap the maximum benefits of their efforts. Therefore, self-improvement requires an ongoing effort on the part of the individual, and they need to be held accountable for their own personal growth.

Looking at the work group from a systemic perspective, we can learn to appreciate the unique value and contribution that each individual in that system potentially offers to others' growth. Firstly, supervisors play a key role in coaching and nurturing their staffs'

4 The Centre of Creative Leadership (CCL) has a 70:20:10 model of learning and development (e.g., McCall, Lombardo & Eichinger, 1988; Rabin, 2014) that describes how learning happens through experience, through others, and through formal coursework.



potential, and are well-placed (with support from Human Resource) to provide access to stretch assignments, conduct developmental conversations, as well as motivating and challenging employees to expand their capabilities in anticipation of the roles and expectations that the organisation may have for them.

On the other hand, employees are often in the best position to provide feedback to their supervisors on the impact of their leadership, whereby the quality of the feedback increases with greater trust, openness and authenticity established in the relationship between both parties.

Lastly, peers and team members offer the opportunity of cross-sharing (as mentioned earlier), peer feedback, and also as accountability partners to keep one another in check on their respective growth and progress. They are also a valuable source of peer mentoring and social support both within and across functional teams. Beyond these, where a strong learning-orientation is also fostered within the team culture, it also presents opportunities for constructive debate and critique, in the spirit of joint learning and mutual development.

In brief, development is more than just a personal and individualised endeavour, but has the potential for greater learning and impact when we learn to tap on various parties and communities within the organisation. However, to do that, we need to begin with the mentality that everyone has a role to play, and everyone can grow together.

Values that serve a Developmental Culture Culture change efforts are most effective and sustainable when they are targeted at multiple levels. Previously, we identified some of the beliefs and mind-sets that are useful towards nurturing a developmental culture and which can serve as guiding principles to influence the processes and behaviours desired for a developmentally-oriented organisation. However, to ensure the sustainability of a developmental culture, it is important to also examine the underlying values that are associated with and espoused as part of these principles. Where the organisation is clear about its espoused versus inherent values, in relation to a developmental culture, and can enable healthy discourse among its people and support them in living out the desired values, it is more likely to be successful in building a developmental practice within the organisation.

Schwartz and Bilsky (1990) defined values as concepts and beliefs that apply beyond specific situations, guide behaviour, and are ordered according to their relative importance. They are our deep-seated beliefs about how the world ought to be, and inform the major aspects of our lives, including the way we function in an organisation. As Schein (2010) mentioned, values serve as foundations to base our behaviours on and define our behaviours across situations. Since values are vital aspects of any culture, it is important to articulate and examine them clearly for any efforts made towards culture change. For the purpose of this paper, we have identified four values that we consider to be essential to a developmental culture: Learning, Humility, Authenticity, and Community.



1. The Value of Learning

In a dynamic and changing environment, new ideas, new problems, and new issues constantly emerge. Continuous learning is therefore essential in order to innovate and adapt. While this act of learning can be both intentional and unintentional, unplanned learning most often occurs naturally while people carry out their functions in their organisations, but it is often unrecognised and thus neglected. A developmental culture that values learning (i.e., the pursuit of knowledge, skills and growth) should thus inspire an intentional investment of effort in nurturing people, whether as an organisation, or as individuals.

The five guiding principles that facilitate the building of a developmental culture embrace elements of growth and progression, and are organised around the fundamental value of learning. Organisations that value learning and seek to build developmental cultures thus provide ample opportunities for people to learn and to grow over the course of their careers, reflect their conviction in the human potential to learn, and provide the necessary processes and structures to empower staff towards both self-directed and facilitated learning. Furthermore, by valuing learning, organisations themselves evolve through the ongoing learning and adaptation of their employees.

