Stephen H Baum Leadership

CEOs SHARE CULTURE INITIATIVES

My last blog laid out the context for leading culture change and gave a few examples of CEO initiatives to lead the way. Here is a more complete list based on both private client conversations and Vistage CEO peer advisory group discussion:

–       Hire a talent manager for development of high potentials

–       Make culture change a major project for the senior team with accountabilities for the cascade to lower levels

–       Make culture a specific topic in exit interviews

–       Get 360s done on senior team and next level and include culture questions (on- line and in supplemental interviews by HR or third party)

–       Town hall meetings with open Q&A

–       Put culture into goal deployment top down

–       Change physical things to encourage collaboration (take walls down, move, etc.)

–       Consolidate small groups into big groups and report out and measure as a group

–       Give recognition for sharer of best practice to others

–       Change names of things so people are one

–       Make sure there are consequences of action without consultation or collaboration (stop project, deny funding, communicate examples of the right way and the not right way)

–       Hire for culture fit at all levels (senior team participates in senior hires)

–       Lunch n learn monthly by CEO with randomly selected people

–       Use the lunch n learn (or breakfasts) to enlist a “listening system” of people who will report issues the CEO needs to hear  

–       Ask direct reports to develop their own listening systems 

–       Engage administrative department people on projects across functions and across other divides (e.g., administrative and academic)

–       Form a non-executive committee (“Associates Committee” and/or Managers’ Committee” – AC or MC)Initialize by CEO message as to purpose and freedom

        –  Observe (or ask about) emerging leaders on the AC or MCDelegate problems to AC and/or MC

         – Encourage them to bubble problems and recommended solutions or process improvements up to senior team

         –  Let the committee deal with non-strategic operational problems that affect employees

–       Broadly communicate thinking behind decisions by Sr Team

–       Identify and groom culture carriers in different parts of the organization

–       Encourage culture carriers to be close, a community

–       Put real effort into a culture campaign…

–       Communications cascade down to lower levels on mission and values

1. Installation of culture objectives in performance reviews
2. Recognition of people who exhibit positive culture in their actions
3. Focus on culture, measure, publish, recognize
4. Ask HR department to do culture assessment  (perhaps in one area, then another)
5. Use available tools for culture assessment and engagement perhaps with questions customized for academia; Russ Reynolds tool, IBM Synexo tool?)
6. Ask individual managers to address culture gaps that are found as part of their review

– CEO participates (sometimes) in associates committee meetings and

1. There is always follow up on each action item at the next meeting
2. Assign the AC problems to solve
3. Establish separate AC’s for selected problems (Adam did with customer experience)

–       Raffle off 2 hours of CEO time to work with an associate (“above covers boss”)

–       Seminar with CEO teaching 25 employees each month on basics

Questions about the spirit and/or the detail of the above are invited.

 CEOs SHARE CULTURE INITIATIVES