Inspiring a Shared Vision

For the Org Design & Development class this Spring, we had to create a proposal on an Organization Development challenge or opportunity. Since my organization had just gone through the process of creating the new vision, mission and values, I chose to focus on the opportunity to internalize the new VMV for my organization. As part of the data analysis, I administered the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) Survey to a few people in the organization and followed it up with a focus group discussion.

As seen in the snapshots above, while the Clan culture is dominant overall, the Hierarchy and Market culture are take precedence when it comes to measuring success, and employees are understandably confused and unhappy with that. This made for a very interesting discussion during the focus group where some colleagues shared their vision of the organization.  They envisioned for the organization to be more innovative, entrepreneurial, and creative. They also wanted the existing clan culture to be taken to the next level and have a team-based structure. Having been part of this organization for over 10 years, I could see where my colleagues are coming from and also where they are trying to go  with this vision. 

Traditionally, we have always been a market driven, results-oriented organization, whose major concern is to get the job done. This is  largely because our work is project based. This also makes operational excellence and competitive pricing a necessity . Both of these translate into limited scope for innovation because doing what we know takes less time and effort. Also, we are always striving to accomplish as much as possible with as few resources as possible. Coincidentally, this also leads to the same resources/employees working in the same team for long duration resulting in the dominant clan culture. Talk about going around in circles!

Given this history, my colleagues' desire for innovation seems justified. I actually believe that innovation will be of utmost importance to our survival and to creating a competitive advantage. This is because the environment and space (educational and corporate learning) we operate in has seen the emergence of so many disruptive trends that if we don't innovate, we might get left behind. And this applies as much internally (to employees) to the organization as much as it does externally (out in the market/competition). Employees who don't get an opportunity to upgrade their skills and knowledge and apply new trends and technologies are soon going to deliver products that will be outdated as well. And we are all well aware of what happens to organizations who can't get out of this type of a spiral: they are either acquired or they perish. So innovation seems like not just a smart choice, but a necessary choice that our leadership needs to move toward.

Their second vision about having a team-based structure makes complete sense given the strong Clan culture of the organization, the fact that we work on project basis, and that employees end up working in the same team for months if not years. There is tremendous rapport, sense of caring, openness and empathy that these team members share and they become such a cohesive unit that at the end of the project it is really difficult to single out one team member to credit for the success of the project or hold accountable for the failure of it. It is therefore only fair that they be judged as a team for their success or failure. This will encourage them even more to help and support each other to make the project a success and thereby achieve the one goal that the organization strives so strongly to achieve: client satisfaction and repeat business, eventually leading to a successful organization.

It is indeed interesting to note that the vision that so organically emerged in the minds of my colleagues relates at such deep levels to not just the sustainability of my organization but to its very existence and continuity itself. This fact highlights how important it is for a leader to be in touch with employees at the grass root level and to solicit their input when making strategic decisions, because the ideas that come from the employees "who are in the weeds" and "living it everyday" are many times far more practical than the plans on paper made behind glass doors and a true visionary leader understands the difference between the two. 

Disclaimer about images: All images have been sourced from Google images and used for educational purposes only.