In addition, employees themselves are interested to take charge of their own learning because they, like the organisation, recognise the value of learning. They derive joy in pursuing mastery, both as individuals and as a collective, are committed to both their own and others' advancement, and purposefully seek and take advantage of developmental opportunities as they arise. Organisations that embed and reinforce the value of learning in the daily work is thus more likely to enable individuals, as well as the organisation as a whole, to achieve their full potential.

2. The Value of Humility

Humility refers to the awareness of oneself and one's place in relation to others. It is derived from the Latin word "humus", meaning "ground" or "earth" (Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, n.d.), evoking a symbolism of being down-to-earth and being in touch with reality. In this context, possessing the value of humility means having the belief that everyone is valuable, and that no one is ever complete or perfect.

True to the principle that "everyone and everything around can be your teacher", humility reflects the recognition of the worth that each individual possesses, be it in knowledge, skills, perspective or wisdom. It is the state of mind that one is not superior to other people, coupled with the realistic appreciation of one's own worth. This is seen when someone treats everyone with respect regardless of who they are and what differentiates them from him or her.

The value of humility also resonates with the principle, "people are intrinsically motivated to grow". With humility comes the recognition of one's limits, the understanding that we are never experts and always a work-in-progress, that there's always room for improvement, and that we will never be quite there. This plays a large role in spurring a fundamental intrinsic motivation towards growth and self-improvement, yet maintaining the sense that there is always more to learn.



It is noteworthy that humility is also closely tied to the value of learning. The willingness to learn requires that people approach situations with humility and intentionally decide to be open-minded and curious about what others have to offer, thus allowing one to make the most out of others' generous teachings. Martinuzzi and Freeman (2009) have fittingly articulated that, when looking through the lens of humility, people "spend more time in that wonderful space of the beginner's mind" and "move away from pushing to allowing, from insecure to secure, from seeking approval to seeking enlightenment."

3. The Value of Authenticity

Authenticity and humility go hand-in-hand, where humility is first required to admit that we are never perfect, before being able to express our imperfections authentically. Authenticity, in this instance, involves being self-aware, staying true to oneself and with others, living according to your own values and not others', expressing what you genuinely think and believe (Luthans & Avolio, 2003), and being open and honest about one's strengths and shortcomings irrespective of the pressure to do otherwise.5

The principle: "Mistakes are opportunities to learn; Limitations are opportunities to grow" is related to this value of authenticity, placing importance on being authentic as well as accepting others' efforts at being authentic. Being authentic means having the humility to admit to one's frailties, not putting up a false front at work, and not hiding our weaknesses while showcasing our strengths. Accepting others' efforts at authenticity entails an appreciation for the human condition of being imperfect, by accepting that everyone has limitations and fails occasionally, not passing judgement in those instances, and instead encouraging the admission of such limitations. When authenticity is valued and practiced, it is more likely that our mistakes and limitations will be acknowledged in a safe environment, thereby creating opportunities for learning and self-improvement.

4. The Value of Community

Individuals who value being part of a community are often more willing to contribute and act in service of the greater good of their community and those within. Likewise, where an organisation believes firmly in the value of community spirit, it is likely to appreciate that the quest for development is not merely centred on the Self, but there is also a motivation towards growing as a community or enabling cross-team sharing for the benefit of everyone. At the individual level, it means that people have an interest in improving themselves and nurturing others in their community for the ultimate growth of the organisation.

In the pursuit of self-improvement and community learning, it is useful for individuals to consider aligning their interests to the organisation's interests, such that any personal development is also pursued in service of the organisation's growth. This will likely ensure the necessary support and opportunities for individuals to practice their learning.

5 It is also important to appreciate that authenticity is an ideal, and that there is no absolute authenticity or inauthenticity. Refer to an article on "The Limits of Authenticity" at https://philosophynow.org/issues/92/The_Limits_of_Authenticity for an analysis on the nature of authenticity.


https://philosophynow.org/issues/92/The_Limits_of_Authenticity


Ultimately, organisations also benefit from the self-motivation and increased capabilities of their staff.

