Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results [Hardcover]

Roger Connors (Author), Tom Smith (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 4, 2011

Three-time New York Times bestselling authors Roger Connors and Tom Smith show how leaders can achieve record-breaking results by quickly and effectively shaping their organizational culture to capitalize on their greatest asset-their people.

Change the Culture, Change the Game joins their classic book, The Oz Principle, and their recent bestseller, How Did That Happen?, to complete the most comprehensive series ever written on workplace accountability. Based on an earlier book, Journey to the Emerald City, this fully revised installment captures what the authors have learned while working with the hundreds of thousands of people on using organizational culture as a strategic advantage.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Audio Review] Lloyd James expertly narrates the authors third book on organizational effectiveness. His comfortable performance softens the book s serious intentions." and brings some of the jargon and complex sentences down to earth. Building on their four-step accountability formula (see it, own it, solve it, do it), the authors outline a process for making accountability the norm at every level of an organization. The five principles they recommend to guide broad cultural change owe more to sociology than to business school paradigms. These principles encourage experienced-based learning practices, respect how people interact in groups and hierarchies, and guide the many strategies offered for sustaining company-wide accountability. Humane ideas for organizations of any size help people take initiative for getting the important things done. --AudioFile --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

Roger Connors and Tom Smith are co-founders of Partners in Leadership, an international management consulting firm with thousands of clients in almost all major industries. They are also the co-authors of the prequel to this book, The Oz Principle, and the follow-up book, How Did That Happen?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; 1 edition (January 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591843618
• ISBN-13: 978-1591843610
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective methodology to achieve breakthrough results March 11, 2011

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In Leading Change, James O'Toole suggests that much (most?) of the resistance to change initiatives is the result of what he so aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Roger Connors and Tom Smith fully agree. In a previous collaboration, The Oz Principle, they explain how to get desired results through individual and organizational accountability. They introduce "Steps to Accountability," a sequence of actions: See It (i.e. recognize what must be done), Own It (i.e. make an investment in as well as a commitment to getting it done), Solve It (i.e. recognize and eliminate barriers with whatever resources may be needed), and Do It (i.e. producing the right results in the right way, as promised). Connors and Smith also suggest that people tend to live and work (most of the time) either above or below "The Line" that divides accountable behavior from behavior that is not.

As they note, "We use the term `result,' rather than `goal' because result implies that either you will achieve something or that you have already achieved it. In contrast, `goal' suggests that you would like to have something happen, but might not accomplish it. A goal tends to be hopeful and directional, but not absolute." In this context, I reminded of what Thomas Edison observed long ago: "Vision without execution is hallucination." Apparently the Yoda agrees: "Do or do not. There is no try."

Connors and Smith devote Part One (Chapters 1-5) to explaining how to create a Culture of Accountability, define the results to be achieved, take effective action to produce them, identify core believes that guide and direct behavior, provide experiences that support efforts, and reinforce results to sustain their beneficial impact.... In Part Two (Chapters 6-10), they explain how to align cultural values with change initiatives, apply effective three Culture Management Tools they recommend (i.e. focused feedback, focused storytelling, celebration of incremental progress), and three skills needed to move the culture from where it has been to where it should be (i.e. Lead the Change, Respond to the Feedback, and Be Facilitative). Obviously, it would be a fool's errand to adopt and then attempt to apply all of Connors and Smith's recommendations. It remains for each reader to select what is most relevant and responsive to her or his needs and those of her or his organization.

With regard to buy-in of the plan, once formulated, Connors and Smith suggest and then discuss Five Principles of Full Enrollment (Pages 196-213):

1. Start with accountability
2. Get people ready for the change.
3. Begin with the top and intact teams.
4. Establish a process control and keep it honest.
5. Design for maximum involvement.

Those who need additional assistance with achieving full (or at least maximum) enrollment, I highly recommend John Kotter's A Sense of Urgency and his more recent book, Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down, co-authored with Lorne A. Whitehead. For supplementary readings, I also highly recommend Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution, co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson. Read more ›

46 of 55 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm.. May 3, 2011

By J. Czarnik

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

OK... 15 Reviews total so far, 12 of them- all 5* on Jan 4, release day. Imagine the coincidence :).

And yes, I actually DO own the book. It is a decent book among a crowded shelf of business management self-help books. Not worth the 5* sweep though.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Same Ol Same Ol August 3, 2011

By BookFan Biz Results

Format:Hardcover

I was really hoping to see something new and insightful here but as I read through each page in anticipation, nothing ever developed. this is the same old stuff in a new cover. nothing new here. Seems to me to be the operating model of most authors - write a book, wait a few years - update with a new cover. Smith and Connors need some new ideas.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Culture Matters January 9, 2011

By Lit Lover

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I would highly recommend this book to all business people, whether they are top leaders or managers at any level in any type of organization. The emphasis on getting results though a culture of accountability sets it apart from the feel-good books about corporate culture because the authors actually give readers a proven formula for success. It's not easy working with something as hard to quantify as culture, but the authors pull it off. The book is fascinating and well-written. And its many good examples bring the topic to life.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Change is Wonderful! January 4, 2011

By Douglas E. Judson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Change The Culture Change The Game is a powerfully inspired addition to The Oz Principle and How Did That Happen. This book introduces the methodology for efficiently and effectively changing the way people think and act throughout an organization to make certain that they achieve their key results...now! Mr. Connors and Mr. Smith have taken the concept of Creating a Culture of Accountability to a new level by demonstrating how to accelerate cultural change. This is required reading for any leader who must keep his organization,(or family) competitive and focused. I have found that the impact of greater accountability and the acceleration of change in the way people think and act has not only improved my work "life" but has also greatly improved me as a leader, husband, father and son. The stories of actual people and organizations in the book demonstrated clearly to me how to use the models to achieve rapid, results oriented change.

This is a Must Read!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eager to Change The Game January 4, 2011

By K. Theodore

Format:Hardcover

Like most readers, I don't bother to rate something unless it is excellent. This book gave me an easy opportunity to do so. Very, very good. Appreciated the conceptual foundations as well as the practical tools and models/diagrams. Very eager to implement this with my team. We could use a game-changer right now.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Idea-rich playbook for change agents August 31, 2011

By Rolf Dobelli HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

In this new, revised version of their 2002 book, "Journeys to the Emerald City", management consultants Roger Connors and Tom Smith offer wisdom, anecdotes and facts to help you modify your organizational culture for positive business results. The authors discuss change, culture, and people by providing three-step programs, five-principle approaches, three-level matrices, and a pyramid. The authors employ multiple models because they address elements of the workplace that are as intangible as they are important. As Connors and Smith are fond of saying, "Either you will manage the culture, or it will manage you." This is proven true even though formulas and jargon occasionally muffle their sound methods and useful message. getAbstract recommends this book to CEOs, executives, human resources professionals, parents and anyone running a team who wants better results.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great program for corporate culture change February 24, 2013

By Bluefish

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Our company instituted the Culture of Accountability last fall and the results have been nothing less than amazing. I am watching individuals step up, take charge, and team together to move processes forward. And the results have been great!