Building a Culture of Distinction: Facilitator Guide for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change [Paperback]

Sheila L Margolis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2010

Are you looking for a process to define the culture of your company? Do you understand how organizational culture can make your company more competitive? And once you've defined the culture, do you have a systematic process for alignment so everyone is living the prime principles that will generate success? The Building a Culture of Distinction program answers these culture questions and guides you in the change process.

This do-it-yourself Facilitator Guide provides a comprehensive, step-by-step process with activities and tools to define, shape and manage your organizational culture so you can use culture to achieve positive change. This guide is divided into two sections: 

1. Section A: "Planning the Program" includes facilitator materials--definitions; program cycle; implementation steps; tools; sample interview, focus group, and survey questions--to guide the person leading the program.

2. Section B: "Conducting the Program" contains activities and tools to use with employees to define and shape your culture, audit it for alignment with workplace practices, and create and execute a plan to live the Core Culture principles to generate success. Facilitator Notes are embedded throughout the section to guide your implementation.

A companion workbook--Building a Culture of Distinction: Participant Workbook for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change--is designed for employees who take part in the program. An additional resource--There Is No Place Like Work--is an ideal introductory reading on the culture concepts.

Use this groundbreaking program to infuse a united focus throughout your organization. Make your workplace principle-focused, purposeful and personally fulfilling. Lead the process to craft your organization's culture and facilitate change. Make culture be the powerful force that drives your business.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Building a Culture of Distinction is an organizational change management program. This Facilitator Guide is designed for those individuals who will be leading the program. This book provides a comprehensive, step-by-step process to define and shape your organizational culture and manage organizational change.

This program addresses many of the challenges an organization faces that can threaten its success and its bottom line. For example: Have you lost key talent? Do your employees seem stressed and unhappy at work? Are employees neither united by values nor vision? Is the organization growing fast but losing focus? Does your organization need a new direction? Is your organization experiencing a merger or acquisition? Is your strategic planning disconnected from the culture that must support it? Is change needed but no one has a process to make it stick?

This Facilitator Guide provides activities and tools to build a culture of distinction. The process has a four-phased cycle. In Phase 1, you will facilitate a Core Culture Assessment where all employees participate in defining the organization’s Core Culture. In Phase 2, you will facilitate a Core Culture Alignment Audit where employees will identity the degree of alignment of the Practices and Projections with the Core Culture, and they will make recommendations to increase alignment. In Phase 3, you will guide the development of a Core Culture Alignment Plan and set measures to monitor change. Finally, in Phase 4, employees will execute and monitor the plan, tracking measures to ensure progress in implementing change.

This Facilitator Guide is divided into two sections. Section A: Planning the Program includes materials to guide the facilitator in planning the implementation of this culture and change management program. This section includes background information, definitions, suggestions on when to use this program, an explanation of the program cycle, a review of the implementation steps, a worksheet tool, and sample questions for interviews, open-ended surveys and focus groups. Section B: Conducting the Program has the same content as the companion workbook Building a Culture of Distinction: Participant Workbook for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change. The only difference is the inclusion of Facilitator Notes inserted in the side margins to guide you in implementing the program. Section B provides information, activities, tools and techniques to define and shape your organizational culture, audit it for alignment with your workplace Practices and Projections, and create and implement a plan to live the Core Culture principles that will generate success. Some activities work best in a group setting. Others can be completed individually. Adapt the program to fit your needs.

To support program implementation, there is the Building a Culture of Distinction: Participant Workbook for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change. This workbook is for employees who take part in the Building a Culture of Distinction Program. An additional resource is the book There Is No Place Like Work, an ideal reading assignment for employees to jumpstart the learning process.

Begin Building a Culture of Distinction in your organization. Lead the process to craft your organization's culture and facilitate change. Use culture to drive your organization's success.

About the Author

Sheila Margolis helps leaders use their organizational culture to be more competitive. She holds a doctoral degree in Human Resource Development, teaches at Georgia State University and is President of the Workplace Culture Institute. She specializes in workplace culture, organizational change and employee engagement. As an organizational culture expert, Sheila is quoted in newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Dr. Margolis is the author of the Building a Culture of Distinction program. This program gives leaders a process to define organizational culture and use culture to manage organizational change. The program has two workbooks: a Facilitator Guide and a Participant Workbook. She is also co-author of There Is No Place Like Work. The principles in these books were derived from Margolis' groundbreaking research that earned the 1998 Award for Distinguished Contribution to HRD Research. 

Dr. Margolis conducts culture initiatives and strategic planning with a variety of organizations such as Shaw Industries, Philips, Acuity Brands, Lotus Cars USA, Cherokee Town and Country Club, and Decision Sciences Institute. She implements employee engagement surveys and has designed and delivered team skills training programs for General Mills, Allied Signal, Tenneco and Reliance Electric. 

Dr. Margolis is a professional member of the National Speakers Association and speaks regularly at corporate and professional meetings and conferences. Additionally, she teaches business writing and presentation skills on the Professional MBA level and works with companies to align their internal communications strategy with their culture. 

Dr. Margolis has been published in the HRD Review, Performance Improvement Quarterly, Training Today, Association Management magazine, AmericanVenture Magazine, and SHRM's HR magazine. She has written a chapter for the text The Cultural Context of Human Resource Development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Workplace Culture Institute (October 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979665701
• ISBN-13: 978-0979665707
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sheila Margolis--based in Atlanta, GA--helps leaders define organizational culture and manage organizational change. She holds a doctoral degree in Human Resource Development, teaches part-time at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University and is President of the Workplace Culture Institute. She specializes in workplace culture, organizational change and employee engagement. As an organizational development expert, Sheila is quoted in newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Dr. Margolis is the author of the culture and change management workbook--Building a Culture of Distinction: Facilitator Guide for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change (updated 2010)--and the companion workbook for employees--Building a Culture of Distinction: Participant Workbook for Defining Organizational Culture and Managing Change (updated 2010). She is also co-author of There Is No Place Like Work: Seven Leadership Insights for Creating a Workplace to Call Home (2006). The principles in these books were derived from Margolis' groundbreaking research that earned the 1998 Award for Distinguished Contribution to Human Resource Development Research. She has also written a workbook for job seekers to help people find a meaningful and fulfilling workplace by screening for culture fit.

Dr. Margolis conducts culture initiatives and strategic planning with a variety of organizations such as Shaw Industries, Philips, Cingular Wireless, Acuity Brands, Lotus Cars USA, Northside Hospital, American College of Rheumatology, Decision Sciences Institute, Cherokee Town and Country Club, and St. Jude's Recovery Center. She has designed and delivered employee training programs to build high performance work teams for companies such as General Mills, Allied Signal, Tenneco, and Reliance Electric.

Dr. Margolis is a professional member of the National Speakers Association and speaks regularly at corporate and professional meetings and conferences. She informs audiences on topics such as workplace culture, employee engagement, recruitment and retention, managing change, and the human side of mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, she teaches business writing and presentation skills on the Professional MBA level and works with companies to align their internal communications strategy with their culture.

Dr. Margolis has been published in the Human Resource Development Review, Performance Improvement Quarterly, Training Today magazine, Association Management magazine, AmericanVenture Magazine, Latitude, Internal Comms Hub, PerformanceXpress, Connections magazine and Atlanta magazine. She wrote a chapter for the text-- The Cultural Context of Human Resource Development (2009).