Catalyst Consulting - Culture Change

Culture is �the way we do things around here� and is often considered to be one of the hardest things to change in an organization, due to the history that shapes it. However, it is possible to change culture, since every action by every member of the organization contributes to either maintaining or changing the status quo. One of the biggest factors in culture change is paradigm shift, or the opening up of other ways of thinking, viewing situations, understanding problems and creating innovative solutions.

Leadership is a crucial element of culture change as leaders set the tone and expectations for others� behaviour. Therefore significant leadership development, through training and coaching, will impact culture. Teamwork is another significant factor, as strong relationships amongst peers re-enforce or reject behaviour change � we therefore prefer to work with intact teams wherever possible to maximize success.

CATALYST SERVICES

� Organization analysis and culture diagnosis
� Change planning and resistance management
� Creation of vision and strategy
� Change readiness assessment
� Change management
� Change interventions, including:
    = Communications strategy and tools
    = Facilitation
    = Training
    = Coaching

CASE STUDIES

Cannon UK

Client Issue:
A closed culture where staff related mainly within their own team or department and significant lack of communication caused distrust and competition between areas and reduced effectiveness of service delivery to customers.

Catalyst Solutions:
1. Design and deliver Team Working and Team Leadership workshops for
    members of the sales and support departments.
2. Increase the trust factor and open communication channels using workshop
    methods that achieved a shared understanding of needs and goals.

Client Results:
� Employee commitment and motivation was immediately enhanced.
� Better cross-departmental understanding created new integrated practices,
    dramatically improving customer service and driving up sales.
� One participant who had missed the first workshop commented, �I came back
    from vacation and it was like walking into another company, people were
    smiling and helping each other.�

Community Transport Organization

Client Issue:
The director of this not-for-profit organization was aware that communication with people outside the organization (clients, volunteers, outside agencies) was strained, and causing detriment to relationships vital to their future funding and survival. He thought they needed standard telephone skills training.

Catalyst Solutions:
1. Design and deliver a custom one-day workshop to all outside facing staff.

Client Results:
� The initial process facilitated the staff through identifying their individual
    experiences from the outside of other organizations, then clarify and
    strategize in how they wanted to deal with outside people.
� The staff committed to their strategy, and spent the rest of the workshop
    developing skills to deal with specific situations that had caused them the
    most difficulty.
� Not only did staff relationships with the outside improve dramatically, �the
    internal culture� became more positive, with better communication and
    collaboration and less stress and blame.

Culture Change