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   When I was a child I watched my mother—who was a head secretary in a public school—write using a technique called Gregg shorthand. This writing technique involved using symbols that appeared to me as squiggly lines to represent words and phrases. Using shorthand enabled my mother and secretaries like her to record dictation quickly. They then transcribed their shorthand notations into full sentences.

   When I was in college I used a different form of shorthand that involved using a few letters to  represent whole words and phrases—for example, “t” = “the”; “nt pft” = “net profits” in accounting class. As my mother’s shorthand in a previous generation, my shorthand enabled me to take extensive notes in class. I then transcribed those notes when I returned to the dorm.

   Generations entering the workplace today use something very similar to shorthand. The shorthand is the writing style used for text messaging and instant messaging. One or more letters and numbers represent entire sentences. This writing style is natural for a generation of people raised in an instant messaging / digital download / portable text device era. The writers understand each other’s abbreviations and symbols used in this writing style. The challenge comes in transferring text messaging skills to the professional environment.

   There is little use for text message writing styles in the professional world. The only time I can think such style is appropriate is when an individual makes their own abbreviated notes they will later transcribe to full prose. If you are a proficient text messenger and this is what you learned and mastered as a communicator, your professional writing skills need work.

   Fill the gap in your writing skills through on-the-job writing skills training or through writing classes outside the workplace. Poor writing skills demonstrate a lack of professionalism. Writing skills take time to develop.

   Seek to learn, improve, and constantly practice writing skills. If your writing is unintelligible to—or difficult to read by—the reader, your message will not be received. Writing skills are part of effective communication. Without strong communication skills you find yourself behind others with strong skills for promotions, hiring, and gaining opportunities to succeed in life.

  Shorthand—and abbreviated writing—has its place. Its place is not as a written communications skill in the professional work environment.

Play-Down Personal Style

 

   Occasionally, an article appears in the news about how terrible it is that an organization restricts its employees’ self-expression by imposing strict dress and grooming codes. Such an article recently appeared in the Washington Post.

 

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(Reference: Washington Post.com. June 17, 2006.  “At Six Flags, the Don'ts of Dos; Employees Say Their Ethnic Hairstyles Are Challenged as 'Extreme,' and They've Complained to ACLU.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601801_pf.html)

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   Because my programs and books focus on professionalism, work ethics, and leadership, I love to see these articles and use them as examples—both pro and con—of how companies communicate and enforce corporate cultural norms.

 

   The corporate image—and I use “corporate” to mean any business or organization in this case—of an organization is projected by its people and how they look and act. Of course an organization’s image is also reflected by its facilities, how it does business, philanthropic efforts, and other projections of who the organization is and what it represents. One of the first visible images of an organization, however, are the people who represent the organization. Therefore, a well-documented and widely communicated and enforced code is essential to projecting the “right” (as determined by the organization’s leadership) corporate image.

 

   Difficulty arises on both sides—the organization’s and the employee’s—when dress codes seemingly infringe on cultural expressions of a diverse workforce. Title VII of the EEOC’s Civil Rights Act of l964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals based on the religious, birthplace, ancestry, cultural or linguistic characteristics common to a specific ethnic group. This includes discrimination in hiring, firing and other terms and conditions of employment. Where the legal challenges come in is the interpretation of how dress codes discriminate against individuals’ cultural and religious norms. An employment attorney is who to consult about corporate and individual rights concerning cultural and religious expressions.

 

   I once overheard a manager’s admonition to an employee to “use good judgment and be practical” with the employee’s clothing selection. The problem with that admonition is that using “good judgment” is similar to using “common sense”. The adage that “common sense is anything but common” applies to good judgment, also.

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Suggested resources for “dress code” and professionalism:

 

-  Sylvia’s article at HR.com (“The Don’ts of Dos”).

-  HR.com search “dress+code”.

-  Book: “Why You Talk So White? Eliminate the Behaviors that Sabotage Your Success.
    Sylvia Henderson. V-Twin Press. ISBN #1932197001.
    Available from www.WhyYouTalkSoWhite.com

-  Card Deck: “Success Language: Card Deck. Complete deck of 24 reference cards for
    table-top or pocket reference. Mem-Cards. ISBN #1932197044.
    Available from www.SuccessLanguage.com.

-  Book: “Beyond Business Casual-What to Wear to Work If You Want to Get Ahead".
   Ann Marie Sabath. Career Press. ISBN #0595306535.

-  Book: "Your Executive Image-How to Look Your Best & Project Success, for Men and
   Women". Victoria A. Seitz. Adams Media. ISBN # 1580621783.

Getting Ready to Be Ready

 

   This topic is immediately relevant for me and I will be writing a longer article about this (which you will find at HR.com when finished). I use this blog entry—and perhaps others—to get started and organize my thoughts. (Ain’t blogging great? Public forums for private Post-It™ notes!)

 

   The immediate relevance is this: I have just become President of a chapter of a national professional association. While becoming president was expected (as I was to be President-Elect this year beginning June 1), becoming president immediately was not. Due to a wonderful, unexpected career opportunity made available to our incoming President, he had to resign his newly-elected and hard-earned position as our chapter president. Two weeks passed between “I might have to resign my position; are you ready?” and “With this letter I submit my resignation”. In those two weeks, while out of town part of the time, I had some major thinking, planning, and communicating to do both within the organization I was about to lead and with my family whose time and attention would be negatively impacted.

 

   The short of it is that the transition goes well so far. This is, in no small part, due to the entire Board of Directors working together over the past few years, contributing to and owning a stake in the vision, goals, and objectives of the organization. Each of us has held leadership positions outside this particular organization. Each of us either runs our own business or is in a management decision-making position in a company or government agency. Each of us has been preparing to assume greater responsibilities in this organization over the years. More importantly, we encourage our members to get actively involved in committee and leadership roles across the organization, creating a pipeline of leaders ready to assume board positions when their times arise.

