Changing our Service Culture

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Changing our Service Culture

• Walking in the Footsteps of Giants

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• Sociologists, advocates for various causes,
  religious, national and international leaders,
  all have pondered the question of how to change
  attitudes and behavior of groups of people to
  bring about a desired outcome.
• Several have identified key components of culture
  change Leadership is not reserved to those with
  titles anyone can go first. Sustained culture
  change is not achieved through laws and
  regulations alone, and not through occasional
  feel good cum by ya experiences.

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• In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner
  also advise a 5 step approach
• Challenge the presentsearch for opportunities,
  experiment and take risks. Leaders go first.
  They set the example by what they do, not just
  what they say.
• Inspire a shared visionforge agreement around
  common principles and common ideals.
• Enable others to actfoster collaboration,
  strengthen others and build trust. We is the
  magic word not I.
• Model the way to the desired goals, i.e. live
  what you say.
• Encourage the heart of everyone involved. A
  genuine Thank you is also magical in its effect
  on the heart.

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Advice from Experts on Culture Change

• The Institute for Healthcare Improvement also
  identifies 5 steps in culture change with many
  similarities to The Leadership Challenge steps
• set the direction (mission, vision, and
  strategy),
• establish the foundationleaders align their
  actions with the shared values,
• build willcreating trust and a positive
  relationship between the leader and the
  constituents builds the will to join in the
  work,
• generate ideas/possibilities from every corner of
  the workforce,
• execute changebuilt on a foundation of
  credibility .

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Lets Use Plain TalkThe critical elements of
culture change are few

• WORDSarticulate clearly and repeatedly the
  change you want to see
• WITNESSmodel the behavior you want and treat
  violations with concern
• WIDEN THE SEARCHask for suggestions from every
  type of stakeholder
• WEAVE NEW PRACTICES into the daily life of the
  facility through adequate training and resources
• WALKInto the unfamiliar all together armed with
  determination and resolve.

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• OMH has focused the aim of our change efforts to
  embrace a strong and lasting commitment to
  nonviolent and non-coercive care that understands
  and responds compassionately to the effects of
  trauma in the lives of the persons we treat and
  serve.
• We aim to be and be perceived as healers and not
  as enforcers.

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OMH Cultural Change

• In concrete terms, this means
• creating environments where individuals feel
  safe, listened to, prized (we do not feel prized
  in dirty and broken environments) and where
  interactions communicate understanding and
  respect. In short, we are about creating
  environments where positive relationships can
  flourish.
• reducing the use of restraint seclusion and
  other coercive interventions, e.g., point systems
  open to staff manipulation.
• providing skills training and transition
  opportunities that prepare individuals for
  ordinary lives in the community.
• training staff in collaboration and the use of
  positive behavioral interventions and supports.

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Our culture change continues to be a work in
progress because...

• Culture change is a long term commitment that
  involves everyone embracing and modeling behavior
  that reflects a common mission vision.
• It is hard work that calls for personal courage
  to assess our particular cultural pathologies
  and stand against them. (C. Lerche, Building
  Peace through Reconciliation).
• It requires that we reject pessimistic
  inevitability thinking (Kriesberg 1998).

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History shows that persistent and dedicated
belief in the power of the human brain to adapt
and to create can lead to unimaginable results.
Adapted from Elyn Saks,
professor of law and researcher
at USC
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A Broader Perspective

• Consider the almost unimaginable that has been
  accomplished by people committed to change.
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission paved the
  way for the reconstruction of society in South
  Africa.
• The ending of centuries of demonizing and
  hostility between tribes and sects in Africa and
  elsewhere, e.g., the Tutsi Hutu in Rwanda,
  Burundi and the Congo.
• The Civil Rights and Freedom Movements in the US
  and around the world.

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Change occurs one heart at a time. There is no
change without personal conversion. This
conversion is a choicea daily, hourly,
minute-by-minute choice. Choosing to act in
conformance with the shared vision is taught by
apprenticeship and drill. Adapted from Stanley
Hauerwas, American ethicist. Duke Law School and
Duke Divinity School