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CHAPTER 11
FUTURE PULL Understanding the Culture in Culture Change by LaVrene Norton
the new path, and we need to grow ourselves in new and different ways to get on the path), but relearning
is about the organization.
The organization also must grow and think. It has
to be kind and wise. It has to ask, “What does this organization need to encourage quiet people to speak up?” “What do we need to gently confront and help those who always have an opinion to listen to others?” “What must this organization provide to help us re- solve conflicts that get in our way of working together in teams?” Remember that we are transforming the culture of the organization. What do we want for this new culture that will put myth and reality in sync? We know we want residents to direct their own lives. What are the artifacts that will demonstrate this value?
We need to embrace growth and learning as a vital part of our organization’s functions and to under-
stand it as far more than something we do to reward or punish staff or to coerce them to fix what is not right. The learning and growth needed for culture change are far more than inservices, mandated training, and lead- ership seminars. It requires learning on the job as you go, learning from the past and the present to create the most desirable future. It requires giving up control.
To know, to discover things in myself and others, to ask and provide help in going to something new is part of the vitality of individuals. We have to create the belief that also is part of the vitality of our organization. To accomplish that, the organization must be resolved about shaping itself into a learning organization, what Senge describes in The Fifth Discipline as one “that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future” (Senge, 1990, p. 14).
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