A sense of community is fundamental to the principle of sharing responsibility for people development. People who value their community believe that they belong to and will play a part in the larger system that they operate in; they understand that they do not just benefit from the efforts of others to nurture them, but also ought to expend effort to nurture others. Hence, where people place importance on their community, they are more likely to appreciate mutual development because they possess the necessary nurturing orientation and willingness to help others grow, resulting in an organisation's optimal and self-driven progress.

Collaboration is another manifestation of the community spirit, where collaboration occurs because people believe that they will be able to achieve a greater outcome than merely the sum of their individual parts. When individuals hold this view that they are a part of a larger system, it will encourage them to exhibit a form of selflessness in contributing to, collaborating, and learning as a collective, as opposed to operating independently within the system, in order to be of service to the greater good of everyone and the organisation.

The concept of community and collaboration, however, may mean different things to different people. As Hofstede (1980) points out, organisational culture is very much woven into larger cultures that the organisation belongs to, such as the national culture. Ralston et al. (1997) and Schein (1984) discuss some general differences between collectivistic and individualistic cultures that affect the assumptions and values that pervade the workplace. Individualistic cultures are generally said to emphasise personal achievement and individual self-worth (Wayne, 1989), while collectivistic cultures emphasise the importance of the group in the society (Dollinger, 1988). Broadly speaking, these refer to people's self or group orientations. In group-oriented cultures, caring for the community may be something that is second nature; however, this may be less intuitive in self-oriented cultures. This implies that a sense of community may not emerge as strongly, as easily, or in the same manner in self-oriented cultures as with cultures with a prevalent group-orientation. Therefore, while a developmental culture will benefit greatly from a flourishing sense of community spirit, it is worthwhile to bear in mind that certain cultures may be more or less receptive to this sense of community and collaboration, and these may require more effort to nurture.

Concluding thoughts on values

With any culture change effort, it is essential for the organisation to articulate and reinforce the desired values for the organisation, so as to enable and empower its employees to live out these values on a daily basis. This can be done through extensive conversation, discussion, dialogue, or role-modelling of the values, and being unambiguous in sharing with employees about how the desired values may look like in their day- to-day operations and how it brings about the desired culture within the organisation.

The next section will suggest some practices that could be manifestations of the beliefs, mind-sets and values that support the building of a developmental culture.



The Developmental Culture in Practice The organisation-held principles, beliefs and values of a developmental culture are most noticeably expressed in the practices of the organisation. While these principles and values inform the way things are done in an organisation, sustained practice also allows the right principles and values to be further reinforced (CSC - The Centre for Organisation Development, 2010)6. These practices range from formalised procedures such as reward systems, to informal rituals such as frequent feedback-seeking.

According to Schein's view of culture, it is important to cultivate and sustain culture change through focusing on the underlying assumptions, mind-sets and values that people hold, as described in the earlier sections. However, even though dictating these aspects is not an insurmountable task, they are more easily embedded by putting behaviours and practices in place to create the conditions for the evolution of the desired culture7.

Hence, this section outlines a number of practices deemed to be aligned with the principles and values that may facilitate the generation of a developmental culture.

Feedback orientation

Feedback in the organisation is "the information one receives from co-workers related to his or her work behaviours" (Fleenor et al., 2008), and is a valuable source of learning and development (Schön, 1983). According to a review by London and Smither (2002), feedback is a keystone of progress, and the effects of practising feedback in the organisation include the enhancement of learning, self-awareness, employee empowerment, career progression, working relations, employee motivation and overall work quality (Kramar et al., 1997; London, 2003; Hulett, 2002; Green, 2002).

