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Building A High Performance Culture

The document discusses building a high-performance culture. It states that an organization's culture must align with its strategy. When considering a strategy change, an organization should assess if aligning the culture is feasible and invest in cultural change if needed. Cultural change is best achieved by working on other aspects of the organizational "wheel" like leadership, structure, and processes rather than directly trying to change culture.

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377 views

Building A High Performance Culture

The document discusses building a high-performance culture. It states that an organization's culture must align with its strategy. When considering a strategy change, an organization should assess if aligning the culture is feasible and invest in cultural change if needed. Cultural change is best achieved by working on other aspects of the organizational "wheel" like leadership, structure, and processes rather than directly trying to change culture.

Uploaded by

navinvijay2
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Building a High-Performance

Performance Culture
Last updated: July 2009

Overview
A high-performance
performance culture is a key component of effective organizations
Culture tends to be an asset for nonprofits, as reflected in organizational
diagnostic scores
Many
Many organizations indicate that their organization embodies high-performance
high
values
and behaviors that enable it to achieve its strategic goals
Note: The willingness-to-change
change dimension of culture, which is beyond the scope of
these materials, often surfaces as a weakness

An organizations culture must align with its strategy; accordingly, when


considering a strategy change its important to:
Make
Make sure aligning the culture to the new strategy is feasible
If
If so, invest in making that cultural change happen

Cultural change is most effectively achieved by working around the org wheel
(e.g., designing decision-making
making processes to support the desired culture); its
generally counter-productive
productive to focus on changing culture directly

TBG

Building a High Performance Culture 2

Effective organization design considers


five, interrelated components
Clear vision and priorities
Cohesive leadership team
Clear roles and accountabilities
for decisions
Organizational structure that
supports objectives

5. Culture

Organizational and individual


talent necessary for success
Performance measures and
incentives aligned to objectives
Superior execution of
programmatic work processes
Effective and efficient support
processes and systems
High performance values and
behaviors
Capacity to change

Source: Bain & Company organizational toolkit and Bridgespan analysis


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Building a High Performance Culture 3

Principles of effective organizational design

Consider all five components of the wheel: A


common misstep is to focus on structure alone
(boxes and reporting lines) as the solution

Align the five components to one another:


another One
element that doesnt fit can limit the performance
of the whole system

Align strategy and organization to one another:


Organizational strengths and weaknesses influence
the range of feasible strategies; in turn, organizations
should evolve with any new strategic direction

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Building a High Performance Culture 4

Gaps in multiple aspects of organizational design


can decrease organizational effectiveness
Likely root causes
Symptoms of an
ineffective organization

Leadership

Decisionmaking &
structure

Work
processes
& systems

People

Culture

Lack of coordination: work


unfinished, teams isolated, out-of step
Excessive conflict: Needless friction
among internal groups
Unclear roles: Functions overlap
and/or fall through the cracks; lack of
performance expectations
Gap in skills or misused resources:
Missing or underutilized skills or
resources
Poor work flow: Disruptions,
cumbersome processes
Reduced responsiveness: Slow
reactions to environmental shifts
Conflicting communications:
external stakeholders confused,
complaining
Low staff morale: lack of confidence
or drive; poor teaming

Source: Strategic Organization Design: An Integrated Approach, Mercer Delta Consulting (2000); Interview with Peter Thies, Equinox
Eq
Organizational Consulting; Bridgespan analysis
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Building a High Performance Culture 5

An effective organization depends on having highhigh


performance values and behaviors along with the
capacity to change
Focus of this
presentation

The organization embodies highperformance values and behaviors


that enable it to achieve its strategic goals
The organization has clear values, and
employees are personally inspired by what
the organization stands for
The organization appropriately balances time
spent on serving clients, engaging with other
stakeholders, and managing internal matters

5. Culture

Employees take personal accountability for


delivering on commitments and resolving
issues, going beyond adequate to
exceptional in the areas that really matter

The organization has the capacity to


change as necessary to adapt to
evolutions in its operating environment
and/or strategy
Employees are open to change when
appropriate
Once a change is agreed upon, the
organization carries it out effectively
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Building a High Performance Culture 6

Just what is culture?

