Changing Organizational Culture One Person At A Time

25 years ago, the CEO of a company where I worked, offered to pay for Transcendental Meditation classes for any employees who wanted to try it.  He spoke of the benefits to health, the increase in mental productivity, and longevity.  At the time I thought the idea a bit 'flakey', but was interested enough to give it a try.   Over the years, the return on that single investment, has been invaluable.  As a consultant with a hectic travel and client focus, I have been able to spend a quick 20 minutes in busy airports, on trains, in parks or with a quick time out on client site having worked hours on a big deadline.  Yet 20 minutes for some may be too long a time.  I have learned several different approaches in recent years, which can be practiced in a 5-10 minute time-frame, including halted breathing; grounded thinking; and tri-focus (belly, heart, mind) energy , which can help me to refocus my mind, stop the pestering internal talk, and bring me back to a...

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I become the unwitting focus of a poison email copied to eight other people.  I was stunned.  My immediate reaction was a knee-jerk response, wanting to send a smarting reply that would put him down, and show how I was the unwitting victim of his surprise attack. Instead, I chose a different route, and decided to slow down.  My Radical Collaboration training has taught me that taking a breath and stepping back from something when I notice a physical or emotional reaction, gives me the ability to try to understand my own “need” behind my reaction.  In this situation, my need was to be seen as competent and in control by others.  As a result, I had to own that it was MY interpretation of his email which fed MY own feelings of incompetence, and I had to manage that, not him.  He did not intend my reaction. By understanding that about myself, it allowed me to divorce my reality from an attempt to interpret hi...

The challenge with KPI's and hard numbers is that not only can they lack relevancy, but they frequently do not invite collaboration. Instead they create the opportunity for individuals to protect, reinforce, or enforce thinking. Unless there is a corporate culture which enables collaborative thinking a pure focus on KPI's encourages secrecy around mistakes, a lack of accountability in individuals, and a complete lack of awareness of the priorities of others. This then requires hierarchical decision making as people pass the buck up the line. Yves Morieux of BCG gives a wonderful TED Talk on the old and 'new' ways in which organizations need to work, much of which was originally put forward by one of my favorite business gurus and writers, Ricardo Semler in his book Maverick, back in 1988.