The practice of giving feedback is very much aligned with the principles of a developmental culture. An organisation with a feedback culture8 has employees with strong orientations and motivations towards giving and receiving feedback to enhance their colleagues', as well as their own self-awareness and self-improvement. Moreover, this intrinsic motivation to improve via usage of feedback is facilitated by the psychological safety and developmental mind-sets conferred by a developmental culture. Correspondingly, giving feedback is another significant way employees can live out another tenet of developmental cultures, by offering their valuable support to help their colleagues grow. However, while feedback is often easier given as praise, constructive feedback that encourages the examination of negative practice or suggests further improvement should likewise be freely given as valuable opportunities for learning. Eventually, as the organisation's feedback orientation

6 Refer to "Demystifying Organisation Culture" by The Centre for Organisation Development at https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Demystifying-Organisation-Culture.aspx for information on how culture is developed. 7 Refer to http://www.systems-thinking.org/theWay/sre/re.htm for information about the BAR Loop Model on how culture is reinforced through practice. 8 Refer to "Feedback Orientation, Feedback Culture, and the Longitudinal Performance Management Process" by London and Smither (2002) for a helpful outline of 3 methods and some specific practices that can support and cultivate a feedback culture in an organisation: Enhancing the quality of feedback, emphasising the importance of feedback, and providing support for using feedback.


https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Demystifying-Organisation-Culture.aspx

http://www.systems-thinking.org/theWay/sre/re.htm


grows, employees will grow with it, and organisational performance is improved in the long run.

An example of a specific feedback practice is the use of multi-rater feedback systems such as 360 degree feedback9. 360 degree feedback involves gathering multiple perspectives of an individual's performance from multiple sources, such as from supervisors, peers and staff. The literature suggests that 360-degree feedback is often used for appraisal, while its potential for developmental use is frequently deemed secondary (Fleenor et al., 2008). However, in alignment with a developmental culture, it is valuable to consider the use of 360 degree feedback from a purely developmental perspective. This includes drawing a clear boundary between appraisal and development to prevent diminishing its effectiveness as a developmental practice (Ghorpade, 2000). It is also essential to clearly communicate the intention for development, and to de-link it with appraisal, to ensure the psychological safety of the givers and recipients of feedback, which is necessary for growth and progress to occur (Schein & Bennis, 1965; Dalton, 1997). This is supported by placing emphasis on practices such as ensuring the anonymity of feedback providers and data confidentiality, which research has already pinpointed as necessary for individuals to feel secure and provide objective and honest feedback (Leslie, 2008; McCauley, 1997).

While the use of 360 degree feedback offers a structured, systematic approach to facilitating the practice of feedback and development within an organisation, it is important to recognise that the ultimate value and goal lies in enabling a culture where free exchange of constructive feedback exists among its people, even in the absence of a formal 360 process.

Coaching and mentoring

Coaching and mentoring10 are different forms of developmental relationships that can be established in the workplace to support employees in enhancing their effectiveness, potential and impact at work. Coaching offers a safe space for reflection, insights and sense-making to enable the discovery of new options and development of new behaviours,in service of the coachee's developmental goals. Coaching11 is usually based on the belief that individuals are often in the best position to understand their own needs, generate answers, and be responsible for their further actions (Goh, 2010). Hence, coaches often practice non-

9 Refer to "The Use of 360 Degree Feedback" by CSC's Centre for Leadership Development for information on ILOD's position on the use of 360 degree feedback as a developmental tool. 10 We define coaching as "a short term interactive process that facilitates personal awareness and the development of new behaviours within a supportive environment, so as to encourage individual growth and behavioural change to enhance one's potential and effectiveness" (Goh, 2010). Mentoring can be defined as a "professional relationship in which an experienced person, the mentor, assists another in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person's professional and personal growth" (Management Mentors, n.d.). 11 Refer to "Understanding Coaching and Conditions for Successful Outcomes" by Goh Phek Suan, CSC - Centre for Leadership Development, at https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Understanding-Coaching-and-Conditions-for-Successful-Outcomes.aspx for a guide to coaching and aspects of coaching that are essential for a successful coaching outcome.


https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Understanding-Coaching-and-Conditions-for-Successful-Outcomes.aspx

https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Understanding-Coaching-and-Conditions-for-Successful-Outcomes.aspx


judgmental and active listening, and ask powerful questions to allow the discovery of personal insights and options. In comparison, mentoring draws on the relevant experience of the mentors to offer guidance, advice and facilitate networks or connections for the employee (Kram, 1985; McManus & Russell, 1997; Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1993). A key value-add of mentoring lies in the professional expertise and experience that may be imparted to help others accelerate their learning or expand their knowledge and experiences. Moreover, in conjunction with the practice of feedback-giving, coaching and mentoring also offers opportunities for employees to gather feedback or discover blind-spots for themselves, thus facilitating the journey towards self-awareness and self-improvement.

