Shifting Behavior

Creating New Habits

From a young age we learn from stories. We have a long history of using powerful stories as a means to explore human dilemmas. Stories tell us who we are, what we believe in, what we need to pay attention to, how to manage tough situations and what success and failure looks like. Story analysis is a method for exploring beliefs and values and how they play out in addressing the dilemmas encountered in daily work life. This technique, plus practice decontruction and redesign, creates a powerful means for engaging hearts in minds in changing 'the way things get done around here' or culture.

Exploring practices with key groups and stakeholders, whether they are nuclear plant problem solving teams, account managers, loans officers or surgical teams elicits the underlying beliefs and assumptions that guide behavior. Once a practice has been deconstructed, it can be redesigned to establish new norms of behavior, underpinned by more aligned beliefs and assumptions.

Facilitated with skill, this exploration of real life scenarios around areas such as issue escalation, decision making, planning, collaboration and so on creates passion and commitment for culture change within and across groups. In this way the aspired to culture can become reality in important groups that will lead the way in adapting the culture for future success.

A significant method for complex culture change initiatives

Analysis of stories and practice deconstruction can be a significant method for:

• Examining tough dilemmas and the implications of practices, behaviors and beliefs currently in use - designing new approaches

• Developing group buy-in to changes in practices that will lead to changes in norms and beliefs - used to overcome blind spots, build group commitment, make the case for culture change

• Engaging cross-boundary groups in finding ways to address communication, coordination or collaboration breakdowns - generate innovative ideas to design new practices and build cohesiveness and trust

• Improving appreciation of generational differences and how valuable each generation is to each other

• Measuring culture change - evaluating whether practice changes are shaping new behavioral norms in targeted areas

Engage hearts and minds

Culture change only comes from personal change. We must help people explore the personal changes required for a culture shift. Exploring stories and conducting practice deconstruction elicits tacit knowledge and helps groups learn, in a safe environment, how practices really operate, generating the impetus for personal change. By generating alternative scenarios together, new beliefs can be developed, commitment can grow and groups can be empowered to make the changes needed to their own practices.

"A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. The sum total of these is transformation." Andrew Grove, Cofounder and Chairman, Intel Corporation