 

   What does all this mean to Organizational Development? Succession planning! We are practicing the succession planning that is necessary in most organizations today. Typically, succession planning involves the top-level management team—who will succeed the outgoing CEO or President of a company? As generational changes occur over the next few years with Baby Boomer top management retiring, a resource drain takes place if the knowledge and experiences of those leaving is not passed on to those rising to leadership positions. Succession plans must involve all levels of the organization to maintain a continual resource pool for leadership across all areas.

 

   Organizations must establish the plans, obtain the resources, and create the experiences for their people to help them get ready to be ready for leadership opportunities when they present themselves.

 

   Even this blogging forum allows me to get ready to be ready to write the longer article I intend to write on this topic. But don’t look for the article in the next week or two. I’m digging out of the pile of “stuff” involved in my sudden ascendancy to President. I am now putting into action the “be ready” part of the equation. And look at this experience from now until next June 1 as getting ready to be ready for future challenges and opportunities that await me in life.

Phrases That Encourage Cooperation

 

   In a previous blog entry I listed phrases we use that inhibit change. They were phrases that tend to signal “We won’t change”, “It can’t be done”, and the like. One reader wrote me directly suggesting approaches to dealing with some of the change inhibitors. He suggested the following responses to the change inhibitors that represent lack of commitment on the part of leadership (not enough time, money, personnel, equipment, facilities…resources):

·        Use problem-solving techniques to investigate why “it” failed the last time,
      and to develop corrective action.

·        Use sales and marketing tools to analyze features—benefits, overcome
 objections, and to perform cost—benefit analyses.

(Thank you, T.J. You know who you are.)

 

   I received a list of positive phrases in my e-mail inbox within the last week. These phrases particularly interested me because part of my workshop on  professionalism and work ethics includes positive words and positive messages that encourage cooperation and action. These are the phrases included in the recently-received list that can have a positive impact:

·         Thank you.

·         I could use your help on this.

·         What do you think?

·         How would you approach this?

·         How can I help you?

(Another thank you, to T.S.)

 

   Open a closed mind or encourage teamwork and action using the above phrases. Of course there are plenty more that create a positive impact. You use others in your own interactions as you lead people to share ideas, develop solutions, and plan for change. I would love to see the positive impact list grow longer than the list that inhibits change. There were 20 phrases on the “inhibits” list, and those I culled down from an original 35. Imagine the possibilities if the list of positive phrases were twice as long!

 

Pearls of Organizational Culture (Continued)

 

Three Cultural Levels of Organizations

   Edgar Schein's model of organizational culture defines three levels of culture that exist in organizations.

 

1-Organizational attributes that are seen, felt and heard to the uninitiated observer, including

·         Facilities, offices, and furnishings.

·         Visible awards and recognition

·         The way members dress

·         How people visibly interact with each other and with organizational "outsiders".

 

2-Professed culture of the organization's members themselves, typically identified through interviews and questionnaires that gather attitudes of the members, including:

·         Company slogans, mission statements and other expressed operational creed

·         Local and personal values widely expressed within the organizatio

 

3-Tacit (deep; subliminal; "unspoken rules") assumptions are the cultural elements that are unseen and not consciously identified in everyday interactions between organizational members. They are, at times, cultural elements that are taboo to discuss inside the organization. Experienced members understand this deep level of organizational culture and acclimate themselves to it over time, thus adding to its invisibility and staying power. OD practitioners use more in-depth studies and techniques to identify and examine culture at this level. It is the cultural level most challenging to diagnose and change.

 

Cultural Paradox

   What one sees is not always what one gets when it comes to organizational culture. The paradox that plays in identifying an organization's culture is that what is communicated about the culture consciously and openly may not be what is truly represented by the organization's practices and leadership.

 

   An organization can profess that it respects individuals and honors creativity at one level, yet discourage said individualism and creativity at a deeper level through its rewards systems and uniform dress code. An organization may note at its website, in commercials, and in distributed documentation that its focus on the customer is its first priority. Yet, the decision-making and reporting processes practiced daily emphasize the importance of the bottom line over customer service. An organization may have in place a detailed diversity and inclusiveness initiative, yet allow (through inattention and avoiding enforcement) exclusive and unfair practices to persist in a specific department or region of the country.

 

   On the surface, organizational rewards can imply one organizational norm while at its deepest level imply something completely different. Such paradoxes highlight why it takes time for individuals new to or outside the organization to acclimate themselves to, and assimilate, organizational cultures and norms. It also explains why organizational change agents must discover and understand both explicit and implicit cultural norms before initiating change. Yet one more aspect of organizational culture needs understanding before effecting change-the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Should such relationships threaten an environment conducive to change, these relationships must be addressed as part of the change process.

 

Conclusion

   In summary, note that organizational culture is as multi-tiered and complex as individual and societal culture. The organization's leaders set a cultural tone for the organization that pervades throughout the organization. Rewards and operational procedures; structure and reporting processes; open and "unspoken" norms and interpersonal relationships play important roles in defining, communicating, and encouraging organizational cultures.

 

   However an organization's culture is defined and evaluated, one must understand the breadth and depth encompassed by the culture before faciliting organizational change.

 

More Resources

·      Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values.
     Hofstede, G. Sage Publications. ISBN #080391444X.

·      Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization Ken Blanchard.
     William Morrow. ISBN #068815428X.

·      Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson & Kenneth Blanchard.
Putnam Adult. ISBN #0399144463.

·      Organizational Culture and Leadership. Schein, E.H. Jossey-Bass. ISBN #0787975974.