Transforming organizations toward successful improvements

In the run-up to the NASA launch to the moon in the ’60s, reporters swarmed the Cape Kennedy station, interviewing project chiefs, astronauts, congressional representatives —  all those in charge of the big decisions leading to this momentous point. At the end of a long day, one reporter closed his book and turned to walk out to his car. He passed a janitor mopping the lobby, and on a whim, asked him to describe his job. Without hesitation, the janitor replied, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” 

Whether this story is true or not doesn’t really matter. It exemplifies the sentiment shared by everyone involved with that project: Regardless of the size or visibility of the contribution, all felt a genuine and direct connection between the work they did and the moment when Neil Armstrong took that giant leap for mankind.

This is the core value behind the four principles — People, Purpose, Process and Technology — that can transform any organization. They have transformed mine, and I am certain they can do the same for yours. 

First, let’s look where your organization is in employees’ perceptions of their work: • I do a job because I have to (no organizational change).

• I do my job because I want to (potential for change).
• I want to perform my job the best way I know how (change occurs).
• I consistently perform my job the best way I know how, to support the ultimate purpose of my organization (change occurs).

Leaders might seek to transform their organization by improving processes, but they’ll meet limited success. For true transformation, employees must believe in the organization’s purpose; their motivation, skills and behavior will achieve that purpose and transform the organization.

And now here’s the “secret sauce” you can use to transform your organization.

The roots of organizational transformation

• Purpose. Your purpose should serve to rally people toward a better future, because the present isn’t good enough. The key metric is the number of engaged employees.

Make your purpose real: Hire the right people, provide the right skills and educate employees about the purpose and how their jobs support it. Implement processes that support the purpose across quality, productivity, cost and safety. Reinforce effective behavior, and identify and eliminate ineffective behavior.

When your organization’s purpose is clear, employees will internalize it, act to support it and do the right things. Purpose is the root of effective behavior.

• People. Make sure your employees understand your organizational purpose. Institute systematic onboarding, with hiring conditional on positive assessments. Provide continuous learning to support compliance, project services and employee career paths.  The learning methodology itself is critical: Minimize “talk,” “train/teach and test” and maximize experiential learning that is interactive and hands-on.
• Process. Begin with behavior-based observation. Create an observation checklist, and select personnel to train in using it. Document your behavior-based observations (e.g., safety, quality, productivity), potential and real impediments, and employee violations. Track the observations for evaluation of employee behaviors. Define and model purpose-driven — effective — behavior. Observe current behavior and identify it as effective or ineffective. Provide feedback and coaching to reinforce effective behavior and to eliminate ineffective behavior. Make organizational messaging visible, and implement pertinent learning.
• Technology. Your technology is meant to support all the other components. It’s intended to identify the people with particular skill sets, and match them with the job requirements. You can see your technology as “personnel availability” software. Put it to use to give your people their best opportunities to meet the need, to empower each employee to “consistently perform my job the best way I know how, to support the ultimate purpose of my organization.”

These four principles constitute our core value at CertifiedSafety, and they have been transformative. Based on our experience, if you adapt Purpose, People, Process and Technology in your organization, it, too, will be transformative.

For more information, contact Shannon Posey at sposey@certifiedsafety.net, visit www.certifiedsafety.net or call (800) 994-2339.