Culture is the way we do things around here.


Tom Tierney, founder of The Bridgespan Group

Culture is in essence an organizations operating


environment the implicit patterns of behavior,
activities, and attitudes,, shaped by a shared set
of values and beliefs,, that characterize the way
people work together

Source: Tom Tierney; The Culture Challenge by Oliver Wyman


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Building a High Performance Culture 7

What are some of the facets of culture?


Facet

Sample behaviors

How people operate individually and


collectively to implement the
organizations strategy

Collaborate, work independently

What patterns of leadership behavior


are considered desirable

Command and control, delegate

How people deal with one another

Support one another, compete

Separate into siloes, integrate

Communicate openly, hold cards tight to


chest
Confront one another, avoid conflict

How people think about service


recipients

See one-way value exchange (i.e., us to


them), value their input
Believe strongly in their potential, are
skeptical about their prospects

How people think about peer


Focus on what we do, learn from peers
organizations and the broader external
experience
environment
Operate largely independently, develop
alliances with others
Source: Informed by The Culture Challenge by Oliver Wyman
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Building a High Performance Culture 8

Bains analysis shows that effective organizations


tend to be culturally strong
Difference in percent of "strongly agree" answers
between "high performers" and "all others"

80%

60

61%
54%
42%

40

40%

37%

37%

34%

32%
26%

23%

20

Vision &
priorities

Decision
roles

Performance
culture

Leadership
team

Talent
development
& deployment

Front-line
execution

Measures &
incentives

Capacity
to change

Back-office
effectivness
& efficiency

Organization
structure

Source: Bain & Company organizational diagnostic database (n = 365)


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Building a High Performance Culture 9

Culture tends to be an asset for nonprofit


organizations as well
Percent deviation from the average of all category
averages in the organizational diagnostic

Culture that inspires


and promotes values

18.9

Culture that gets


performance and
results

Culture

11.1

Culture that helps the


organization achieve its
goals

5.8

Openness and
adaptability to change
Clarity in
communication about
change
Ability to execute
change

Nonprofits in
Bridgespans
organizational
diagnostic
database
(n=132)

2.7

-6.7

-4.5

Source: Bridgespan organizational diagnostic database (n= 132)


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Building a High Performance Culture 10

Culture can be both a powerful ally and a real


barrier to implementing a strategic change
High culture scores on Bridgespans organization diagnostic
could either hinder or enable execution of a strategy
The
The bad news: Hard and fast adherence to the existing culture
could get in the way of change
The
The good news: People are very enthusiastic about the
organization; with the right work, that good will and motivation
could be harnessed to make change happen

Low culture scores may impede a new strategy


A
A low culture score is likely caused by a weakness elsewhere in the
organization wheel, with leadership being a likely candidate
A
A weak culture is a signal for a case team and client to think very
hard about any going forward with strategy that calls for major
change*

* The article When Good Strategies Fail to Deliver, Culture May Be the Culprit by Mike Perigo (then with Marakon Associates)
offers advice on how to create a high-performance culture
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Building a High Performance Culture 11

Culture is a result, not a lever

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Building a High Performance Culture 12

Bains research shows what factors shape culture;


changing culture means addressing these factors
Percent of respondents
100%

80

Which factors have a strong influence on your


organization's culture?

80
70
56

60

44

41

40

20

Leadership
behaviors

Type of
people
recruited

Evaluation
and
promotion
systems

Compensation
systems

Type of
people
encouraged
to leave

Source: Bain EIU Organizational Survey (n=201)


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Building a High Performance Culture 13

To align culture to strategy, determine how to use


other parts of the wheel
Design decision-making
processes to support
desired culture, not
undermine it
Build structure to fit with
culture and strategy

Start with leadership:


little will change unless
leadership commits to a
new vision for culture, and
changes their own
behavior as appropriate

5. Culture

Engineer processes and


systems to drive desired
behavior, e.g.
collaboration, quality,
innovation, loyalty, etc.

Ensure the right people


are on the bus, and
remove obstacles if
necessary
Align measures and
incentives to the desired
goals and strategy
TBG

Building a High Performance Culture 14

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