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How do you react when you hear your colleagues using some of the excuses listed in the 50 reasons not to change graphic?

Personally, its become quite annoying to me to hear colleagues complaining about situations, situations that they could change and then do nothing about. It has become pretty common in our small environment to complain about personal items or irrelevant work related items. I've now begun to offer small solutions to their issues, not as an expert but as a leader. If they have ask a question, I try to rephrase it in another perceptive. The thing that use to upset me is, they have the power to change the situation, but they use excuses off of that list to avoid fixing the problem. They'd rather complain then fix. I now say, "if you want advice, I'd like to see you use it". I feel like that's appropriate. If they want to complain, we will work toward a solution, if you're not willing to change, why are we talking?

Do you ever use any of these excuses yourself?

Yes. I wish the answer was no but it's not. I feel like the "another company/person has tried it before" applies most to me. I've been thinking of things that could actually apply to change in our organization. I feel like someone's already brought that up or their just not interested. As I've come along in grad school, I've tried to not be so afraid of trying new things. The issue is, who likes change? Am I willing to risk my job for change? All I come up with are excuses from the list.

How can you overcome the thinking that creates those responses to change efforts?

The first step to overcome that thinking would be to explore what other people think about that idea. Sometimes, the idea doesn't leave my mind. What I should be doing is running the idea by other people who might share my enthusiasm or give me a boost in the right direction. If someone isn't willing to try to change, maybe all it would take in some encouragement and trust in that person.

Do you agree with Seth Godin's concept that change is driven by tribes?

I thought about this for a little while. I actually do agree with the tribe idea. I agree with it however as it applies to social media. There are many groups (tribes) that form online and do nothing but communicate and explore with each other online. Like our conversation last week, I find people to be more timid then they once were and although they may share commonalities online, how many people are turning that into face to face time? What I'm thinking is, people are connecting more then ever but they aren't really getting all of the personal interaction they need.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

What I take away from that speech the most has to do with how people are linking up together, in new ways then the past. As a new leader, that is something that is important to understand. Additionally, it is important to understand people want to be lead, you just have to find a way o link them together in change or cause. There are some things in my workplace that we all have general issues with, maybe it is time that I try and find a common ground and then a solution to fix these issues.

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    Why did NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe address NASA employees to describe the plan to bring about proposed changes to NASA's culture?

The main reason Mr. O'Keefe wanted to come on and talk about the changes is because of the recent accident that they were dealing with. There were a lot of questions surrounding the culture of NASA and they wanted to determine where the breakdown came from and what they could do better moving on. It was important to present that data to the public and to address what their intentions were moving forward.

Was he believable? Is it important whether he appeared to be believable?

      Personally, I feel as though he was believable and that the information he presented was genuine. I feel that they actually took the appropriate time to understand the culture and where the potential break downs were coming from. What I found interesting is that he talked about how on paper, they felt like they had a good operating culture but in practice they weren’t living up to it. He said employees were afraid to come forward with safety information or go to higher levels within their department at that time and that is something they were going to address.

Why did he talk about NASA values?

      He talked about the passion and the drive that NASA has and I think he had to do that so there doesn’t seem to be any negligence or shortcomings on their part. The accident itself basically formed the basis for why he discussed what he did. I think he wants the viewer to understand their intent and their motivation in being safe and productive.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

What I think pertains the most to our organization is the concept of not letting anything stop with you. What I mean is, if you have some information that has safety implications, you should be able to present that information without fear or repercussions. Recently, the FAA has moved to that sort of program. The problem with the program is that when you actually report something, they can pinpoint who was working where and they’ll always know who to talk to. People don’t want to risk their career over something they might deem small. That small thing however could grow into something larger. I will try to apply this process of keeping information flowing here at our facility. Maybe we can determine where the information stops.

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Marcia Blenko argues that decision effectiveness correlates positively with employee engagement and organizational performance. How do you think that employee engagement relates to decision effectiveness?

Personally, I find that the more an employee is engaged in the decision making process or in the involvement of important issues, the more productivity you gain from them. There is nothing more rewarding then being allowed to partake in a decision making process, sometimes that you're not qualified to offer input on. If management is willing to let people engage in these processes, I feel like they will get the maximum amount of effort from them.

What are some impediments to good decision making?

The first thing that comes to mind is fear. If there are a lot of repercussions for decision making efforts that come up short, you're not going to get the risk-reward output from employees. It is important to take risks and o encourage staff to go out on a limb, Sometimes the best ideas can come from someone who isn't even involved in a process at all. It is a good idea to encourage idea sharing and open door policies at all levels. Second, I feel like having trust, or at least sharing your trust of employees is important. They need to know that no matter what they do, you'll support them, good and bad.



Blenko suggests that there are four elements of good decisions: quality, speed, yield, and effort. In your opinion, is there anything missing from this list?

Although all of those are great and she details them as most effective, I feel like we could add risk to that mix. What I mean is, how much are we thinking outside the box? Is this something that is going to really push us into something new? On some scale, we should be able to determine how risky the project or deal might be. That might persuade people one way or another on whether to peruse that option.


What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?


I feel like implementing this exercise I can try and apply my company's decision effectiveness at a corporate level. If I can find viable information or perhaps some shortcomings, I could share that with my management team and see if anything I come up with is viable to solving the issues.

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Is the Culture Committee at Southwest effective in establishing cultural norms?

My response to that question is no. The reason I say that is because although their actions and motivations are good, they seem like they only preform these actions here and there. Basing from what I saw in the video, the group was formed at LAX that day to do something that they don't normally do. A cultural norm would revolve around daily operations and more employees at Southwest would know about these sort of events and would have more knowledge. It seemed like the video was made to raise awareness about the event, it hasn't become a norm yet.

From what you can tell, what is the purpose of the culture committee at Southwest?

I think their main purpose is to provide employees with knowledge that Southwest is trying to show that they care about their employees. The committee seems as though they are there to help the crews when they can, boost moral, and raise awareness about the culture in Southwest. It seems like they're in the early stages of this, at least that actual program we saw in the video. I was surprised to see that most of the crews hadn't experienced anything like that before, although some said they had heard of it. I would have thought that the committee was bigger and did things like this more often, not just in cases like this where they film it to get exposure. I hope that they do that nationally, more often.

What would you see as a viable mission for a culture committee in your place of work?

At the current time, there is an increased awareness on fatigue and safety in our organization (and nationally). What would be viable is that a committee could actually spend a small amount of time at each facility a get a better grasp of what factors are contributing to those issues. It would be beneficial for our organization and us as employees is there could be a way to fix schedules, rotations, and work loads. There is such a contrast between one facility to the next, that the committee should spend some time fitting individual needs to each facility.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

I've learned that employees want to know that their company is actually making an effort to address issues within the organization. Sometimes, we hear about programs but we never see them in action or they never end up being relevant to us personally. I now see that just by showing some initiative, we can really have an immediate impact on the daily operations. Short term, I'll try to make sure that we can all see the benefits of the current schedule or rotation we are in my highlighting its advantages. Not being in a management role yet, I have limited access to change in our current facility.

Reference

Southwest Airlines "A Day in the Life of Culture Committee" (2008, May 31). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7P0T9IbYKU&feature=player_embedded