Many organisations accept that they must change the way their teamsfunction in order to progress and prosper in the 21st century business world.

They’re right!

The old hierarchicalmodels of team operationswere built around the concept of a single person in authority telling others what to do.Theyare now, at best, seen as being sub-optimal if notobsolete. Modern team structures emphasise horizontalengagementand the development and demonstration of inspirational personal behaviours within a team in total,rather than encouraging the dominance of a single role.

However, while significant numbers of organisations accept the wisdom of that, they subsequently find it difficult to migrate from their ‘as is’ command and control team culture to new models.

Tangram Training can help you to achieve that transformational change but let’s be clear – it’s not easy. Old behaviours are deeply embedded in a typical business culture and can be difficult to shift or more correctly, evolve away from.

Let’s consider just some of the classic myths surrounding how transformational change is achieved:

  • Sending people on a course. Yes, it’s an important component but taken alone, it won’t deliver top-to-bottom cultural change in teamsif all else remains business-as-usual afterwards in the wider organisational context.Attendees will simply revert to old behaviours once back at home base in order to conform to their surroundings.
  • Diktat from Mount Olympus. Inspirational memoranda from the CEO saying “things must change” won’t have a significant effect and paradoxically, they can be counter-productive.
  • Delegating responsibility for achieving it to HR. Professionals in HR may have an important role to play in helping to change team behavioursbut it is never someone else’s job to transform to a new culture – it is everybody’s.
  • Hanging revised ‘Mission, Vision, Value’ statements in reception.However laudable, they’re only an expression of an existing or more commonly, aspirational culture. Taken alone, they change nothing.
  • Tweaking the cosmetics. Changing office layouts and having more ‘dress down days’ (etc.) might help morale but they’re unlikely to generate radical cultural shifts or behavioural change.

So, if the above are some of the myths, how exactly does one go about transformational cultural changewith teams?

Watch out for our next blogs and more importantly, contact us for a discussion!