Culture. It’s crucial to your organisation’s success. It sets the tone for employee behaviour, shapes teamwork and collaboration, and influences the overall performance of your organisation. ‘It’s the most significant influence on the way people behave in your organisation.’ - Michael West, Senior Fellow, The King's Fund.
The published investigations such as the Ockenden review into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and the Kirkup review into East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, have clearly identified that cultural issues are a theme across challenged organisations.
An organisation's culture is the set of values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that define how work is done, how employees interact with each other and, for those working across the NHS, how we interact with patients.
But how do you define and shape that culture? The answer lies in visioning your ideal organisational culture.
In our 'How to enable the culture change needed to meet integration ambitions' blog we talked about the challenge of bringing together and harmonising multiple cultures, through the practice (whether deliberate or often not) of culture integration.
In this blog, I’ll explore the importance of envisioning your ideal organisational culture - the desired future state - and provide some practical steps to help you do it effectively.
The importance of visioning your ideal organisational culture
Having a clear vision of your ideal organisational culture is like having a North Star that guides your every decision and action. It allows you to align your strategies, processes, and values towards a shared goal. Visioning your ideal organisational culture provides numerous benefits:
Employee engagement and alignment: A well-defined vision of your ideal culture helps employees understand your organisation’s direction of travel, its purpose, values, and long-term goals. This alignment fosters a sense of belonging, boosts engagement, and promotes a united workforce.
Evidence demonstrates that meeting three core needs of staff – supporting [staff] to have a sense of autonomy, belonging and contribution – transforms working lives, facilitating better productivity and effectiveness and improved patient safety and care - NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Purpose and meaning: Employees who understand the purpose and meaning behind their work are more engaged and motivated. Employees who understand how their work contributes to the organisation's overall mission are more likely to feel a sense of purpose and meaning in their work.
Talent attraction and retention: Top talent is attracted to organisations that have a strong sense of purpose, clear values, and a positive culture. A positive organisational culture acts as a magnet, attracting top talent who are aligned with your values and goals. It also encourages employee loyalty, reducing turnover rates and associated costs. Ensuring that we keep more of the staff we have within the health service is a key priority of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan released in June 2023.
By improving culture, leadership and wellbeing, we will ensure up to 130,000 fewer staff leave the NHS over the next 15 years - NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Performance and productivity: A culture that fosters creativity, fulfilment, support, and collaboration can significantly enhance employee performance and productivity. A culture that fosters compassion and inclusivity, where employees feel empowered and supported, will enhance their motivation and their willingness to go above and beyond.
The ‘Employee engagement, sickness absence and agency spend in NHS trusts’ report also offers clear evidence that trusts with higher engagement levels have lower levels of sickness absence among staff and have lower spend on agency and bank staff.
The effect size was substantial – a one standard deviation increase in overall engagement is associated with a drop of 0.9 per cent in spend on agency staff (a one standard deviation change in overall engagement represents a shift of 0.12 units on the scale from 1 to 5). For an average trust this works out at approximately £1.7 million (with a 95 per cent confidence interval of £600, 000–2.7 million).
Steps to visioning your ideal organisational culture
Having a clear vision of your ideal organisational culture and recognising its importance might feel obvious. But how do you get there? Here are some practical steps to help you vision your ideal organisational culture:
Define your current culture: Begin by assessing your current organisational culture. Identify key aspects such as core values, communication styles, leadership behaviour, and employee attitudes. This assessment will create a baseline for understanding where you are and where you want to be. We’ll be talking more about this in our next blog.
Involve stakeholders: Developing a vision requires input from stakeholders at all levels. Conduct surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews to gather insights and opinions. Engage employees, managers, and executives to ensure a comprehensive understanding of all perspectives. Be careful not to pay lip service to this part of the process. Be authentic in how you involve people in giving them their say in developing the future vision.
Identify core values and desired behaviours: Core values form the foundation of any organisational culture. Define the values that are most important to your organisation and align them with your mission and vision. Translate these values into desired behaviours that will drive the culture forward.
Paint the picture: Create a compelling vision statement that describes your ideal culture. Use language that resonates with your employees and is aspirational, yet attainable. Consider using visualisation techniques, storytelling, or other creative methods to bring the vision to life. Consider the role of senior sponsors along with middle managers in engaging staff. Both groups hold the key to better engagement and preparing your organisation for change.
Strategic implementation: Once your vision is defined, align your strategies, policies, and practices to support it. Integrate the ideal culture into recruitment processes, performance evaluations, training programs, and leadership development initiatives. Encourage accountability at all levels to ensure consistency and progress towards the vision.
Conclusion
Envisioning your ideal organisational culture is not just wishful thinking; it’s a strategic tool that propels your organisation towards success.
By involving stakeholders, defining core values, and creating a compelling vision, you can drive positive change in your culture; create a sense of purpose and meaning in the work that employees do and ensure that everyone is working together toward a common goal.
But remember, nurturing a strong organisational culture is an ongoing process that requires continuous evaluation and adaptation.
NHS organisations are encouraged to undertake a cultural review on a regular basis to understand how to improve working environments so that all staff can thrive. To embed a consistent experience for staff, this would be best undertaken in collaboration with system partners and peers. Doing so would allow us to take a more practical and structured approach to understanding culture, the perspectives of the NHS workforce, patients and partners, and to support targeted and relevant action - NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Start envisioning your ideal culture today and see how it can transform your organisation.
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