Getting the culture right
by Toronto Training and HR
June 2011
3-4 Introduction to Toronto Training and HR
5-6 Questions to ask
Contents 7-8
9-11
Drill A
Changing the culture
12-13 Assessing cultural fit
14-15 Retaining key people
16-17 Culture in smaller employers
18-19 Different types of company culture
20-22 Atmosphere of blameless error
23-24 Developing a sustainable organizational
culture
25-26 Elements critical to company culture
27-28 Generating a positive corporate culture
29-31 Building a winning culture
32-33 Strong cultures
34-35 Great places to work
36-42 Gaps between what employees seek and
experience
43-44 Drill B
45-48 Case studies
49-50 Conclusion and questions
Introduction
Page 3
Introduction to Toronto Training
and HR
• Toronto Training and HR is a specialist training and human
resources consultancy headed by Timothy Holden
• 10 years in banking
• 10 years in training and human resources
• Freelance practitioner since 2006
• The core services provided by Toronto Training and HR are:
- Training course design
- Training course delivery
- Reducing costs
- Saving time
- Improving employee engagement & morale
- Services for job seekers
Page 4
Questions to ask
Page 5
Questions to ask
What is culture?
What is the current organizational culture?
Where does the culture need to be for the survival
and growth of the organization?
How do we move from the present to the desired
culture?
Page 6
Drill A
Page 7
Drill A
Page 8
Changing the culture
Page 9
Changing the culture 1 of 2
Don't waste excessive time and money trying to
change culture by taking a 'scattergun' approach
- trying to change everything when some areas
are perfectly okay is foolish
Understand the functional and dysfunctional
parts of the culture
Find out where they exist within the organization - is it
in one subculture or across all subcultures?
Be focused - this will make it more cost-effective and
money will not be expended unnecessarily
Page 10
Changing the culture 2 of 2
STEPS TO BE TAKEN
Assess the current culture(s) in categorical detail
(e.g. leadership, communications) across and
down the organization
Define the gaps between the current and the
desired culture categories
Create plans that target only the areas of the
organization and the categories of culture that
need to be improved and changed
Page 11
Assessing cultural fit
Page 12
Assessing cultural fit
Pre-interview
Observe everything
Question everything
Post interview
Page 13
Retaining key people
Page 14
Retaining key people
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
Socializers
Achievers
Protectionists
Materialists
True believers
Page 15
Culture in smaller
employers
Page 16
Culture in smaller employers
Communicate!
Job descriptions
Regular performance evaluation
Regular team meetings
Opportunities for professional development
Responsibility
Team building
Coach, mentor, succession planning
Make work-life balance part of your corporate culture
Have a HR Policy (and use it)
Page 17
Different types of
company culture
Page 18
Different types of company
culture
All hands-on-deck culture
Process culture
Work-hard/play-hard culture
Tough-guy macho culture
Page 19
Atmosphere of blameless
error
Page 20
Atmosphere of blameless error 1 of 2
Motivating through errors
Capitalizing on errors
Learning from errors
Page 21
Atmosphere of blameless error 2 of 2
CREATING AN ATMOSPHERE OF BLAMELESS
ERROR
Stay objective
Determine what happened
Ask for suggestions
Use employee suggestions
Agree on the suggestion together
Follow up
Page 22
Developing a sustainable
organizational culture
Page 23
Developing a sustainable
organizational culture
Understand the context in which the change is
happening
Understand who is involved in the process and to
what extent
Identify key structural and behavioural factors to
ensure they are consistent with the culture aspired
to
Be aware of different people’s responses to
change, leading to action when appropriate
Promote authentic leadership
Page 24
Elements critical to
company culture
Page 25
Elements critical to company
culture
Employee attitudes
Effective management
Strong trust relationships
Customer focus
High accountability standards
Commitment to training and development
Compensation and reward programs
Support for innovation and new ideas
Useful resources, technology and tools
Emphasis on recruiting and retaining outstanding
employees
Page 26
Generating a positive
corporate culture
Page 27
Generating a positive corporate
culture
Make customer satisfaction a way of life
Do not play favourites-treat everyone fairly
Make employee development a major objective
Allow employees to have a voice in major changes
Promote cooperation between organizational subunits
Base employee salary and promotions on performance
Set individual goals that are realistic for each
employee
Always respect employees and take time to give
encouragement
Page 28
Building a winning culture
Page 29
Building a winning culture 1 of 2
Define 3-4 guiding principles that define who you
are as an organization
Use the principles to guide every business
discussion and decision going forward
Build the principles into all your people
performance and management systems
Page 30
Building a winning culture 2 of 2
Create a 2-3 day leadership development
experience that reinforces the behaviours and
values consistent with the principles, and insist all
senior leaders attend
Expect resistance, but stay the course with passion
and patience-changing culture means changing
people, and that takes time
Page 31
Strong cultures
Page 32
Strong cultures
ORGANIZATIONS TEND TO FOCUS ON:
Building employee morale through incentive and
training programs
Clearly defining values through mission and vision
statements
Putting strong leaders in place that set the tone
and empower others
Encouraging better relationships with both
employees and customers
Page 33
Great places to work
Page 34
Great places to work
Trust
Pride
Camaraderie
Nature of relationships
Page 35
Gaps between what
employees seek and
experience
Page 36
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 1 of 6
Managing talent
Ensuring understanding
Admitting mistakes
Displaying consistency
Contextualising success
Deciding implementation moment
Handling dilemmas
Pacing control
Page 37
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 2 of 6
BEHAVIOURS
Exercising self discipline
Listening to ideas
Ensuring understanding
Questioning self
Admitting mistakes
Receiving feedback
Responding to objections
Page 38
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 3 of 6
BEHAVIOURS
Exercising ethical discipline
Displaying consistency
Demonstrating morality
Transmitting organizational values
Securing behaviour
Contextualizing success
Encouraging transparency
Page 39
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 4 of 6
BEHAVIOURS
Generating directions
Guiding others
Processing ideas
Setting objectives
Pacing control
Contextualizing change
Handling dilemmas
Page 40
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 5 of 6
BEHAVIOURS
Making decisions
Pre-involving others
Contextualizing announcement
Supporting top-down
Deciding implementation moment
Refusing requests
Arbitrating conflicts
Page 41
Gaps between what employees
seek and experience 6 of 6
BEHAVIOURS
Securing delivery
Managing talent
Co-defining development goals
Delegating considerations
Monitoring processes
Giving feedback
Supporting execution
Page 42
Drill B
Page 43
Drill B
Page 44
Case study A
Page 45
Case study A
Page 46
Case study B
Page 47
Case study B
Page 48
Conclusion & Questions
Page 49
Conclusion
Summary
Questions
Page 50