Fittingly, coaching and mentoring intrinsically embody the elements of a developmental culture. The organisations that engage and believe in coaching and mentoring practices do so because they value the growth of their people. For coaches and mentors to be effective, they and the organisation must believe that their employees are motivated to grow, and also hold a mind-set that their mistakes and setbacks are opportunities for reflection and improvement. Furthermore, some organisations also encourage the emergence of a coaching or mentoring culture where coaching and mentoring can be enabled at different levels of the organisation, by nurturing coaching or mentoring capabilities in its employees as well as instilling a habit or practice of peer and informal coaching within and across teams. This is reminiscent of the idea that every person has something of value to offer for others' development, and that the responsibility for people development is shared among all employees (e.g., peer coaching) rather than limiting it to formal external coaches, mentors, or specific supervisory roles.

In a nutshell, coaching and mentoring practices encourage the habit of mindfulness, self- reflection, learning and sense-making, within a safe and nurturing environment. They also empower individuals to take responsibility for their own progress, therefore promoting the employee growth relevant to a developmental culture.

Learning communities

Another practice that organisations can put in place is to introduce platforms that create opportunities for employees to engage in small group communities to learn and grow with support from their peers. These can take the form of learning communities such as learning groups, communities of practice or action learning sets.

The concept of a learning community is heavily influenced by theories of social learning, where much of a person's development is said to occur through social interactions with the community that he belongs to (Vygotsky, 1978). This is supported by more recent research into organisational learning, where much of a person's learning occurs in the workplace through social learning in interactions with colleagues (McCall et al., 1988). Collaborative learning happens in professional learning communities, in which employees are encouraged to foster interdependent learning relationships where they are accountable to each other and for their own learning. These relationships allow them to capitalise on the collective's varied resources and abilities, for purposes such as the exchange of knowledge and experiences, self-facilitated reflection processes, discussion of ideas or problem-solving. Furthermore, the creation of these small communities also offers employees access to a



wider supportive network of peers, beyond their current work teams, with whom they share similar interests, issues and concerns.

The building of learning communities is a practice that has, at its core, the principles of a developmental culture. The effectiveness and sustainability of learning communities depend very much on employees' voluntary participation. Correspondingly, employees who are intrinsically motivated to learn are likely to voluntarily participate in such communities, and will benefit the most from their motivation to grow themselves. Additionally, the belief that development is a shared responsibility, and that everyone is a valuable resource with something to offer, are ideally established in learning communities where employees actively contribute to each other's learning in a psychologically safe and non-judgmental environment, supporting each other in a shared effort towards personal or professional growth.

A particular form of learning communities is the Action Learning Set. Action Learning Sets involve meeting regularly with colleagues to explore issues, discuss solutions and other ways of thinking, followed by decisive action and accountability to the group. Action Learning Sets can take a variety of forms, but generally operate by participants taking turns to describe a problem, and then receiving questions and contribution from the group to enable them to explore and reflect on themselves and the issue at hand. Each session ends by ensuring that each set presenter has an action plan to implement12. In this way, Action Learning Sets facilitate the nurturing of a developmental culture by enabling employees to identify and embrace their challenges, learn and grow from their experiences and those of others and, by offering their inputs, contribute positively to the growth of other set members.

