Principles of Management DB- 300 Words

CULTURE

Management shift V la tk a H lupic urges a culture change for the 21 st century organisation

F or years, training and development professionals have debated the big issues that they confront: what is training for? How do we select and develop programmes? How do we

know which are the most effective? Some o f the latest findings on organisational development promise to inform, perhaps even revolutionise, our thinking.

Above all, the latest research opens up the possibility to broaden the discussion away from the familiar tussle between finance and H R . For example, there has been much discussion over the years on whether one can, or should, assess a financial return on training investment. The debate is evenly balanced. W hile there is an obvious need to help the business and avoid waste, some training initiatives have objectives that are long-term and difficult to quantify, such as maintaining corporate culture or assisting the management o f risk.

The case for gauging a return on training investment can be inadvertently weakened by assuming that a precise monetary figure can, or should, be determined over a prescribed timescale. Determining the ROI can be a good idea but one that can be couched too much in terms that are determined by accountancy timescales, rather than the needs of the organisation. Business partners from the human resources department often have to work hard to blend the cultures o f finance and HR: ensure that there is financial accountability without tying the hands of learning and development professionals too much by a pedantic cost-benefit calculation for every move that they make.

But if there is a requirement for the business partners to bind the H R strategy and the business strategy together, this begs a bigger question: how did they come to be separate?

M uch o f the latest research supports a more joined-up approach to the development o f all people-related investments, linked closely with business strategy and operations. Findings raise fundamental questions over key aspects o f the 20th

century corporation, with its specialist departments or ‘silos’, and supports a more co-operative culture where accountability is to the customer, rather than functional head. In this new paradigm, it is taken for granted that corporate culture and employee engagement are always o f great importance; that learning and innovation are continual, and that communication is strong, enabling intelligent feedback on the effectiveness o f all initiatives — training-related or otherwise.

This new business model, based on many years of research on organisational development, takes organisational culture and skills seriously all the time, not just when the employee survey results are in. It replaces a passive, inert concept o f an organisation consisting o f assets, resources and a cost base, with a dynamic one consisting o f teams and engaged people. It summarises not just the rationale for better engagement of people across the enterprise but how to go about this in practice.

The findings support the view that it helps to take a holistic approach and to address mind-set and values, as well as the organisational set-up. It is a shift: 1. From a controlling mind-set to an

empowering one 2. From setting rules to establishing principles 3. From issuing instructions to creating teams 4. From overseeing transactions to building alliances 5. From a focus on short-term profits to serving all

stakeholders.

This helps counter the dysfunctions that can arise in an organisation overly segregated into silos, in which training and development is seen as something only for the training specialists to worry about. Instead we become, in line with Peter Senge’s vision, a learning organisation, continually receiving feedback and intelligence from customers and each other.

The most effective companies raise performance and engagement across the whole organisation, in many dimensions, unleashing the potential of all the people employed. And the bigger lesson is

R e f e r e n c e 1 V. Hlupic,

The M anage­ m e n t Shift: H o w to Harness the P ow er o f People and Transform Your Organi­ zation for Sustainable Success, Palgrave MacMillan 2014.

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CULTURE

that business strategy and operations; and people development and engagement have to be considered together.

There are immense implications for the learning and development profession. Having high engagement scores and well-regarded training programmes may feel satisfying but is the engagement well directed? Is a major training investment really helping the business meet the needs of the customers, or identify and attract new ones? Has it been assessed against alternative investments?

In terms o f practical application, the approach overseen in many applications applies respectively to an individual shift and an organisational shift towards this joined-up way of managing.

The model has five levels o f operation, for both individuals, executive teams and organisations - from the apathetic individual/lifeless institution at Level 1, to the limitless/unbounded high performance of Level 5 (see Figure 1). There is a particularly significant transformation from Level 3 - the ordered command and control approach that is common in many corporations - to Level 4, where high engagement begins to be felt, with its multiple benefits for service, innovation and efficiency.

The organisational shift is further bolstered by an approach called the 6 Box Leadership Model and its online diagnostic tool, which emphasises the inter-relatedness o f organisational activities. My research and work with employers has resulted in identifying six key groups o f factors (that drive value creation, innovation, engagement as well

Figure l: The em erg en t lea d e rsh ip m o d el

EMERGENT LEADERSHIP

IN D IVID U A L

Level 5 Limitless

Level 4 Enthusiastic

Level 3 Controlled

Level 2 Reluctant

Level 1 Lifeless

ORGANISATIONAL

Unbounded

Collaborative

Orderly

Stagnating

Apathetic

as profit) which form this model. Three o f the dimensions relate to people: culture, relationships and individuals and three are related to processes and materials: strategy, systems and resources (see Figure 2).