Conclusion Developmental cultures exist in many forms that are unique to each and every organisation. We have identified some principles, values and practices that can have a significant influence on cultivating and sustaining a developmental culture. These may guide an organisation in formulating their developmentally-focused values and implementing a personalised set of developmental practices that bring out the best in their employees and their business. In nurturing such a culture, it is helpful to consider and appreciate the interdependency of each of Schein's three levels of culture (i.e. the underlying assumptions or principles, the espoused values, and the artifacts or practices), and to remember that changing a culture requires an intentional focus at each of the three levels. More importantly, an emphasis on the deepest levels of culture, specifically the unstated assumptions and principles, will ensure that change efforts are longer-lasting, and that old and undesirable behaviours do not relapse. Finally, in any effort to support a culture change, organisations must be mindful of potential contradictions between their existing systems and the new culture that is being created. It is not helpful to focus simply on creating the organisational structures to instil a change in behaviours while overlooking the deep-seated beliefs and values that serve to reinforce the old behaviours.

12 Refer to http://theknowledge.biz/resources/A-Guide-to-Action-Learning-along-with-Tools-and-Techniques.pdf for a guide on conducting Action Learning Sets.


http://theknowledge.biz/resources/A-Guide-to-Action-Learning-along-with-Tools-and-Techniques.pdf

http://theknowledge.biz/resources/A-Guide-to-Action-Learning-along-with-Tools-and-Techniques.pdf


When reviewing these fundamental guiding principles, it will be useful to question and reflect on what the existing organisation-wide assumptions truly are, what they look like, and how they may be refined or amplified in ways that are most beneficial for culture transformation. This includes an alertness to impediments in the system that should be recognised and addressed when introducing a new intervention, or ensuring that the role models and structures in the system are practicing what is preached (e.g., reward and recognition systems (Kerr & Slocum, 1987)).

In essence, for effective and sustainable cultural change, it is crucial to ensure that all layers of the culture system are targeted, with an emphasis on the deepest levels, so that there is coherence, integration and alignment across the principles, values and practices in an organisation.

***end***

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Appendix This section is a compilation of some questions that are worth considering if you are interested in implementing or contributing to a more developmental culture in your organisation, in your role as an individual within your organisation, as a person of influence tasked to execute or champion these changes, or as a whole organisation.

In general:

If the intent is to build and support a developmental culture:

Why do we want a developmental culture? What sort of developmental culture do we want? What principles, values and practices do we want to adopt and to what extent? What could a developmental culture in our organisation possibly look like?

What impact do we want our business to have? How will having a developmental culture impact our business? How do we want it to impact our business?

What is/are the current culture(s) prevalent in the organisation? What are our current assumptions, beliefs, values and practices?

What are some practices or structures that are misaligned with the culture we are trying to create? Are the current values aligned?

What do we want to change? What do we want to be able to do that we currently cannot or do not do?

What are we doing well?

What do we need to do differently?

As an individual:


What does it mean to me?

What does it mean for me?

What are some assumptions and beliefs of mine that I need to reconsider and reflect on?

What am I doing well?

What do I need to do differently?

As a person of influence (whether as a leader, HR, OD practitioner, etc.):


What adjustments do I need to make in order to fully commit to modelling and supporting the change?

What should I change now? What should I change later?

What am I doing well?



What do I need to do differently?

How can I gain support for these changes? From whom do I need to gather support for these changes?

What can I do to help people transition?

How will I explain the rationale for these changes?

At the organisational level:


How does a developmental culture support the accomplishment of our vision and mission?

What value will this create for our employees, business, stakeholders, partners, and clients?

What are the specific principles that could guide our work? What are the key values that would help support a developmental culture?

How much are our current underlying assumptions, values, practices, structures, and systems compatible with the developmental culture that we are trying to create?

How will we align our systems, structures, and behaviours with what we want the culture to be?

Is the leadership team committed to the change?

How do our employees interpret our organisational values and how much of it supports a developmental culture?

How can we get people on board?

What are we doing well?

What do we need to do differently?

How will we evaluate whether we have succeeded?

How do we sustain this cultural change?



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