In-depth questionnaire-based information creates a series o f categorised scores and the two approaches are used together, so rankings can be obtained to determine the level o f operation of individuals and different parts o f the organisation and across the six different dimensions o f the organisation defined. The questionnaires are based on a six-point Likert scale, which eliminates the neutral option. The software allows also for qualitative comments, which helps to elucidate the why o f a quantitative score indicating operation at a particular level.

Taken together, these approaches result in an organisation’s leaders being able to access continuous intelligence on the performance, capability and potential of the entire workforce, and the extent to which it is achieving its aims. It is a whole level beyond the traditional snapshot of an employee survey, both in terms o f detail, and in terms of the dimensions addressed - looking at relationships, strategy and wider performance, not just the degree o f commitment and enthusiasm of individuals. It can be particularly valuable when scores are assessed against time to see not just if there are improvements but which o f the six dimensions are changing and why.

In this way, the 6 box leadership model reduces the guesswork in managerial investments and other decisions generally. Instead o f relying on a combination o f hearsay, financial data and employee opinion, one has access to richer organisational intelligence, giving information on the internal dynamics and how they change over time.

For learning and development specialists, a whole new array of organisational information becomes available to help one assess, for example, the impact o f a major managerial development initiative. Employers that have used it have found it to be a powerful generator o f value and innovation.

In the example o f a City of London insurance company, scores from the 6 box leadership analysis were used to reform induction and training programmes, tailored to the specific needs of the firm. It is a medium­ sized underwriting agency, relatively young for the City. All employees were invited to complete the

MANAGEMEI-T5f L

SHIFT

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PEOPLE-RELATED ASPECTS

questionnaires and the completion rate was 100 per cent.

The headline figures were reassuring: the employees reported a good level of engagement and performance across the six dimensions. Delving into the results a little further, however, revealed some areas to address. For example, senior managers rated the organisation more highly than other staff - this is a common finding when using this approach. Also, the dimension o f culture scored lower than others at 62 per cent - respectable but leaving room for improvement. And within culture, some scores were much higher than others. W hat emerged was a high-performance climate, with some emerging issues around stress and potential burn-out. Social responsibility scores were low.

Qualitative information - comments in the questionnaire - yielded clear requests for stronger induction for all employees - as well as training and development in different areas, including for more tailored courses relating to specialist aspects o f underwriting. This led directly to the following actions: • Named individual to lead the underwriting

manuals project • Individual to lead a new on-boarding project for

new joiners • Individual to launch the effective broker

communications course • Group o f individuals to build a suite o f relevant

and tailored courses • Programme o f refresher courses for

key products.

Initial feedback showed that some benefits started to emerge soon after, and that a more people- focused culture was developing. T he managing director observed:

"The [survey] was very easy to administer and came up w ith some very interesting findings. Perhaps most importantly, it provided the impetus f o r us to apply renewed vigour to the training and personal development o f all staff, and as a consequence we are now rewriting our training policy, making it f a r more employee-friendly, p u ttin g the onus on managers, mandating more training, an d providing f a r more tailored courses. ”

F i g u r e 2: T h e 6 b o x l e a d e r s h i p m o d e l

6 BOX LEADERSHIP

PROCESS-RELATED ASPECTS

S p r e a d i n g t h e w o r d Given the logic, and evidence base, for a move towards the empowered ‘Level 4/5’ organisation on the model, why is such a wholehearted commitment to an empowering leadership style not more common? One likely explanation is that it can be very challenging. It is common to seek progress only at an individual level, or only within some of the six dimensions. So organisations might seek to develop a few individual leaders’ capabilities with their own team but pay little attention to the wider culture, say, or induction o f new recruits. O r there can be a move away from a ‘command and control’ structure, but not a ‘command and control’ mindset.

And there is a wider issue. Organisations do not exist in a societal vacuum. It is difficult to transform the culture o f a single organisation when the wider culture influencing how businesses are perceived and reported on remains stuck in Level 3 (at best) - although the best employers like W L Gore and Morning Star have consistently managed to do this.

To support a wider shift, I am seeking to join with other academics, leading management organisations and business schools to encourage dissemination o f the research findings and innovative ideas surrounding the whole agenda o f enlightened leadership and the learning organisation.

I f training professionals sometimes feel frustrated that their efforts are not better appreciated, it may be that the source o f the frustration lies in the wider organisational or even societal culture. There is now a body o f thought leaders wishing to confront that challenge and a vast store o f evidence to call upon. TJ

V latk a H lu p ic is a professor of business and manage­ ment at the University of Westminster. She can be contacted at vlatka® themanage mentshift.com or visit w w w . themanage mentshift.com

Vlatka w ill be a keynote speaker at the TJ 50th Anniversary Conference on 10th July in London. To find out more or book a place, visit www.training journalconfer ence.com

w w w .tra in in g jo u rn a l.c o m J u n e 2015 TJ 9

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